Can Someone Help Me Create My Own Banner?

[Kaz]

I have absolutely no idea where to even begin. lol


my page:

ni-gen-discuss-forum.proboards.com/index.cgi

[alterheld]

first off, what program do ya use? Gimp, ps, psp... etc?

[Kaz]

I'm not familiar with the examples you provided. I've only been online for around a year or so. Please be patient with me.

[alterheld]

I am one of the most patient people you will ever meet
do you have any computer program to make graphics with? if not, you might want to check out Gimp: its a free download
www.gimp.org/
to download, its the top, orange button that says download ^.^

we can start there i guess ;D

[Kaz]

Will Do!

[Kaz]

Just installed "Gimp 2"

[alterheld]

(I don't know your level of knowledge in the subject, so forgive me if I'm sounding like im dumb-ing it down, i don't mean to. I just want us both to be on the same page)

Lets start with an introduction on the program. Without having moved anything, opening the program for the first time you have your "control panel" (aka toolbox) on the left and your "layer controls" on the right top. These are the two main area's you're going to be using.

alrighty then - next step in making a banner is to have an idea of what you want to do. What kind of banner do you want? What size? What images do you want to use in it? what colors? etc.
After you choose what size you want, create a new file by opening Gimp and clicking File; New... Type in the width and height, in pixels, and click ok. A window will open up with a white bg that is the size that you chose.

Now, lets make a simple background for your banner: a gradient. Out of the color scheme that you chose, decide on two relatively similar colors (i.e. dark and light blue, pink and red, black and grey, etc.) for this background. Now click on the "Blend Tool" button on your toolbox (located in the second column, and 5th row).

You'll see a black and white box a little below that (they look like they're kind-of overlapping) - these are called your foreground and background colors, respectively. Click on the foreground color (right now, its the black) and new window will pop up. Using the left half of this new window, select the first of your two colors. Click OK and do the same with the background color (right now its the white).

Click and hold your mouse somewhere on the left of the white space, in the new document that you made. While still holding, drag your mouse to the right side. A line should appear, as you're holding, between the two sides. Let go of the mouse button and a gradient with the two colors you chose should appear on the document!

A gradient is always a great background to start with.
If you have any questions, or don't understand anything about what i typed, be sure to ask

[Kaz]

What's the recommended size for a banner in my forum?

[alterheld]

Well it depends on a few factors.
There's THIS GUIDE thats provided in the graphics requests board as a base for requesting.
But that still doesn't help you decide what size. You might want to think of resizing your forum to a specific pixel width and have the banner that same width. Because, by default, a forum is a percentage wide meaning it will resize automatically if the window it's in gets resized (try making this window smaller and you'll see what I mean). If you already have a set size for your forum width, ignore the rest of this post and use that number.

To make a forum a strict width you have to put a code into your forum's headers/footers. I'm not sure if you know how to do this, so im going to just give a quick run-through. Go to the Code Database on this forum and search for "Resize Forum Width" (by pressing ctrl+F to search on that page).

Follow the instructions by putting it into your global footer. Go to the admin panel on your forum, click Edit Headers/footers, and edit your global header/footer. Copy and past that code into that footer.

Now, the red text is going to be the size of your forum. Keep it a number, not a percentage, in order to make the forum a set size. anywhere from 700 to 900 is a good size.

[Kaz]

Words can't express how embarrassed I am.

With respect to editing the "Forum Width" (750)marked in red. It says to edit it to desired width, but it won't allow me to edit the number. Is 750 the max?

PLEASE DISREGARD THIS POST. PROBLEM SOLVED.

[alterheld]

So I take it you got it down then? Ready for the next step?

[Kaz]

Hey!

I seem to be having trouble mixing the purple and green gradient without blue showing up in the middle of the banner.


My site:http://ni-gen-discuss-forum.proboards.com/index.cgi

[alterheld]

ah, well thats a problem that's not avoidable; since you are choosing to use two completely different colors: when blending from one to the other a middle color usually must be made. Think of a color wheel.

whats in between green and purple? blue!

like i suggested earlier, choose two similar colors - maybe for your site a purple and a lighter purple. THEN maybe make the background of your forum that lighter purple, so it matches.

[Kaz]

Will do!

I'll make the proper adjustments and get back to you right after.

[Kaz]

The only problem I'm having is filling in the white boxes which contain the envelope icons to a shade of purple, but can't find the correct slot to place the color code in that will make them the shade of purple I want.

my site:http://ni-gen-discuss-forum.proboards.com/index.cgi