VSB Template Photoshop Preset (Settings)

[FalloutDezignz]

Best Vista Style Builder PSD Template Preset Settings?

Little confused, I much appreciate any input, suggestions, or tips you may be able to give.

Lets say im going to start with a desktop theme template, and save it as PSD, or TIF for quick and easy editing later.
I seen many people had problems with there images being stretched on the start menu
resulting in pixel(y) corners, or mis-alignment...etc

Definitely want to prevent this from the beginning so later I don't have to hassle with it.
Current Photoshop(CS-5/6) settings for my template are:

1) Currently running on a laptop (Widescreen) so also wondering if i should leave the "Pixel Aspect Ratio" alone?
Current Screen Resolution on laptop - 1280x800

2) Does is really matter?
also wondering if my current screen resolution should have an effect on how big the size of my template should be, i was thinking start with a template in PS at 1280x800, instead of 1024x1024 (This way i know if it looks good on my screen then it should be ok on others as well who may have wide-screen)

Size: 1024x1024 (Pixels)
Resolution: 72 (Pixels/Inch)
Color Mode: RGB Color 16bit
Background Contents: Transparent
Color Profile: Working RGB: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels

When finished & Saving:

No Compression I will also assume would have better quality (Correct me if I'm wrong)
Interlaced - I use None ( Have no idea what Interlaced is)

When finished, the individual pieces are saved as PNG. BUT which way?
used to website design... so with a desktop theme which method is proper or better

file/Save As/ PNG
or
File/ Save for Web and Devices / PNG-8 or PNG-24

(blah all these new PS5/6 settings nowdays... i remember back when.... photoshop 7 ..... xp... blah blah... nuggets. (2hrs later)
blah blah blah and a pack of cigarettes was a nickel...
After this is solved I will post the PSD for others who may need it to save time with sizing/settings leaving only the design portion left for there projects.

Thank you

[Harvey Sewdin]

Bud, when making a theme you must try to make some part as small as possible. Because someone else may not have such a big screen or use such big images. example, if you have 10 items in your startmenu then maybe your startmenu height will be 500px(example) and maybe someone else is using 5 items then his startmenu height will be 250px. if your startmenu image is 100px(the height i mean), and it is stretched/tiled right then no one should have a problem. the image would automaticaly stretch/tile to 250px or 500px. BUT if the startmenu image was 500px then the person with 5 items would get a cutted image, because the image would then have to resize from his original size(500px) to a smaller size (250px). So try to make the images small.
If you have a high detailed image and you want that it should come completely maybe 200px width and the default size of that part is 100 px, then you can change the margin using CONTENT MARGINS. this puts a margin between your content (maybe text) and you bg-image.

About saving your images, i use standard PNG, not-interlaced. I haven't used PNG for web and devices because i think it slightly changes to colors to make it 'websave' (i am not so sure about it bud). Websave has to do colors, a whole different story.

If you want to know more, just ask then bud.

[FalloutDezignz]

Bud, when making a theme you must try to make some part as small as possible. Because someone else may not have such a big screen or use such big images. example, if you have 10 items in your startmenu then maybe your startmenu height will be 500px(example) and maybe someone else is using 5 items then his startmenu height will be 250px. if your startmenu image is 100px(the height i mean), and it is stretched/tiled right then no one should have a problem. the image would automaticaly stretch/tile to 250px or 500px. BUT if the startmenu image was 500px then the person with 5 items would get a cutted image, because the image would then have to resize from his original size(500px) to a smaller size (250px). So try to make the images small.
If you have a high detailed image and you want that it should come completely maybe 200px width and the default size of that part is 100 px, then you can change the margin using CONTENT MARGINS. this puts a margin between your content (maybe text) and you bg-image.

About saving your images, i use standard PNG, not-interlaced. I haven't used PNG for web and devices because i think it slightly changes to colors to make it 'websave' (i am not so sure about it bud). Websave has to do colors, a whole different story.

If you want to know more, just ask then bud.

Thanks Brother. I plan to mess with Tiled and prevent that from happening. I thought about it at first. seen other templates using tile instead of stretch for certain start menu sections so now i know 4sure that's probably the best method to use.
ill post further updates as they come.

[Harvey Sewdin]

good luck then.