Little-Known MySpace Tweaks

MySpace has become one of the fastest growing internet phenomena we have seen in recent years, growing from a few thousand members in its infancy to over 300 million in just a few years. While MySpace is relatively simple to use and customize, none of us are ever satisfied with the basics. MySpace offers customization tools for its blog service that can alter the features and looks of it - but when it comes to customizing the layout of your actual space, MySpace only offers an 'ask around' suggestion. If you figured you'd Ask Jeeves or use Google to find your answer then your search will not be in vain, but it will only yeild results to the same type of layouts that everyone else has. Unknown to many people, there are many more things that you can do to your MySpace profile besides simply copy/pasting codes from a page, and here are some of them.

Custom Layouts

Custom Layouts are a way to customize your profile to whatever specifications you want to get it to. Most people know about editors such as the Nuclear Century editor - a basic customization editor, or even MySpace Layout Support editor - a more complex editor that also comes included with some preset layouts. However, a much more interesting, advanced and more underground editor is the Real Editor. Real Editor is not used by very many people, though it has many great features. Besides its basic abilities to create layouts from scratch, like the other common editors, Real Editor can edit an existing layout, which makes it a lot easier to personalize your page without having to do the work. Real Editor also has the ability to let you edit other people's layouts, and then apply them to your own MySpace profile page. Real Editor, coupled with the following tools, can lend your MySpace page a look of uniqueness and customizability that others can only wonder at. (Note: Real Editor's advanced edit features work only on Internet Explorer and compatible browsers, like Netscape, AOL, etc... )

Preset Layouts

Preset layouts are your traditional copy/paste type Layouts that you can get from sites such as FreeSourceCode and MyProfilePimp. However, the traditional layouts, as impressive as they may get, are not the only type of layouts that you can choose, as most people would assume. Another very new, very unique and very flashy type of preset layout is a Flash Layout - whose preset layout templates can be found at the Flash Layouts section of MyProfilePimp. Flash Layouts completely change the look of your MySpace profile page, not simply add a theme to it. With Flash Layouts, you can change the position of your picture, the angle of your picture, where and how your text appears, how it moves, where your blurbs are, where your comments appear, everything! Flash Layouts are not very widely known as of now, and they are very easy to create for yourself. Flash Layouts can be used in conjunction with Flash Toys. Flash toys can also be used with regular layouts, and they add more movement and color to your page. Flash Toys are a lot like the interactive ads you see that are a lot more like games than they are ads - that is, until you win the game and a pop-up appears. (Of course, Flash Toys aren't ads so no pop-ups will ensue from placing them on your MySpace page.)

Other Customization Tools: Layout Stealer

Have you ever seen a nice layout that you really would like to have as your own? Perhaps you do not want the hassle of creating or finding a nice layout, when one is laying right in front of you. Well, there is a handy tool called theMySpace Layout Stealer, that will take another person's MySpace page's code, and allow you to copy it onto yours - so that your page will have the same layout design theirs does - and your page will still have the information you put in about yourself on it!

Other Customization Tools: Add Extra Blurbs

MySpace does a good job in allowing member customization of its pages, with the exception of one thing - there are only two blurbs on a standard MySpace page. (A Blurb is what each writable section of a MySpace page is called, such as the About Me section, or the Who I'd Like to Meet section - the only two blurbs on a standard MySpace page). Notice that I said standard, because with this little tool, you can easily add extra blurbs to your MySpace, that will keep the layout theme that you have placed on it. The Add Extra Blurbs tool from MakeYourProfile.com is an excellent tool, that allows you to make a separate section for Photos, Videos, or anything else that you don't want cluttering up your About Me section, or that doesn't fit into a Who I'd Like to Meet category. You can name these extra blurbs whatever you want!

Other Customization Tools: Hiding Content

Just as how you can add content, you can also hide it. If you do not use MySpace as a blog, or if you use it as a private ""For Your Eyes Only"" blog, then you can add a code to have the links to your blog entries removed from your page, removing unwanted clutter. Do you want to annoy your friends by making them listen to your music, unconditionally? (Unless they turn off their speakers of course). You can also hide the music controls from your page! Hide your Top Friends (to avoid competition, maybe?), your Interests, your Picture, your Comments, anything - with the Hide Sectionstool, also from MakeYourProfile.com.

You can use any of these features with your current layout to give it a little tweak, or you can use all of them to make your profile the envy of those on your friends list. Either way, your page gains a more energized look and allows you to customize closer to its full potential. For even more advanced features, CSS Editors can help, but these can be very challenging if you are not familiar with code.