Welcome to day two of my move to WordPress, and my attempt to be useful by sharing what I’m learning. This week I’m diving into WordPress customization, since I have a background in graphic design and HTML coding and don’t understand the phrase ‘walk before you can run’. Today – how to create your own header image using some great, free software to help you edit said images like a pro.
Turning Your Photos Into Professional Headers
First, check your theme’s allowable header dimensions in the theme details section (eg. 960 pixels wide and 262 pixels high). If you just want to crop your image, open it on your computer with Microsoft Picture Manager, select Edit Pictures, then in the side toolbar which pops up, select crop. The panel on the right shows your new picture dimensions, allowing you to drag it to the correct size and save. It’s the easiest way I know! (And sorry I don’t know a similar program for macs. If anyone does, leave it in the comments. 😀 )
Now you have a blank, accurately sized canvas to work on. So MAKE A COPY, and have some fun with these free tools:
Useful (for a start) because you can work on pictures from your own computer instead of having to upload first, Paint.NET is like Microsoft paint only a billion times better. Free, and easy to download and use, it’s great for those who pine for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator (like me) but could only pay for such magnificence with old paperclips and a bit of string (like me). I’m thinking one day I’ll do a whole post on Paint.Net and its features, but for now I recommend having a muck around anyway – and as the website says, it has unlimited undo functionality!
Raewyn Hewitt said:
Thank you so much for giving me somewhere to start. I know I need to sort out new headers for my wordpress and twitter accounts and had NO idea when to start… Now just need to sort out a photo…
The new blog looks great by the way!
Katherine Amabel said:
Thank you! I’m also just about to post something on creating your own sidebar widgets, which can be great for customization. Watch this space!
Pingback: Designer’s Choice Part 2: A Paint.Net Tutorial For Creating Awesome Headers « Beyond The Hourglass Bridge
Pingback: Customizing Your Blog Link Colors: A HTML Tutorial « Beyond The Hourglass Bridge