How to create a blogskin, as requested from somebody from my tagboard.

Well, this is too general a question, I dont think I can help much, but I can give you tips.

1. You don't need photoshop to create masterpieces and it's not true that all nice skins are created by photoshop. I've seen stuff that sucked real bad.. even if created by photoshop. So don't be too discouraged if you dont have photoshop, I think you can do fine even with Paint, it's all about exploring and using creativity.

2. When creating a skin, it's best to use a canvas the size of your computer resolution (800x600, 1024x768 etc...) so you can get a better view of how your skin will look like on your browser, which really helps a lot because you might not know, your image might be out of place or something and it's really helpful if you are creating a skin with uses of tiled background (See previous tutorial).

3. After you're done with your skin, duplicate it 3 times. Which means that when you finish it, make three copies Image>Duplicate while still in layers mode. For the first copy, you save it as it is, in .psd format. Because you can always go back and edit it properly, like removing or editing a particular layer. For the second copy, save it in the usual way, flatten and all the jpg gif stuff. For the third copy, crop out your background (this applies to columned backgrounds or backgrounds with patterns, see previous tutorial). Best to save all these in a folder. One folder for each skin. That's what I do always. Also save your codes too, in the same folder with your skin images.

4. If you're doing a huge blogskin, say, big blends... Do not save it in jpeg (be kind to dialup users) or smth... Go for slicing, something really cool that you can do in ImageReady. (I'll do tutorial on that... too long to explain here)

5. In photoshop, where you have all the windows (like layers window, navigator windows..etc)... you dont need everything there, or only the layers window. I have a window with four tabs, the Layers window, Navigator window, History window and the Character window. Four most important things when creating a skin. Layers, for, you know, the usual thing, Navigator, for zooming in to do precise features, History window for deleting actions, because you can only do Ctrl+Z once, Character window, for editing my text. So the four most basic things you need when creating a skin (and of course the tools), the others, like colour palette etc, cross them off.

Okay.... That's all I can think of right now. And yes I do live by these rules, though not really the first and the fourth one.