As you may or may not know I recently redesigned my blog from scratch. I commissioned all new graphics, found a free template with a structure that I liked, and combined the two into a custom WordPress template, all for little ol’ me.

But I was never all that sure what I wanted to to with the blockquotes. In past designs I’d found something at least moderately creative to do with blockquotes—either tying it to the design, or playing around with things like giant quotation marks. But looking at what I had—a blue box with large quotes on both sides of the text—just seemed so boring.

So a couple of days ago I went looking for ideas. And when leafing through my copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Guitar I found my inspiration.

So I now present to you my six new blockquote designs, each with it’s own purpose.

The Quotation…

If you need an explanation here, then you probably need more assistance in your day-to-day life than a blog can really offer. Look in the phone book under “Assisted Living”.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

— Albert Einstein

The Information…

I’ll use this one to let my readers know stuff. It might be a link, or an aside. Or it might be one of the innane bits of useless information, that I’m quite famous for in my own home. But more often than not it will be simple information about me or my blog—such as…

I’ll be out touch with reality tomorrow, so don’t expect a post.

P.S. That’s just an example. I’m out of touch with reality for large parts of most days, so it shouldn’t affect my ability to post. So don’t throw a tantrum or anything.

The Annoucement…

I’ll use this one to make important annoucements. They may only be important to me, or a select few, but damnit they’re important to someone. And that’s what’s important. Plus with my love of Heraldry, that little guy to the left was hard to pass up. A fine example of an announcement would be…

In just her first semester of college, My Sweetie has been selected to join the Honors Program. Way to go, Babe!

The Advice…

I don’t give a lot of advice. This stems from the fact that I know, and accept, that I’m an idiot. Having a blog just means I’m a self-centered idiot who doesn’t know when to shut-up. But when I do offer advice, I’ll dispense the little rabbit pellets of wisdom in a box like this. Don’t you just love that little guy to the left? So peaceful. Anyway, if you still need an example of what might go in a box like this, here you go…

Sell, at most, one of your kidneys.

The Rant…

I’m not the ranter in the house. If the whole house were ranked I’d come in somewhere after the dogs. But now and again something will irk, or confound me. If I need to vent, or if I think one of the offenders may be reading, I just may let out some steam here. For instance (this isn’t bothering me today, but I needed an example)…

What is with NaNoWriMo? That’s supposed to be an abbreviation? My first and last name together is shorter than that. How about the Global Organization of Obsessive Novelists? Then we could all be GOONs and save ourselves three syllables everytime we say it, five letters everytime we write it, and a whole lot of social awkwardness.

The Lecture…

I’ll use this one to explain things. It might be a list of instructions, or an explanation of a tricky concept. Here’s an example I hope you’ll never need…

Blowtorches should not be used to dry your hair.

So what do you think of my new blockquote system?