*lol* Now all I have to do is maybe round out the ends, or do some 3D button versions

~Karen

p.s. since I never got any official reply as to whether we can use our own designs, I guess this thread could be considered as on OK from TPTB? *lol*

Thanks.

Ok, I knocked up a few more in different colours (but for some reason I couldn't upload to my webspace?    ...so I had to use my webspace elsewhere. I hope it works here...)







*lol* hmm, I'm almost bored with this design already so I might experiment again 

~Karen

Hey, there's plenty Aussies here (count me in...S/E Melbourne) and I managed 2 (fellow Aussie) signups in my first week (...which was a while ago, so I'm not really a newbie <- I just haven't posted too many times here in the forum )

I don't see geographics being any issue at all -> if anything, that WS is from our part of the world so I almost feel it is home anyway (...well....at the very least - neighbours  ), and if the product is good, honest, and genuine, then thats exactly what will draw out many more Aussies ..Hey! I signed up for that exact reason so there you go! 

~Karen

oh, and p.s. I'm not sure if there are any other forums or groups specifically for fellow Aussie GDI'ers so I might start one up (I dunno if I can post link here, but I'll put a link in my profile...if thats ok to do that...well, if you don't see one there then you can always PM me )

I use many different software programs that are very user-friendly (sometimes I find these easier than picking up a pair of scissors and scrap-booking! *lol*), and some have free trials to download. My personal favourites would have to be PaintShop Pro (from   http://www.jasc.com/products/paintshoppro/ ) and AnimationWorkshop. There are also online tutorial groups for these programs if you need any help. The new age of hobby crafts is upon us 

Yes, I experimented more recently, and came up with another one I thought you'd like:



(I can't remember if I gave this one to you already or not though....and I was working on a similar one where the car drives into view first...maybe when I get more time I'll finish that one *lol*)

I not long ago created this one:



which is smaller, it is 468X30 and I think it looks more elegant. I can do that or similar in any colour.

Yes, thats ok, Tatjana - I've still not had time myself to complete my ideas for my website so there's no hurry at this point *lol*

~Karen

I'm not sure about how to do that exactly (but I believe the emails sent out via the 'invite' section already has this included? or do the recipients just simply ignore?), but I was thinking that as far as your family or friends are concerned, it would not be considered spam if they know who you are and you are communicating with them about it. If they are not interested they would simply tell you?

Another easier way to suggest is to recommend they "reply to this email with 'not interested' in the subject line", or something similar? So you can then take them off your list. (I dunno if this is what they mean in the "Anti-Spam" Policy)

hmm, I dunno, to my mind:

a. I wouldn't email directly anyone I don't actually know, not without any prior communication to see if they would be interested first before even thinking of giving them links.

b. I make use of the fully auto-mated mail-outs available through the 'Leads' area of the GDI member area to play it safe.

I hope this helps

~Karen

Yes, thats the link I tried. I queried them in regards to something else also, but have not had a reply to either

~Karen

Hi Natasha,

I still don't know for sure if we can design our own banners as no-one has responded one way or the other yet.

The program I used is Paint Shop Pro, and a trial version is freely available for download (as well as for sale at a greatly reduced price for older versions) at the Paint Shop Pro section of the Jasc Software website. The one I got was PaintShopPro7 which came with Animation Workshop 3.

I first designed the background in PaintShopPro on a canvas size: width 468 X height 60, using the floodfill tool, and changing the foreground colour & stroke style to gradient. (There are many other choices including different colours and textures, and various other tools to design anything you want)

Then, on a new layer, I added the car (which I'd previous changed the colour of by using 'colourize' in the colour drop-down menu)

Then I saved as a .psp file (so I could then use as a master which I could then edit to other colours and styles later)

When I got the colour/style combo I wanted I then saved as a .jpg file (which merges the layers) and then opened this file in Animation Workshop.

I then added the text effects from the 'effects' menu. I used 3 separate text passages so I had to do this 3 times. Here, you have a choice of colours/fonts/size as well as any selection of 'effects'. I used 'highlight' and customized, changing the text appearance, the flare size and colour, the effect length, and the frames per second (fps).

I then saved this as a .gif file (using customized settings for the optimization process...I could have made it a smaller file size with collapsed frames but it may have been of a lower quality and not come out the way I wanted)

And that's all there was to it.

I hope this helps.

~Karen

Well, see what you think of this one: http://karenbristol.ws/Page2/citrusbanner1.gif

It may take a while to fully download, then you right click on the pic and then click 'save picture as' to your hard-drive....upload this to where-ever you store your files, then you would need to incorporate this into your webpage using the html code:

<a href="http://website.ws/kvmlm2/my.dhtml?sponsor=YOURMEMBERNAME"><img src="http://THEPLACEWHEREYOUUPLOADYOURFILE/citrusbanner1.gif" border=0></a>

Only problem is, so far, is that I emailed support but haven't received a reply yet

~Karen

Thanks

I knocked up only 2 in a hurry, but I had a few other colours in mind, as well as other ideas for design.

~Karen

Thanks

Yes, it was mainly the colours I wanted to change (to go with various site backgrounds), but as I'm always coming up with ideas, I wonder if I'd have to have approved every one of them.

~Karen

Thanks Tatjana,

For purposes of demonstration, I have examples here:

Using a currently available banner: http://karenbristol.ws/

Using self-designed alternative banner 2: http://karenbristol.ws/Page2/page2.html

Using self-designed alternative banner 3: http://karenbristol.ws/Page3/page3.html

I should email links to support maybe.

~Karen

Is it possible for me to design my own banners? or do I have to get permission/approval from GDI first before I can use them?

ie. It would be nice if I could have a selection of colours and content depending on which (of my own few w/sites) would suit best.

~Karen