Annie's "How to Add Text to Blank Banners & Cards" Page

This is a page that gives tips for HTML using Front Page Express which is the program
that Annie uses. It is available free with Internet Explorer 4.0 & 5.0

"How to Add Text to Blank Banners & Cards"

QUESTION:
How do you add text to banners?

ANSWER:
My son Jake taught me how to do this!! Thank you Jake! Make sure you stop by his pages: Jake's Index Page lists all his different pages

1) Check out the different Graphic sites that offer blank banner's and cards. Graphic Garden, HoneyBrook Graphics & Ritva's Graphics are just a few that offer them. Check my Annie's More Graphics Page pages where I have tried to make note of those that do offer blanks.

2) Open the PAINT program that is in the start menu under "Programs" in "Accessories".

3) Go to "File" then "Open"

4) A box will pop up. Where it has "Bitmap Files" change it to "All Picture Files"

5) Now look for the folder that you saved the blank banners to. When I save graphics I try to put the initials of the graphic site that I got the images so that I can remember where they were from if I do use the images later. Also you might want to make a folder just for "Blank Banners & Cards" to make your work a little easier.

6) Choose the image you want to work on.

7) Now on the left of the paint program there are 2 columns of different symbols. Click on the "A" which is the 4th item from the top on the right column.

8) Now 2 new items will appear below the columns. Choose the bottom one. That will make it "transparent" or "see through" so that the background on the banner or card will stay the way it was created.

9) OK now if you make a MISTAKE don't WORRY!!! You can ALWAYS just start again or go to "Edit" and then click "Undo" and it will reverse the LAST thing you did. And if that doesn't work then just start over again. You can even go back to the graphic site and save the image again. One of the search engines is named YAHOO which is an acronym for: You Always Have Other Options. And that is pretty much the way the computer works. If it doesn't work one way then try it another way. So don't get all stressed out. Pretty much you can't really RUIN the computer, of course that is if you don't DELETE anything and if you "uninstall" programs instead of just deleting them.

10) Now type what you want in that box. Right now I think it is probably easier for you to just type one line of text. I know that you can make 2 different lines of text in 2 different sizes but I don't really have a handle on that yet.

11) Click out of the little box where you were typing, then click in the center of the "text box". Now you can "stretch" the box by slowly dragging the cursor over the outer box. Then when you see "arrows on both sides" just stretch the box. You can even move that box if you click on it and then move it. Just experiment on what you feel the most comfortable doing.

12) Once you type the text you will want to center the text. You can go to the beginning of the text and then hit the space bar to move the text. You can also hit the return key to make 2 lines if you want too!

13) Now "highlight" the text. Then right click and choose: "Text Bar"

14) Now choose the SIZE and FONT you would like to use.

15) Then click on the X and close that window/box.

16) Now choose the color that you would like the text to be. To do that keep the text highlighted. Now you will see a color chart or table near the bottom of the page. Click the color you like. Don't like any of the colors? Don't worry. Click on any color box then "double click". Now either choose one of those colors in the box that pops up or click on "define custom colors". Play with the shades and tones and find what you like. Click "add to custom colors" then click on the little box that will show with the color you chose. Now click OK and that box will close. Remember that for some reason when you save it, the color won't be exactly the same.

17) Now click anywhere on the graphic.

18) Now you are going to save it and it is important that you save it exactly this way. Go to FILE and choose SAVE AS.
Change the section on the "type of file" and make it "24 bit Bitmap" and click SAVE. (Remember to put it in the folder that you want it to be.)

19) Instead of saving it the way that you had it originally I usually put a "number" in front or after the name. That way I am not replacing the blank banner and can always start again.

20) Close the PAINT program.

21) Now you have a BITMAP image and that won't work and will be WAY too big in size for uploading and using.

22) So we are now going to fix that problem.

23) Go back to your Front Page Express Program.

24) Make a test or sample page. Make sure the new page is in your "blank banner" folder.

25) Now open that page. Insert the "bitmap" graphic. Now when you go to hit "save" what will happen is that the computer wants to save it as a GIF for you. How smart is that??? Ok choose YES. Now you have both the bitmap and the gif. You can now delete that page or save it for future banner making.

26) Most of these banners will be TRANSPARENT depending on the type of card or banner that you found to put text on. NOW some of the more creative banners that have graphics "outside the box" so to speak might end up with color around the outside of the banner.

27) Don't worry I found a FREE program and is easy to use to make the banners or any graphic transparent if you need to do that. Of course without breaking any of the terms that the graphics artists have for their images. Many don't want you to change or alter "graphics" but fixing a banner doesn't really "break" that rule.

28) Here is the Program that I use to make images "transparent":
It is one of Dr. Bill's FREE Software and called Transparent Gif.exe
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~verts/software/software.html
You will need to download and install the program. It is a great program, easy to use and FREE!!!!!!! It is the 7th program on the left column with a GIF image. Pretty much on this program "white" will be the color you want to click on then choose "make this image transparent". Also what I do here is the same as I mentioned above. I rename the new image with a number with the same name. Then I check to make sure that it make it transparent. Then delete the old one then rename the new one by removing the number from the name. It is that simple!!!

That should do it.
To see some of my page banners visit: Annie's Banner Page