Updating the Blog

I've been working on a few small tweaks to the blog the last few days. I didn't make any major changes, but I'd been using a very old template, and I couldn't get a few of the features that Blogger is finally offering (like the ability to reply to comments) to work.

So I decided to update my template, but then I had to customize it.

I love designing things in Photoshop, but honestly it's all trial and error for me. I'm completely self taught so I feel like I often do things the loooong way.

But I also like designing my site on my own because then it's just what I want it to be. And if I want to change something I can do it very quickly and easily.

I've used a lot of the tutorials at Pugly Pixel and The Coffee Shop Blog.

But then I actually have to make the changes to the CSS and the HTML in the template and then it's really trial and error.

I know next to nothing about it and so I end up making a change - preview - nope, didn't work - try it someplace else.

See? I'm slooooow.

I recently looked into a few books on CSS, but didn't ever decide on anything. Any recommendations? Do you have any favorite web design blogs to share with me? :)