You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

It doesn't necessarily need to be Photoshop.

jkman wrote:

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

It doesn't necessarily need to be Photoshop.

I guess not, but I've seen some pretty fugly stuff come out of other programs.

LH Justin wrote:

jkman wrote:

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

It doesn't necessarily need to be Photoshop.

I guess not, but I've seen some pretty fugly stuff come out of other programs.

I've seen ugly stuff come out of photoshop more often than the rest of the graphic programs. The fact is that the 90% of the people that use Photoshop 1) downloaded it illegally and 2) DON'T use it's full potential.

The problem is not the program, it's the user. If the user is REALLY good, he could make a really good graphic effect with any decent graphic program. I really hate when people refer to a genre of things using a name from one of those things. (MP4 players referred to as iPods, Phones with Touch technology referred to as iPhones, Operational Systems referred to as Windows, Graphic Programs referred to as Photoshop, etc)

For something like creating a skin, Gimp would do just fine, and it's free so you don't need to download it illegally.

Stef wrote:

LH Justin wrote:

jkman wrote:

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

It doesn't necessarily need to be Photoshop.

I guess not, but I've seen some pretty fugly stuff come out of other programs.

I've seen ugly stuff come out of photoshop more often than the rest of the graphic programs. The fact is that the 90% of the people that use Photoshop 1) downloaded it illegally and 2) DON'T use it's full potential.

The problem is not the program, it's the user. If the user is REALLY good, he could make a really good graphic effect with any decent graphic program. I really hate when people refer to a genre of things using a name from one of those things. (MP4 players referred to as iPods, Phones with Touch technology referred to as iPhones, Operational Systems referred to as Windows, Graphic Programs referred to as Photoshop, etc)

For something like creating a skin, Gimp would do just fine, and it's free so you don't need to download it illegally.

I've never seen any good web design come out of GIMP, and GIMP and all these other free programs are just Photoshop copies so it might as well be called Photoshop. And although pirating is frowned upon it doesn't effect someone's skill with the program.

You need to have some knowledge with any graphic program (ie. GIMP, Photoshop) and some CSS, then implement them together to make a really good theme.

And also, @ Justin and Stef - Photoshop is for professional and experienced graphic users only. GIMP is more for people who are just getting used to graphics. That's why you hardly see any good creations come out of GIMP as you do with PS. Just because their getting the hang of creating graphics, then they upgrade to PS when they think their ready.

Walshy95 wrote:You need to have some knowledge with any graphic program (ie. GIMP, Photoshop) and some CSS, then implement them together to make a really good theme.

And also, @ Justin and Stef - Photoshop is for professional and experienced graphic users only. GIMP is more for people who are just getting used to graphics. That's why you hardly see any good creations come out of GIMP as you do with PS. Just because their getting the hang of creating graphics, then they upgrade to PS when they think their ready.

I couldn't stand GIMP, so I went to Photoshop.

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

Is there any program to start

Monk1 wrote:

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

Is there any program to start

I started out with some old Photoshop ripoff call PhotoPlus. It worked a lot like a dialed down Photoshop CS3. I use CS5 now, so it was a few years back the last time I tried it.

I've also heard good things about this Paint.NET thing, but I'd just hold out for Photoshop if you're going to get serious about graphics.

LH Justin wrote:

Stef wrote:

LH Justin wrote:

jkman wrote:

LH Justin wrote:You need two things. Photoshop skills and CSS knowledge. You just need to explorer the CSS classes of whatever version you have and make them work the way you want them to.

It doesn't necessarily need to be Photoshop.

I guess not, but I've seen some pretty fugly stuff come out of other programs.

I've seen ugly stuff come out of photoshop more often than the rest of the graphic programs. The fact is that the 90% of the people that use Photoshop 1) downloaded it illegally and 2) DON'T use it's full potential.

The problem is not the program, it's the user. If the user is REALLY good, he could make a really good graphic effect with any decent graphic program. I really hate when people refer to a genre of things using a name from one of those things. (MP4 players referred to as iPods, Phones with Touch technology referred to as iPhones, Operational Systems referred to as Windows, Graphic Programs referred to as Photoshop, etc)

For something like creating a skin, Gimp would do just fine, and it's free so you don't need to download it illegally.

I've never seen any good web design come out of GIMP, and GIMP and all these other free programs are just Photoshop copies so it might as well be called Photoshop. And although pirating is frowned upon it doesn't effect someone's skill with the program.

I think for PS users PS is the best and for GIMP users GIMP is best..It will be better to use the program you use to make graphics and CSS knowledge to make a website...

I will have to side with Photoshop in this topic. I tried GIMP and un installed it 5 mins later. Photoshop is the industry standard for web design and graphics, it has to be the standard for a reason.

Please read this topic on creating skins..
/hitskincom-support-f48/skin-style-and-aesthetics-guidelines-t47086.htm

Gimp is a great start.
I currently use gimp- been using it for just under a year, and haven't upgraded to Photoshop yet xD
(I'm planning to)
But if you're starting, I would recommend going for the free stuff first, just to get a hang onto things.
You can download Gimp here (it's free):
http://www.gimp.org/
After that you'll need to know your way around css. My advice is, go through your "basic forum's CSS" change a few numbers, colors and pictures, to get to know what each part of the code does. (That's how I began xP) It's alot easier than it looks. One week of playing around, and you'll be able to create your very own skin
Good luck

Well this has kind of skewed off topic, so I'm going to lock it now. And I personally don't recommend using GIMP then switching to Photoshop because they have completely different UIs.