This is the first free blog template that I am offering to the USD Blog Community.  There will be many more to come as I develop them.  The Orange Flower template features a simplistic, yet colorful design and is tailored for use with our blog server.  Better yet, it's total image size is 41.3 kbs so you are guaranteed fast load times.

How do I get the Template

You can either download the template package and install it yourself or you can request installation by sending me an email at jesse.bethke@usd.edu. If you do install this template, please leave a comment below letting everyone know that you have set up this template on your blog. Make sure you enter your blogs URL so that everyone can go checkout your new blog template.  Leaving a comment is also a nice courtesy so that an interested blogger will know how many times a template has been used.

How do I install the Template

After downloading the template package, you will need to decompress or extract the contents to your hard drive.  The package will contain an HTML file, a CSS file, and a folder containing the images.  That folder and the css file must keep the names I gave them, otherwise linking may not work correctly for you.

Set your Blog to Customization Mode

If your blog isn't already in customization mode, goto the theme tab under preferences and click "Customize."  This will allow you to modify and create custom templates.

Create your Image Folder and Upload Images

In the template package, there is a folder called images_orangeFlower.  Goto "File Uploads" and create a folder called images_orangeFlower.  Inside that folder upload all the images that were in the images folder.

Upload Stylesheet File

In the root of your resources, upload the style_orangeFlower.css file.  It should keep this name because your template will reference it by this name.

Add Template

1. Goto the "Templates" tab. 
   
2. Under the Add New Template section, add a new template called orangeFlower.  Make sure you use that name exactly.
   
3. Click edit for that template.
   
4. Open the html file in the template package with notepad and then copy and paste everything in that file into the template editor window.
5. Click Save; click done
   

Add Supporting Day Template

All templates require a day template that defines what each post should look like. You likely already have one. Follow the same steps for the previous template file, only replacing your _day template with the contents of day.html

Switch Blog Over to Use New Template

1. In the templates tab, click edit on the Weblog template
2. Select everything in that file and backspace or delete it out so that it is empty.
3. Add the following line; then click save

  #includeTemplate($model.weblog "OrangeFlower")

Your blog has now been installed, you can now start adding entries for the world to see.