Create your own Bebo skins
I have put this tutorial together in order for you to create your own bebo skins, if you have any queries or need any help on the following just email me using the webmaster button the the left.
Skins can be created with limited knowledge and the use a drawing package such as Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop.
The 7 images required to create a skin are detailed in the diagram below.
The images can be either jpg or gif format, animated gifs can also be used although it is recomended to limit any amimation to 4 or 5 frames in order to keep some colour depth.
An example of an animated skin can be viewed here
If you preview the skin you will see that in order to keep the main_bg file under 40kb the gif animation had to be reduced to 2 colours and limited to 4 frames.
The module_bg and Module_footer files can be animated with a colour depth of around 32 colours using 10 frames, this can be seen in the module header of any of my Scottish skins in the misc section of the site.
Below is a list of the size limits for each picture.
nav_bg = 10kb
main_bg = 40kb
main_icon = 1kb
main_footer = 1kb
module_header = 10kb
module_bg = 10kb
module_line = 1kb
You may need to reduce the quality of your image in order to meet the above size limits. In paint shop pro, go to save as then select options and then choose run optomizer. You can now adjust the bar to compress the image down to the the size you require. If yuo are aiming for 40kb, set the bar so that it reads 37 or 38 to make sure.
When you are done creating your images go to your Bebo profile- change skins - roll your own - add a new skin (add name etc...) - upload graphics
depending the the colour of your Bebo skin you may have to change the stylesheet once you have uploaded your graphics. In edit-sylesheet change the background and font colours to suit your skin. If you want the main graphic file (main_bg) to appear above your profile text etc... change the padding top to around 375. If 375 is to much increase or decrease the padding top value until you are happy with the position of the skin.
Once you are happy with the layout of your skin click use this skin.
If you wish to submit your skin to this website simply add www.newskinz.com into one of your pictures and then email myself with a link to the skin on darren@newskinz.com