Strawberriezy Graphics- formerly Jade's Backgrounds and Game Tips

Here is a page that will teach you how to make guild layouts. This might help some more than others, so for some this will only be an outline of what you need to do, for others it will be easier to understand. If you are the ones who believe this is only a small amount of information, then that is what it is to you. Meaning that I made it that way so that you would take some challenge into your own hands, and that you would try to experiment with things by yourself instead of depending completely on me. This tutorial was based on tools and effects in Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.4. Please ntoe that this tutorial works with most graphics programs, including Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.0. You can download a 30-day-free trial at Jasc.com if you do not currently own PSP 8 or any other graphics program. So, here is the tutorial!

To make a guild layout, you first need a graphic program of some sort (I will use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.4 in this tutorial).
First you need an image that you will be using for the layout. Search on google.com or altavista.com for images that you may be looking for, unless you already possess the image you want to use.
Next, open your graphics program.
Then make a new image that is 400 x 500 (or however large you wish- mine will be the given dimension).
Place the picture of whatever you selected earlier onto the 400 x 500 image. If your self-selected picture is too small, hit the undo button and then paste it as a new image. After you do that you can resize the image so that it is 400 pixels in height, large enough to fit onto your layout base. Then paste the resized image onto your base and go to the next step.

Now is where the paths split. There are several thing you could do now; several different layouts you could do. Select which one you would like to try to do, or read through them all, if you like..
Layout Type One | Layout Type Two

Layout #1: Half Image, Half Textarea Space

At this point you should have the image you want on top of the layout base. Make sure your image is only located on one side or the other, of the base.
Select the color you would like to use as a fill where the textarea box will go.
Cover half of the base (the side that doesn't have your graphic on it), with the color you choose. You can make it sloped, or wavy: however you like.
Save your layout, then find a place to upload it. (If you need help uploading, just go Here)
Now that your layout is uploaded, you probably want to place it in your actual guild. Go there, then place this code on your guild:
You may have to adjust the position of the text box. Check out this page.

Layout #2: Several Text Boxes; Fade Effect

At this point you should have the image you want on top of the layout base. Make sure this one takes up almost all of the space on the layout base.
If the image is centered, and there's blank space on the sides or where ever, you can take the paint brush and fill in the blank space with a color matching the image (whatever color you like).
Next select the draw icon and draw boxes where ever you would like there to be boxes (such as 'updates', 'new', 'contests', 'other', etc.)
Now, we begin on the fade effect: Select the air brush and open the "tool options" window. There, you should be able to change the opacity of the brush.
Fill in your boxes with whatever color you would like (probably white- works the best for a smokey, filmed effect). Do not have the white completely take over the box, you should be able to see what is under the boxes, if only a little bit- otherwise it just looks white and no fade..
After the boxes are filled in, save the layout.
Select the text tool and above or below the boxes write in what each box it supposed to be for ('updates', 'other', etc.).
Save again, then upload the layout.(If you need help doing that, just go Here)
Now that your layout is uploaded, you probably want to place it in your actual guild. Go there, then place this code on your guild:
For each box, add this code into the coding already there and position them where they are to go:
There! You should be all set. Remember, to learn how to position your textareas on your layout, check out this page.

There are a lot of other varieties of layouts, but those are the most common and useful.

Something not look right? Is part of your layout cut off, and the other edge stretched? You might have the height and width mixed up. Simply fix the height and width in the coding and it should look fine :)

Let's go HOME!