Dahlia Set Up

DAHLIA Installation
For the easiest installation process, open the demo blog as a refrence.
Fonts
Old Standard TT by Google Fonts
DM Sans by Google Fonts
Colours
Rodeo Dust — #CDB59B
Leather — #937054

Theme Installation

BEFORE YOU START INSTALLING THE TEMPLATE, READ THIS FILE.

The installation process is very easy and by following this guide, you can have it done within a couple or minutes. Make sure you read all instructions correctly to avoid any mistakes.

Creating a backup of your current theme

Before you start installing your theme, create a backup of your current theme in case an error occurs or you need to restore some data. You can also test the template on a test blog, rearrange the widgets or personalize it before installing it to your blog.

  1. Open your Blogger and choose “Theme” in the left menu.
  2. Locate the orange button “Customize” and click on the arrow next to it.
  3. From the drop-down menu select “Backup”.

Installing the theme

Your theme will be installed by a few clicks. After installation, you old gadgets will be kept and need to be rearranged or deleted.

You can also have the demo blog open in a new tab on your browser to easily mimic it.

  1. Download the file you received, open the zip and extract the files inside.
  2. Open your Blogger and in “Theme”, locate the orange button “Customize” and click on the arrow next to it.
  3. From the drop-down menu select “Restore”, then click on “Upload”.
  4. Locate the Dahlia.xml file on your device and upload it.

Theme responsiveness

To make the theme responsive on all devices, you need to check or edit the settings for your blog.

  1. In “Theme”, locate the orange button “Customize” and click on the arrow next to it.
  2. From the drop-down menu select “Mobile Settings”.
  3. Click on “Desktop” and save.

Social Media

Here you can add links to your social media handles. In the template are already pre-written links to Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin and Email.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Social Media” gadget in the “Social Media” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. If you want to add your link to pre-written icon, replace LINK with the link. Do not delete any the quotation marks. Tip: Copy it from your browser and make sure it starts with https://.
  3. If you want to add your email address, replace ADDRESS with your email address. Do not add any spaces or quotation marks.
  4. If you want to add more icons, follow this tutorial.
  5. If you want to delete some icons, delete the whole line – starting with <a href… and ending with </a>.

Header

As header, you can display the title of your blog, enter a short description or upload your logo.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Header” gadget in the “Header” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. Optional: Enter a short description into “Blog Description” — this will be displayed below your Blog Title.
  3. Optional: Upload your logo. Do not click on “Shrink to fit”. If you want to have a logo/image and a description, in “Placement” select “Have a description placed after the image”.
  4. Save!

Navigation

Into the navigation panel, you can add four types of links — pages, label pages, external links or the blog link.

You can create two-level menu — pages, subpages and sub-subpages.

Adding pages

Important: The page must be already created on your blog. If you haven’t created the page yet, go to “Pages” and click on “New Page” to create it.

  1. Find the URL link to your page → go to “Pages”, hover your cursor over the page and click on the eye icon, then copy the link from your browser.
  2. Go to “Layout” and find the “Pages” gadget in the “Navigation” section. Click on “Edit”.
  3. As “New Site Name” enter the title/name of the page.
  4. As “New Site URL” paste the copied URL link.

Adding label pages

Label pages “collect” all posts that fall into the same category (like “Fashion”, “Lifestyle” and so on).

Important: Labels are case sensitive → labels “travel”, “Travel” and “TRAVEL” are three different labels. Always double check if you’re using the same label in your posts and in the top menu.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Pages” gadget in the “Navigation” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. As “New Site Name” enter the title/name of the label page.
  3. As “New Site URL” paste the URL link to the page (copy it from your browser).

Adding external links

You can also add links outside your blog — if you have a shop website, you have a portfolio and so on.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Pages” gadget in the “Navigation” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. As “New Site Name” enter a name you want.
  3. As “New Site URL” paste the URL link (copy it from your browser).

Adding a blog link

A blog link is good to have if you don’t want to display too many posts on your homepage. It displays the archive with all your published posts.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Pages” gadget in the “Navigation” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. As “New Site Name” enter a name you want (like “blog” or “new posts”).
  3. As “New Site URL” paste the following link (you can change the “3” to any number you want):
    /search?max-results=3

Creating a drop-down menu

You can create two-level menu to help you organize your links.

The URL link stays the same, you only need to add underscores before the link’s name → one underscore (_) for first subpages and two underscores (_ _) for sub-subpages.

If you don’t have a link and you only want to trigger to open the menu, you can add the hashtag symbol (#).

Your final menu should look like this:

Blog Posts

You can change the number of posts per page as well as the post date style.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Blog Posts” gadget in the “Main” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. If you want to display more or less posts on homepage, you can change the number in “Number of posts on main page”.
  3. Select the post date style in the first drop-down in “Post Page Options”.
  4. Make sure the option “Show Share Buttons” is checked as well.
  5. And save!

Bottom — Popular Posts

Here you & your readers will find the most read posts.

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Popular” gadget in the “Bottom” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. In “Most viewed” you can select the period of time from which the popular posts will be selected.
  3. In “Show” select “image thumbnail”.
  4. In “Display up until… post(s)” you can choose how many posts you want to display.
  5. Save!

Bottom — Subscription Box

This template supports MailChimp as the default mailing service.

If you’re using MailChimp for the first time, follow this tutorial → link.

You can also change the text that’s displayed above the newsletter form → open the “Join our little family” gadget and change the title/content.

  1. Get the embed code on your MailChimp account.
  2. Copy the part of the code that’s highlighted.
  3. Open your Blogger, go to “Layout” and find the “Join Our Newsletter” gadget in the “Bottom” section. Click on “Edit”.
  4. Replace YOUR MAILCHIMP CODE with the link you copied.
  5. Save the widget.

Instagram

This template supports SnapWidget as Instagram widget.

Important: Your Instagram account must be public, otherwise the widget will not be visible.

Creating the widget on SnapWidget.com

  1. Go to Snapwidget.com and create an account by clicking on “Sign Up” in top right corner.
  2. Click on “Choose a service”, then on “Instagram” and select the first style “Grid”. After that, click on “Configure widget”.
  3. Important: You do not need to have a premium account. The widget can work with free account as well — click on the link below the form:
  4. Add your Instagram account and desired settings. We recommend changing the following:
    • Layout (Columns X Rows) — 6 X 1
    • Photo Padding — 0 px
    • Hover Effect — Fade Out
    • Sharing Buttons — No
    • Responsive — Yes
  5. Click on “Get Widget” and copy the HTML code.

Adding the code to your blog

  1. Go to “Layout” and find the “Instagram” gadget in the “Instagram” section. Click on “Edit”.
  2. Into “Content” add the copied code.
  3. Save!

Customization

You can easily customize all colours in the template and pick any colours you want.

  1. Go to “Theme” and click on “Customize”.
  2. Click on “Advanced” in the left menu.
  3. Click on “Body” to open the drop-down menu, then go section by section and pick your colours.
  4. Save by clicking on the save icon in bottom right corner.
Having issues or need customization?
We put together detailed troubleshooting manuals that will help you solve the most common errors; as well as helpful tutorials focused on customizability and advancement.
Need help?
Are you stuck on a step and not sure how to continue? Send us a ticket and we’ll help you.