[GEN] Official Banner Makers Thread III: Revenge of the Banners!

Welcome to the third edition of the Official Banner Makers Thread!
v.1 | v.2


This thread?s purpose is to support the Banner Makers of the JC. Here, you can do the following:

Learn general information about JC banner making

Discuss your banners and the banners of others

Offer hints and tips on image modification for banners

Find out what others have learned about specific graphics programs

Ask questions of other Banner Makers (related to making banners. "How did you do that?")

Give or ask for banner suggestions (images, colors, design, themes)

Share fonts, images, and other banner design tools

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[hl=skyblue][b][u]Banner submissions[/u][/b][/hl]

There are two general circumstances under which banners are to be submitted: banner competitions and YOU taking the initiative.

1) Banner competitions - Periodically, banner competitions will be held to create a new banner for a given forum. These competitions are generally run by forum moderators, and run over a period of a month or two. An announcement is made in Communications and the forum in question to inform people of the running of the contest, and at the end of the contest the Mod Squad votes on the entries. The winning banner(s) are then implemented in the forum, and the winner is given VIP status for a limited time. The Mod Squad may also hold banner competitions for Halloween, the winter holidays, and other special occasions.

2) Taking the initiative - If you haven?t seen a banner change in a given forum in a while and are interested in creating a banner, contact the moderators of that forum via PM and inform them that you?re interested. If they have no plans to hold a banner contest, they may be perfectly happy to allow you to design a new banner for the forum, though they may reserve the right to turn down the finished product. If you create a banner, you can offer it to forum moderators. You MAY be given VIP status if it is uploaded, but don?t expect it. If you have an idea for the default main banner, contact [hl=darkblue][color=chartreuse][b][i]Grimby the Hutt[/i][/b][/color][/hl].

[u][i]A note about holiday banners:[/i][/u] If there is a particular holiday coming up that you wish to have a custom banner, feel free to make one, but be sure that it maintains a strong Star Wars theme. These banners will replace the main default banner for a day or two, and then will revert back to the default banner. Holiday banners for holidays that last extended periods of time (like Lent and Ramadan) will not be put up for the duration of the period; they MAY be put up at the very beginning and/or the very end. These banners must be approved by [hl=darkblue][color=chartreuse][b][i]Grimby the Hutt[/i][/b][/color][/hl].

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[hl=skyblue][b][u]Banner Basics[/u][/b][/hl]

Here I will attempt to touch on the basics of banner making. For more detailed information on banner specs and further help, see the links at the bottom of this post.

The JC banner is made up of two distinct pieces: the images and the style sheet.


[b]Images[/b]
[image=http://www1.theforce.net/jc/images/test/bannerexample-full.jpg]
The banner artwork is comprised of six separate pieces (some are optional):
[blockquote][color=darkred][b]Main Image[/b][/color] (Size: 764x110) This is the main piece of the top artwork. [i][u]Variations:[/u][/i] Can be shorter in width and up to 950 wide, but the height must ALWAYS be 110.

[color=darkred][b]Background Image[/b][/color] (Size: 764x110) This is the filler image for the rest of the top. [i][u]Variations:[/u][/i] Must match the height and width of the main image in most cases.

[color=darkred][b]Side Image[/b][/color] (Size: 30x465) This is the image that extends along the left side of the page. (Optional) [i][u]Variations:[/u][/i] Can vary in height, but should never be more than 35 pixels wide.

[color=darkred][b]Curve Image[/

 

I just submitted a brand new main banner.

Edit: Thanks for the comments guys! I will be updating my site's banner guide soon with more detailed information on the Google boxes and a couple new style sheet classes that have been added to the board code.

 

Mine was up for a couple of minutes.

Glad you all liked it though.