How to Customize MySpace

Posted on January 18th, 2009 by Marck

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MySpace is one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet today. Many people consider their MySpace profiles their own personal space on the Web; users spend a lot of time tweaking their profiles pages to have different colors, backgrounds, and other pleasing visual elements. If you want to customize your own MySpace profile to look just the way you want it, here are some tricks you can use.

Preset Layouts and Layout Codes

If you don’t have the time to make your own customized MySpace layout, or if you’re just too lazy to customize your MySpace page, you can use preset layouts and codes available all over the Internet. Simply type “MySpace Layout Codes” on the search bar of any search engine (like Yahoo! or Google), and you’ll have thousands of sites offering millions of cool, unique-looking site layouts that you can use on your own MySpace page.

To use a preset layout code, follow these steps:

Visit the site offering the free MySpace layout codes, and look for the string of code. The code is a long collection of characters written in HTML or CSS.
Copy the code, and log into your MySpace account. Click on the “Edit My Profile” tab on the right-hand side of your profile picture.
Paste the code into the “About Me” section, and save all changes.

Making Your Own Layout With CSS

Preset codes, layouts, and templates are nice, but you’ll end up sharing the same template with another MySpace user. One way for you to make your profile page all your own is to make your own layout with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Here are some pointers to keep in mind:

Familiarize yourself with the code. CSS may seem intimidating at first because of all the values and codes in the stylesheet. It’s important for you to know what these codes mean, and how they work together to form your MySpace layout. You can read online references on how to work with CSS, or you can borrow a manual from your local or school library.
Experiment with colors and values. If you’ll edit your MySpace layout, you need to know more about color values, fontwork, and the width of tables and other elements on your page. There are many references available on the Internet to help you have an idea on how these values work.
Use hosting sites for pictures and videos. If you’re on a public computer, or if you want to save hard drive space, you may need to move your background images, photos, and videos to a separate file hosting site (like Flickr or Photobucket). You can then set background values and image values on the CSS file by deleting the old value, and inserting the URL or embed link of the image in its place.
Use an editing program. Some people may find it OK to use Notepad or WordPad to edit their MySpace CSS codes, but it’s still best to use a dedicated program like Adobe Dreamweaver or Aptana Studio. Web development programs may be intimidating to use at first, but they offer you the most functionality and flexibility for editing your MySpace layouts.

Tips

When working on your customized MySpace layouts, here are some reminders:

Always test your layout. Not all people use the same browser to access the Internet. When creating your own MySpace layout, always test it in as many browsers as possible. Make sure that the layout looks the same, and is tested and guaranteed to run on as many browsers as possible.
Readable text, visible images. It’s all right to experiment with different colors, but make sure that they are pleasing to the eye and not stressing to view.
Watch out for copyright. If you use images sourced from the Web, make sure that they’re free to use and are not subject to copyright. You may violate MySpace’s Terms of Service (TOS) if you use images and other media that are copyrighted and are not free for public use.

With these tips to help you make your own MySpace layout, your little space on the World Wide Web can truly be your own space.