2007-10-05

"Magical" three column template (inspired by Harry Potter)

After such a lot of work, I have finally completed the "Magical" 3 column Blogger template for you to use in your blogs. I have to say that this is my favorite template design so far! The theme was inspired by the Harry Potter series of books/films, and features optional widgets that complement the theme.



As usual, this screenshot doesn't do the template justice! Please take a look at the demonstration blog for this template here to get a better look (link opens in a new window).

While the heavy use of images and Javascripts make this template load slower than my other templates, I'm sure you'll agree this is a fair compromise for the overall effect.

This template features:

  • Unique magical theme

  • Animated blog header (watch out for the bat!)

  • Customizable background, fonts, sidebar backgrounds and font colors

  • Optional widgets to complement the design

  • Label cloud designed to suit the theme

  • Post dividers

  • "Drop Caps" span style for the first letter of each paragraph


The optional widgets include:

  • Magical Mirror Images: this inserts a different animated image each time you reload the page. Watch out for "Moody's mad eye..."

  • Magical Thoughts: features a different magical quote each time you reload the page.

  • Magical Clock: features a different image depending on the time of day, from a sun at midday to a moon at midnight (and increments each hour between).


All of these widgets are included in the download package as widget templates. Alternatively you can use the widget installers found on the Magical Template demonstration blog.

The download package for this template features the template's XML file, a help file, all images featured in the template for you to upload to your own hosting account, plus all widget templates for you to install the widgets in your blog. This is a Zip (compressed) file which you should save to your computer and open with a decompression program such as WinZip or WinRar (free).

You can download the full template below:

Download Magical Template

Alternatively, you can copy the template code below and paste this into the Edit HTML section of your Blogger dashboard:

As with all my templates, you are free to modify this template as you wish. Please leave the author credits intact within the template itself and do not redistribute this template without a link back to Blogger Buster!

As you can imagine, this template in particular took a lot of time and work to complete (and yet I'm distributing it for free...) so I do appreciate all the link love I can get. A link back to Blogger Buster in your sidebar is always appreciated. If you like this template, please tell your friends about it too!


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Post a Comment 10 comments:

26 October 2007 at 18:41 Douglas said...

Your "magic" might also be with very little modification "antique" which might have many uses.

I am currently mostly using TypePad, but am not totally happy and also paying to be unhappy. I have been using small images to indicate primary post area for posts. I have not persuaded TypePad to make it easy to reuse such images however. You might see a few of them at my blog which might give you better ideas than I have had.

Do a Google Search for "Dakota Today" and "Doug Wiken" if you are interested.

1 November 2007 at 13:45 Amanda Kennedy said...

Thanks for your comments, Douglas :)

I like how you used these images in your posts on your TypePad blog. I have never used TypePad myself, so I'm unsure how such blogs are managed. Do you have access to your blog template? If so, you may be able to add some code to the style section which could easily enable you to reuse such images for your posts. This would also be possible for Blogger blogs too.

I may well post about this in the future, though if you'd rather me explain this for you sooner feel free to email me.

Best wishes,

Amanda

1 November 2007 at 20:20 Douglas said...

Template access in TypePad is available if I pay something like $50 more per year. The present cost is $90 per year. I suggested that images that have been uploaded should be available as a search option in the same window that allows searching a posters own computer. I got the usual response which is more like a disclaimer than a response. I think Powerblogs might have such a feature.

As it is now, I end up uploading the same image again and again which is less than efficient.

I have been using TypePad for 3 years and am mostly satisfied with service, but free services have now come close or exceeded the features of TypePad and the reluctance to add features or the very, very slow rate of change or adding new process is frustrating. I have a lot of posts invested in the current system.

Thanks for your response. I am using blogger for blogs that are not my primary blog and may try a three-column version soon. I don't know enough about CSS or HTML to do much right now however.

3 November 2007 at 05:43 mhel said...

Hi, I love this template! It's just that I'm having problem how and where to put links/contents/widgets (html code) in the sidebar section. I don't know what kind of format should I use. I'm not good in html. :)I hope you can help me. Thanks in advance.

27 January 2008 at 02:38 Msiamaker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
27 January 2008 at 03:48 Msiamaker said...

hi amanda' i would like to use this magical template for my blog' but i not very like the margin coz i need to scroll 1 cm to the right to see the right side. can u assist me how to arrange it so i can see the whole template without scroll 1 cm the to the right.

thanks n c ya

16 February 2008 at 00:20 Anonymous said...

Amanda, mandei um e-mail para você.
Espero que você possa me responder...
Quero apenas lembrar que esse template está com erros na página...
Eu uso o explorer 7, não sei se é o caso, mas se for, espero que você possa corrigir...
Eu acho que o erro está nos Label Cloud. Ele não mostra os marcadores... Tirei ele para testar e não apareceu erro de página. No mais, espero que você possa fazer a modificação que lhe pedi por e-mail. Adorei esse template e só está faltando isso para eu poder usá-lo.
Mais uma vez, parabéns! E desde já, obrigada!


Jacqueline.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Amanda, sent an email to you.
I hope you can answer me ...
I just want to remind you that this template is with errors on the page ...
I use the explorer 7, I do not know if this is the case, but if so, I hope you can fix ...
I think the mistake is in the Label Cloud. He does not show the labels ... I took it to test and appeared error of page. No more, I hope that you can make the change that you asked by email. I love it that template and only that is missing for me to use it.
Once again, congratulations! And now, thanks!


Jacqueline.

26 October 2008 at 18:00 cnul_hk said...

thanks for your template, i like this

29 July 2009 at 14:58 Maggie Madison said...

Love this!! Almost makes me want to start a new blog just to be able to use it!

13 December 2010 at 07:57 Anonymous said...

I really enjoy your articles. Very well written. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for share with us. Take care!
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