Jen
Creative Chick
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:05:41 GMT -6
Here's how you can make menu, title and category bars for your forum.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:08:40 GMT -6
In this tutorial I'll be making a menu bar but the steps are exactly the same for making the other bars. If you're using custom menu buttons and/or a graphic in place of the names of your categories and titles, then you should load those graphics before you take the screenshot. If you don't you run the risk of your bars not being tall enough and therefore causing the bar to repeat. Take a screenshot of your forum. On a Mac it's command + shift + 3. Click here to see how in Windows. Open your screenshot in Photoshop.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:11:30 GMT -6
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:21:20 GMT -6
If your bar is going to have a pattern or gradient like the samples in the first post which are the same the entire length of the bar, then take the crop tool and drag a small section within the forum's border which for me are the black lines, red arrow. Your border might be a different color. But if your bar is going to have a design in only one section of the bar like below. Then you'll want to crop the bar its entire length like below. To apply the crop double click within the bounding box or click on the check mark in the options bar.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:23:27 GMT -6
Double click on the Background in the layers palette to make it a layer.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:26:09 GMT -6
If you had to crop the full length of your bar like below... ...you'll now want to fill Layer 0 with a color.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:30:03 GMT -6
The bars in the first post were all achieved by applying a gradient overlay to Layer 0. To choose a gradient click on the one showing in the Layer Style window.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:34:04 GMT -6
You could also try applying a pattern overlay to Layer 0. To choose a pattern click on the one showing in the Layer Style window.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Dec 17, 2009 20:38:51 GMT -6
When done choose File>Save for Web & Devices... Then choose PNG-24 with the settings below. Upload your bar to Photobucket. The link you'll be using is the Direct Link which you'll find directly under your bar. The codes to show all three bars can be found here.
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