A Guide to Myspace Layouts

These days nearly everyone you know has a MySpace page.  It's a place for you to connect with friends, family, and people you never even knew before.  Even your favorite bands, movies, television shows, and politicians have MySpace pages.  It's the social hub of the web, and has redefined the way we think about communication and expression. 
Within the development of your own MySpace page comes the newfound ability for self expression.  Your page is your window to the world.  It's how your friends perceive you.  It's where your long lost friends or classmates will find you.  It's where you make your mark and explain yourself.  I like to think of MySpace layouts like we think of fashion and clothes in the everyday world..  A MySpace layout enables you to skin or clothe your page in your favorite colors, patterns, styles, celebrities, basically anything you would like.  Want the world to think of you a certain way?  Let your MySpace page reflect your persona by utilizing a MySpace layout.  Want to get yours set up?  Here's where to start:

1.)  Dedicated layout sites vs. MySpace:
MySpace provides a few basic layout options, such as color choices and some patterns, but their selection is limited and low quality.  They often provide layouts in line with their advertising affiliations, not user needs, so you'll end up with options like a Transformers layout versus a band or celebrity you like.  What I recommend is to go with a layout from a dedicated layout site, that specializes in making custom layouts as their main focus.  This will give you the widest selection. 

2) Choose a layout:
There are a number of layout sites you can choose from, and you can find them by typing "MySpace layouts" into a search engine.  For the purpose of this example, I'm going to use a favorite of mine, pYzam.com.  I'm choosing pYzam mostly because they have been making quality layouts for years and also because MySpace itself recommended them as a source for layouts on the web.  When you go to pYzam.com all you need to do is click on "Layouts" at the top and then click on MySpace Layouts to open up the MySpace layouts section.  Here you'll find a number of layouts and layout categories to choose from.  Select a category from the menu, anything you think you would like, from different colors to different themes.  Once you click a layout category, you'll begin the process of browsing designs.  Simply browse like you would a set of images and pick that perfect looking design.  You can click the design to view it in a larger thumbnail, or even "preview" it on a fake myspace page to see how it would look on your own.

3) Implementation:
The process of putting a layout on your actual page can seem tricky - but it's really not.  The essential component of adding a layout to your MySpace is the code.  The layout code is the long, sometimes wierd and confusing looking text wrapped up in a bunch of <brackets> and such, which is a combination of HTML and CSS.  This is what allows MySpace to connect to your favorite layout site and display a new layout on your page.  To add a layout to your page, you want to copy the code provided by pYzam.  Once you've copied the code, you have to paste it into a specific box on Myspace, your "About Me" section.  Be sure to log into MySpace, and go to "Edit Profile" and then paste it at the TOP of your About Me section.  Click save at the bottom of the page and you're DONE!

4) Removal, Replacement, and Conclusion
Now that you've added the code, you can go to your MySpace page and view the results.  You should have a brand new, beautifully skinned MySpace page that reflects the layout choice you've made.  If you ever want to replace your layout with something different, all you need to do is replace the code you pasted into the About Me section.  Just remember to remove the old code or you page might end up looking a little messed up.

In conclusion, I hope this guide helps you develop your MySpace page to the fullest.  The social networking world has expanded so much that nearly everyone has a MySpace page as a way to connect with one another.  Years ago it was email, now it's MySpace and Facebook - what will tomorrow hold?  We'll never know but at least for now you can skin your page with a little bit of who you are, and share yourself with the world.