Free Website Headers: How to Customize for Your Website
Whether you are the owner of a new website, or an existing one needing a bit of ‘redecorating’ certain aspects need your consideration. You may want people visiting your site to see a very professional site. Perhaps your website caters more to children and family, and you want a family-friendly experience when they find your page.
Long gone are the days when web or graphic design work meant hiring someone to do all of your website work for you. This undoubtedly meant spending money to get exactly what you wanted. But even then, there was no guarantee how that was going to turn out. With so many programs now, you can have full reign to completely redesign the website you already use, as well as creating that stunning first website. One of the easiest programs we have found to work with yet is Photoshop.
With Photoshop, you can easily find yourself with a finished product in the style you really want in no time. By doing the work by yourself from your own office, on your own computer you are already saving money and we haven’t even started yet! By choosing to use this method of header creation, with the look and feel you want, you’ll only have to add it to your site codes. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Start by opening your Photoshop software and create a new image. You can now set the size of your image, which will be the size of your header, either by entering 1025 x 150 pixels (or the size of your webpage) or by using the image-size tools which are available to you in order to set the proper dimensions you want to be working with.
Selecting the image outline or header, select the tool resembling a rounded rectangle. Drag this pointer to the corner of the image found at the top left side. Now left click to draw a rectangle crossing from the left to right side of your image. This will show you the outline of your header section.
Continue by now selecting “Layer” from the navigation tool bar, which is found at the top of the window in which you are working. The next option you choose is the “Layer Style”, followed by “Add Drop Shadow” from the various options. There will now be a new pop-up window with the option “Drop Shadow, Inner Glow and Outer Glow.” Check the box in front of this option.
Next, you want choose the “bevel” option. This will result in the rectangle having a professional style with depth, added by your chosen shadow. Clicking on the “Layer” icon will add a new layer to your header.
Next, open the text tool, dragging it to the top left corner of the image. Type here the name of your website or company. You can play around with the font type, size and color to find the one you like best. Various text option tools can be found on the navigation bar at the top of the image.
Now we are going add some “oomph” to your header. Start off by selecting the rectangle tool, then left-clicking at the top right-hand corner. If you drag the pointer along the top of the header, you will notice you are creating a smaller navigation bar at the top of the image.
You can now click the “Direct Selection” tool, and by left-clicking on it you can select the rectangle. You will now see small squares appear in each corner. By clicking the lower left corner and dragging it toward the right, you will create an angled edge for this new navigation bar.
If you wish to add color or effects to this upper navigation bar, you would be choosing the “Fill” tool and making your choices from the options there. You can also crop and/or cut your image to any exact size you may need with the “Crop” tool.
You want to ensure you don’t lose this work, so click “File” then “Save for Web and Devices” and save this image. You might want to create a folder for all your business website information to keep everything together. Once you have save your new header, you need to upload it to the “Images” file of your website codes.
To properly add your new header to the pages of your website, you’ll be using it as a background image. It will need to be located in the first row of the first table of the website, right under where you see the head tag.
When all is said and done, you will see just how easy it is to not only create your own website headers, but how to do it for free. Depending on the nature of your website, you may decide to change things up for each season. Or maybe create different headers for other pages of your website. Why not? You can, and for free to boot!