Tutorials

I have written tutorials on many aspects of web and graphic design. They are listed by category to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Many of the tutorials were written back in 1998 for the web site I had at Fortune City, called "The Tangled Web." I have taken the time to revisit all of those tutorials and to rewrite them to reflect the current state of web design. For example, I have added information about using cascading stylesheets or new versions of PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro where appropriate.

HTML Tutorials

You won't need any fancy programs to follow the tutorials in this section. You can use notepad to create the pages and still get the same results. If that thought horrifies you, consider this analogy: If the only cooking you do involves heating up frozen dinners, then you're stuck with whatever is offered. If you learn how to cook, using real ingredients on the stove, then you can make anything you want.

  1. Working with Links - Links are what HTML is all about. You need to provide links from one part of a page to another part of that same page or from one page to another page on your web site or someone else's.
  2. Using a Bordered Background - Bordered backgrounds can be found all over the web. If you're wondering how to use one without having your text run into the border, this tutorial will show you how.
  3. Working with Tables - Although using tables for page layout is considered old fashioned, there are still times when you will need to use tables in your pages. (I haven't rewritten this tutorial yet to reflect changing attitudes towards using tables or the use of CSS with tables, so keep that in mind when you read it.)

PaintShop Pro Tutorials

The latest version of PaintShop Pro is PaintShop Pro X. As far as I know the menu commands have not changed significantly back to at least version 7.0 and although commands might be in different places in the menu system, things worked pretty much the same otherwise in PSP 6 as well, so these updated PSP tutorials should work just fine if you have PSP 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, or 9.0 instead of PSP X. If you find something that is different, please let me know. In one or two cases, I've included tutorials for PSP 5.0 or information about how to do something in PSP 5.0 but that is only because I originally wrote the tutorial for that version. I don't have it on my system or any system that I have access to, so please don't ask PSP 5.0 questions.

  1. Creating a Bordered Background - Now that you know how to use a bordered background (If you don't read my tutorial on the subject!) let's create one for you to use.
  2. Creating Glowing Type - This tutorial was originally written for PaintShop Pro 5.0 but I have updated it to the current version. Follow this tutorial to create text that has glowing edges.
  3. Getting a Clean Bevel on your Bordered Background - The title is almost longer than the tutorial. This technique can be applied to many different types of bevel borders.
  4. Creating Outlined Text - This tutorial has three sections. The first gives directions for PaintShop Pro 5.0, the second describes how to do the same thing in PaintShop Pro 6.0, and the third discusses the more drastic changes that make the job even easier in PaintShop Pro 7.0 through X.

PhotoShop Tutorials

Some of these are PhotoShop versions of the PaintShop Pro tutorials and some were created specifically for PhotoShop. All of these tutorials were written using PhotoShop CS2, but they should work for other recent versions as well.

  1. Creating a Bordered Background - Like the tutorial of the same name in the PaintShop Pro section, this tutorial will show you how to create a simple bordered background.
  2. Creating Glowing Type - Use PhotoShop to create glowing type. Layer styles on the latest version of PhotoShop make simple glows easy, but I'm going to show you how to create multi-color glows.
  3. Getting a Clean Bevel on your Bordered Background - The PhotoShop version of the PaintShop Pro tutorial.
  4. Automating your Work with Actions - When you are making web graphics, there are certain things you will find yourself doing over and over again. Make life easy on yourself and record an action. With actions you can repeat multiple steps with the click of a button.
  5. Quick & Easy Gel Buttons - Yes, another tutorial for making gel buttons. But this one is easier than most. Gel buttons in only six steps? Yes. Enjoy.

Microsoft FrontPage Tutorials

I have included the few FrontPage tutorials that were already written but I don't expect to create any more unless I get specific requests. Look for a Microsoft Expression Web Developer section in the near future.

  1. Creating a Microsoft FrontPage Web
  2. Using Microsoft FrontPage Navigation Components
  3. Create a Photo Album with Microsoft FrontPage

General Tutorials

These tutorials talk about web design in general terms. Tutorials in this section might cover such topics as web site planning, content creation, and resources for software and webmaster services.

  1. Essential Elements
  2. Free and Low-Cost Software for Web Design