Decisions, decisions

One consequence of being a perfectionist is that you can be hopelessly indecisive about the most trivial things. 

I have trouble, for example, choosing from a set menu of three starters, three mains and three desserts, for fear I won't like what I end up with, and will ruin my evening out. Of course, that kind of menu only offers 27 possible permutations for my meal. Give me a multi-page one and my dining partner is likely to have expired from starvation by the time I've made up my mind.

I didn't think creating this blog would entail too many decisions. Blogger is a free service, so I assumed I'd have a very limited range of designs to choose from.

Not a bit of it; I was presented, at every step of the way, with a wide array of formatting options. First, there were dozens of choices for the basic background and layout. Then a multitude of font types, sizes and colours - in fact, the entire colour chart was at my disposal. I had to select a font not just for the blog heading, but also the post headings, post text, link text, tab text... The font features alone must have generated a billion permutations.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And I was determined to explore every level of every formatting and design menu, to ensure I didn't miss anything crucial to creating the perfect look. Every one of those avenues generated thousands more permutations.

For guidance, I went back to the blogs I'd previously researched, but that only confused me more, revealing new elements I hadn't yet considered. That earlier research really should have given me an appreciation of the vast range of designs that would, in fact, be available to me.

All this was before I'd even started installing Blogger's 'Gadgets' - special features - on my site. The initial list offered 27, from which I began with the basics, such as 'Subscribe by Email', 'My Blog List' and 'Links'. 

'There must be more,' I moaned to my boyfriend - though why I wanted more choices to complicate matters, I don't know. He spotted the 'More gadgets' link...which then gave me a mere 871 to peruse. I resolved to review them all: if I didn't, who knew what gems I might overlook? By the second page, I'd given up: 'The Daily Puppy', 'Body Mass Index Calculator' and 'Darth Vader Quotes' weren't quite what my blog needed.

Eventually, sense prevailed and I resolved that, providing I liked what I'd produced, I should stop tinkering. If I hadn't, I'd still be designing the site now, half a year on. 

I'm happy with its final, uncluttered look, in spite of realising, too late, that I'd inadvertently emulated my work's corporate colour scheme.

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My blog is six months old this week. I'd love to hear what you think of it and whether you, too, like the look of it.