Here's a list of common questions....if you have a question that's not answered, visit our website at www.bannermakerpro.com. The website also contains a FAQ section that may have updated information. The address for the web faq is www.bannermakerpro.com/faq.html.
How do I add my button or banner to my web page, and how do I point it to a web site?
Banners and buttons get added to HTML by using the IMG (IMG stands for IMG) tag within the A tag (A is for linking).
Here's an example:
< A href="http://www.bannermakerpro.com"><img="banner.gif"></a>
"http://www.bannermakerpro.com" - this is where you would put the website or web page that you want to link.
"banner.gif" is the name of the file on your website. If it is in your main directory, it does not need a directory attached (for example: "images/banner.gif").
What's the difference between a background and an image?
A background is streched to fit the image, so if a background does not fit the Banner Size, it is streched to fit it. An image uses the default image size.
What the difference between inner and outer bevels?
It only matters if you use a border. If a border, inner bevel, and outer bevel are all used on the same graphic, the order of bevels and borders from inside to outside will be outer bevel, then the border, then the inner bevel.
I'm trying to create a vertical banner, but the program says I don't have enough room. Why?
If you are using a computer with a screen resolution of 640 X 480, you may not have enough room to make vertical banners. Try using a larger screen resolution, such as 800 X 600.
I saved my image to a GIF, but it looks different from the Preview. Why?
The resolution of GIFs are lower than for JPEGs or BITMAPs. This is most noticeable on dithering. Sometimes Bitmaps are incompatible with the GIF format, and will look really bad when the GIF is saved. If this happens, try saving the bitmap first as a JPEG, and then adding that image (as a JPEG) to a new banner.
How do I make multiple lines of text or text with two different fonts or attributes?
To make multiple lines, first click on the New Text button. Make your changes to the text, and then click the New Text button again. Duplicate text will appear. You can click and drag each of the separate text items to different areas on the banner and change the text and properties such as color, font, and style.
How do I make lines?
Use the shape tool and make rectangles with a height or width of one.
Which format do I use for my web pages, JPEG or GIF?
It depends. If you are doing animation or transparent areas, you need to use the GIF format. If you are including images or are using many colors on your graphic, you may need to use JPEG. Generally, any text looks better on a GIF than it does on a JPEG. However, images such as faces or people, look better as JPEGs. Dithered images, such as the rainbow background image, look much better as JPEGs than GIFs. If you are having trouble with a particular image, experiment with the different settings to get the best results.
How do I add my button or banner to my web page, and how do I point it to a web site?
Banners and buttons get added to HTML by using the IMG (IMG stands for IMG) tag within the A tag (A is for linking).
Here's an example:
< A href="http://www.bannermakerpro.com"><img="banner.gif"></a>
I've made my animated banner, but the speed is too fast/too slow.
For animations, the speed is set for EACH frame. To set the speed for a particular frame, click on the file name in the GIF list, then select the animation speed. Then select the next file name and change the animation speed for that frame. Do this for every file within the list.
This also allows you to specify different animation speeds for different frames. For example, you can set the speed of the final frame to be much longer than the previous frames.
Can I add a background to the list of backgrounds that appears on the Background tab?
Yes. Put the background in the directory specified by the Default Background Directory on the Options tab. You may need to exit and re-enter the program to see the background in the list.
I've created some text and I've selected the border, but now I see white dots in the text. What's happened?
This can happen on Windows NT with the Plus! Pack installed and Windows 2000 when font smoothing is on. To tell if font smoothing is on, right click on the background, and go to Properties | Plus! and see if Smooth Screen fonts is checked.
To get around this problem, set the gradient on the text to be a color just a shade different from the text color. This should fix the problem. Also, sometimes changing the size of the font helps as well.
The program is turning my white background to a light shade of gray when I save it as a gif. What happened?
The program dithers the colors of the text to background of image to make the text smooth. Unfortunately when it does this, the gif converts it to 256 colors and sometimes mismatches the background. To get around this, select a white color from the opposite spectrum from the text. For example, if the text is blue, go to the background color, select red, and then select a white color from the top of the band all the way on the right side. This will prevent the white color from washing out.
I've added an image to my banner, but when I save it as a gif the colors are distorted and it doesn't look as good as the preview. What happened?
Unfortunately, gifs are limited to 256 colors. An image such as a person's face contains much more than 256 colors. When the rest of the banner's colors are added into the palette for the banner, the less frequent colors are removed, and the rest blended to get to the 256-color limit. For best results when using images with greater than 256 colors, use a plain background and as few as colors as possible.
How do I use non-English characters such as Chinese characters with Banner Maker Pro?
Banner Maker Pro can handle non-English characters that are true-type fonts on all tabs. For non true-type fonts, add text on the Angles tab instead of the Text and Text+ tabs.
How do I make shape buttons that don't have a background or the background is transparent?
To make a shape button without a background, follow these steps:
-Set the size of the banner to be a bit larger than the shape you are using.
-Set the background color to be a color that you are not using.
-Add the shape and text.
-When you save the button, save it as a gif and set the transparent color to be the background color.
I'm having trouble with transparency. Either the colors aren't correct or white is turning off-white. What's happening?
Anti-aliased text, such as the text on the text and text+ tabs, can cause problems when used with transparencies. On anti-aliased text, the text slowly blends into the neighboring color, which causes the transparency to get confused and not know where to start or stop the transparency. In cases like this, try unchecking the anti-aliased text, or use the text on the angles tab.
I'm getting a "Color Table Overflow error message" in my transparent animations or colors are bleeding through on my animations. What is happening?
All of the gifs in your animation are getting condensed into only 256 colors, and some colors are being replaced with inappropriate colors. To fix this, run the on-line gif cruncher on the individual gifs making up the animations and chose (and save) gifs that have fewer colors. This will fix the problem.
Do you have samples of banner and buttons created with Banner Maker Pro available?
Sure. Visit our website at www.bannermakerpro.com.