Site graphics

[Macaws]

OK, my site is boring, and needs new headers, buttons, and graphics. Is there a program that can do this?

 

[tonykgv]

Try looking at Pagebreze, google website graphics freeware and see what comes up.

 

[player6]

I find it more expressive if you design your own graphics, a few days at the computer with photoshop is all the skills you'll need.

 

[Sohail]

If you want to do it the professional way, then Photoshop is the program for you, it's the most popular graphics editing and creation program available for Mac and Windows, nothing beats it. It may take a lot of time to getting used to but it's well worth it in the end. For me, I know a lot about it just from experience and playing around, I never had anyone to teach me how to use it. If you need more info on the latest version of Photoshop (CS3), then visit this site :

http://adobe.com/

But seeming as you have probably never heard of this program, you would have a lot to learn about web and graphics designing.

Hope this helps.

 

[epoclaen]

Be aware that Photoshop CS3 is $649 though. It's expensive but it is the industry standard for creating graphics. Corel has a similar product called Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that's only $99. It's not quite as good as Photoshop though and not as popular. If money is an issue then "GIMP for Windows" is lauded as the free Photoshop software solution but I haven't used GIMP in years.

This software usually includes a simple "buttonize" menu option that creates the 3D look of a button and you can also apply a drop shadow effect if desired. There are lots of other effects that can be applied to other graphical elements of your website as well.

I was recently introduced to http://www.colorblender.com/ too where:

The main feature of the tool is to have a complete "blend" of 6 matching colors created when choosing only one "base" color.This makes it very quick and easy to create a color scheme for e.g. a website, as you can instantly use the colors for text, backgrounds, links, border etc.

Jeff

 

[Sohail]

It may be expensive, but it's worth it, I know this from experience.

 

[SilentCivilian]

I would highly suggest using Photoshop. You would need HTML skills as well to code your layout. If you're just designing buttons and other graphics like that, then you don't need the HTML, except to edit the pages on your site.

 

[gamox]

As long as you create a new image with photoshop as people above said, name it the same name as the original image you have on your site, and as long as it has the same size, there will be no need of knowing the html code. Just overwriting the original image would do the job.

 

[leafypiggy]

yeah...but when you slice a layout in PS...it automaticly parses the html into tables. but yall probably already know this...

 

[Macaws]

Well, I have heard of photoshop, and i had a CS3 trial once, but that was long ago. I am not very experienced with it though.

 

[shaft1120]

If you seriously want to do graphic design Photoshop is the only way to go. If it's something that you only want to play around with for little things then you could always try one of the others suggested above that are a lot cheaper or free. Also if you wanted to get used to a lot of what Photoshop can do at a fraction of the price you could get Photoshop Elements for $100. It doesn't allow you to do everything that full blown Photoshop does but it's a good place to start learning the application and it's a lot cheaper.

 

[EdanadE]

I agree~ Photoshop is the best to use. Although if you want something for free use Gimp (opensource art-software media), although it doesn't quite make up for the many things Photoshop is capable of.

 

[koopa]

photoshop is the best but you must know it to design in it.

 

[DMG Online]

photoshop is the best option

 

[freecrm]

I've been using graphics packages for over ten years, back when Dreamweaver was still owned by Macromedia.

Today, of course, it's all Adobe and the latest CS3 Suite packages Phooshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and a whole host of goodies.

I use it all the time but could, if pushed (very hard) use Paint Shop Pro or even GIMP.


Depends what you are after - if you want a simple button, use an on-line freebie. Us Photoshop freaks are die hard puritans that prefer the more unique look that it can give you.