MAKING YOUR NAVIGATION BUTTONS:

1. Open a new image 150x60, transparent background, 16 million colors.

2. Flood fill with your background graphic. (On your styles buttons, click the little black arrow and choose the pattern option. When the pattern box opens, browse through the available graphics until you find the one named background.jpg and click on it.)

3. Click on your flood fill tool and fill your graphic with your background image.

4. Change your foreground color to null and your background color to the dark color you chose for your set.

5. Add a new layer. Layers/New Raster Layer and name this layer "text". 

6. Decide what navigational buttons you would like to use for your set.  This is important if you want all your buttons to be the same size.  Here are some choices: "Home", "Back", "Next", "Graphics", "Family", "Interests", "Pictures".  Okay, you get the idea.  Now choose the button with the longest word and we'll make that one first.

7. Click on your text tool and type "Interests" (or the longest work you have for your set), using the font of your choice. (I have used the font "Formal", size 24.)  Check Floating and Antialias. Click Okay and move your text to the desired position. (I moved mine to the lower right so that I could add a graphic in the upper left corner.)  We've put the text on it's own layer, so you will be able to reposition it later if needed.  Deselect. Selections/Select None.

7. Add your graphic/tube to your image by adding new layers and placing the graphics on separate layers.  By adding our graphic on separate layers, we can make adjustments to each graphic individually.

8. On your new layer(s) add your graphics (add as many as you'd like) resizing and positioning to your liking.

9. Make your text layer active and add a drop shadow, if desired. (I used the following settings:
Horizontal and Vertical: 1; Opacity: 80; Blur: 5; color: black.  

10. After adding the drop shadow, and moving my graphics and text, I ended up with this:

9. Once you're happy with your graphic save it as "button.psp" to the folder you created for these graphics.  By saving in psp format, you can use it to create additional buttons in the future.  You will also have a visual reference for the font you used, in case your forget. (I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me!)

10. Duplicate your image and save your copy as "interests.jpg" (or whatever button you made) to the folder you created for these graphics.  Click on Yes for any warning message.

The following steps will apply for the remainder of your navigational buttons:

11. Activate your "button.psp" image and duplicate it.

12. Click on the layer you have your text on and add a new layer. Layers/New Raster Layer.

13. On this new layer, add the text for your next button. (In this case I am using "Home".)  You will end up with this (screenshot at 200%):

14. Move your text to align it with the first letter in the work "Interest", so that you end up with this (screenshot at 200%):

15. Deselect.  Selections/Select None.

16. Add a drop shadow, same settings as before.

17. Make your text layer active (the one with the word "Interests" on it) and delete it. Layers/Delete. You will end up with this (screenshot at 200%):

18. Save your image with the appropriate name as a jpg file.

19. Repeat steps 11 through 18 for each navigational button you want for your set.

Page 1 - making the background

Page 2 - making the top/bottom/side graphics

Page 3 - making the welcome graphic

Page 4 - making the navigation buttons

Page 5 - making the guestbook graphics

Page 6 - making the dividers and bullets

Page 7 - putting it all together