Get started with customizing your SmugMug site.

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Make Your Site Truly Yours

Your SmugMug site is your personal storefront, portfolio, and creative space all in one. Customizing it to reflect your unique brand or personal style is simple with SmugMug’s powerful design tools. Whether you're making subtle tweaks or a full design overhaul, this guide will walk you through customization options for creating a standout site.

Note: The features covered in this article apply to Power, Portfolio, and Pro plans.

Customization Overview

This guide covers how to:

  • Start customizing your site design.
  • Make site-wide changes to themes, colors, and fonts.
  • Customize individual folders, galleries, and pages.
  • Use design tools to add content blocks and control layouts.

Personalization Tips

  • Use consistent fonts and color palettes to maintain visual cohesion.
  • Add navigation menus for easier site browsing.
  • Embed video or slideshow backgrounds for a dynamic feel.
  • Preview changes before publishing to ensure your design looks great on all devices.

Getting started with site design

Explore ready to use designs

Not sure where to start? Try one of SmugMug’s ready-to-go site designs:

  1. Click the three-dot menu () on your homepage.
  2. Select New Site Design.
  3. Browse through the available pre-made designs.
  4. Click any design to preview it.
  5. Click Choose This Design to apply it or Back to explore others.
  6. Click Publish to go live or Customize to make additional changes.

Customizing your design

From your homepage, click Customize Design in the section bar. Open Customize Design to change the background colors, fonts, and layouts for your entire site.

Use the Customize Design panel

    1. Navigate to the section bar and click Customize Design.
    2. A sidebar will appear with customization options. You can move this sidebar to the left or right as needed.

Customization levels

SmugMug allows for multiple levels of customization:

  • Entire Site Design: Changes affect all pages (homepage, folders, galleries).
  • Homepage Design: Customize your main landing page separately.
  • Folder Design: Apply a unified look to all folders.
  • Gallery Design: Use consistent layouts for displaying photos.
  • Specific Page Customization: Create unique designs for individual pages, folders, or galleries.

Create a custom design for specific web pages

To create a unique design for a specific folder, gallery, or page:

  1. Navigate to the specific area on your Site.
  2. Click Customize Design in the section bar.
  3. Click Make This (folder, gallery, page) Custom.
  4. Adjust layout, colors, fonts, and add content blocks.
  5. Publish your changes to make them visible on your site. 

Using the customization tools

When you open the customization menu, you'll see these sections:

1. Content Blocks

Content blocks let you build your site by dragging and dropping elements:

  • Galleries: Add folders, galleries, or pages.
  • Photos: Add single photos, multiple photos, slideshows, or carousels.
  • Navigation: Add menus, breadcrumbs, buttons, or custom links.
  • Video: Embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or other sources.
  • Design Elements: Add logos, separators, or adjust spacing.
  • Text: Add titles, headings, and descriptions.
  • Social Media: Add profile links, share buttons, and social icons.
  • Discovery: Add search bars, keyword clouds, and maps.
  • Services: Embed tools like Google Calendar, Google Translate, and Wufoo forms.
  • Custom Code: Add HTML/CSS for advanced customization.

2. Theme

Themes control your site’s fonts, colors, and backgrounds:

  1. Click Customize Design > Theme Tab.
  2. Hover over the Active Theme and click the wrench icon to edit it.
  3. Browse available themes, select one, and make edits.
  4. Name and save your edited theme to My Themes for future use.

3. Background

  1. Click Customize Design > Background Tab.
  2. Choose a background type (image, color, slideshow, or video).
  3. Adjust settings to suit your style.

 

If no custom background is applied, the theme’s default background will be used.

4. Layout

Control your site’s structure:

  • Choose between stretchy or fixed-width layouts.
  • Manage header and footer placements.
  • Adjust margins.
  • Pin sections to the page to keep them visible while scrolling (entire site only.)

Preview Your Changes

Before publishing, preview your design:

  • Click Preview after making changes.
  • View how your site looks to visitors.
  • See unlisted and private content that only you can view.

Revert, save, or publish your design changes. 

After making changes to your active design, you can:

  • Revert the changes to the previously published state or to the default state of your chosen design. 
  • Save the changes to continue working on them at a later time.
  • Publish your changes to make them visible on your site. 

Get Creative!

Your SmugMug site design is yours to personalize. Start with a pre-made design or build your own from scratch. Whether you're creating a professional portfolio or a family archive, SmugMug’s tools give you the flexibility to create a site as unique as your photography.

Ready to start customizing? Log in to your SmugMug account, click Customize Design, and begin building your perfect site!

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