DIY Blog Design Pointer: Interactive Link Lists (for blog rolls etc...)

I'm new at explaining this techie stuff; (I'm certainly no computer pro) but thought I'd attempt to share a do-it-yourself blog design tip, in case anyone wants one...

I was worried that I was just being annoying by posting that whole bunch of link lists (Blog Roll, challenges etc... which meant they went out to fill up your email in updates) but apparently they were welcome to some. :O) SO, I thought I'd post a bit about the blog design attempt that led to 'em in case it's useful. Here's what they look like:

Linked-photo buttons for blog rolls etc...

I don't know if "Linked-Photo buttons" is what you'd call them, but.... I made 'em because my sidebar was a jumbled mess (remember the land of a thousand links?) Anywho, while tidying that messy sidebar, I discovered that you can make "buttons" that lead to posts in your blog (like pages of a website that are linked on the home page.) Old news to many, I'll bet, but...

The neat thing is that you can make it easy on yourself by just copying your blog roll/link lists from your blog's sidebar & then pasting them into blog posts (and it still preserves the links to the urls.)

Not sure what on earth I'm rambling about? You can test it out in my sidebar. The pics (that look like the one up there and say "click to go to.." above them) will take you to lists of schtuff like: Blog Roll, Challenges, Nifty Shopping etc...

Basic I know, but really neato because when you're posting link lists in posts (instead of just sidebarring them in your layout) they become interactive instead of static. By that I mean people can get your link list posts in email updates--and what's even kewler (!)--they can add their favourite links to your lists in the comment section! Kind of nifty hey?

Other stuff i really like about these buttons:

1) Less visual clutter on your main blog page

2) Gives readers easy to find buttons (that can be perty looking)

3) You can choose big fonts for the buttons (good for those whose eyes are goin' a little, like moi)

4) Adds visual repetition to your blog design (which i like the look of)

5) It lets you subdivide lists into sections of stuff (like Canadian/American shopping... Click the "Nifty Shopping photo-button above to see what I mean.)

6) Gives you way more room to write out stuff (instead of the 220 pixel wide line of your sidebar--or whatever px width your template has.)

7) You can format lists with coloured text & stuff (You can number 'em so people can refer to an item in your list easily & my fave: Spellcheck 'em!)

8) You can add a Google Reader thingy in a post like Allison & Susanna (who are WAY too brilliant for me!)

9) You can add pictures to the post (like thumbnails with links; I'll be blabbing more on that soon) One idea: if you add the same picture to your post as you had in your "linked-photo button" in your sidebar button, then that lets people know they're in the right spot when they click through.)

One drawback: after pasting your links over from the sidebar, you have to alphabetize additions to the list yourself (BUT you can alphabetize some and not some others, me likey that.)

Other uses for these linked-photo buttons in your sidebar:

1) Headers for sections of your blog (like "About me" "Design Teams" "Blog Categories")

2) Linked-photos of your work categories (that can link to the tag url with all the posts that have a certain tag: like all projects with a certain company or all 3D projects.)

3) Photo-button Links to other sites (like your business or your scs gallery)

The Visuals:

I wondered if anyone might be interested in a basic tutorial for how I created the visual (the flower design in the "Challenges" picture above) & set it up as a linked-photo ? (It's really quite easy if you have Photoshop or another way of writing on top of images.)

If you'd like to see how-to do this, lemme know & I'll type a tutorial up for ya. :O)

P.S. This wannabe-geek rambling may very well may have been as clear as mud,
so if there's anything you'd like me to explain, please just let me know. :O)