Entertainment Weekly | Media Corner: June 2012

One thing that can really make your website standout is a custom header graphic. A custom header graphic conveys to your site visitors that your site is original and professional. Unfortunately you may not have the skills or software to create such custom graphics. That's all about to change. Follow these step by step instructions and you'll be able to create your own customer header image for your website.

Step 1: Go to http://aviary.com and click on the button labeled "image editor".

Aviary provides a suite of web-based software tools for editing images and creating graphics. It replaces those normally very expensive software programs.

Step 2: Choose to create a new image from scratch

Choose the option to create your image from scratch and then type in the dimensions of your image. For a header you'll want to make your image much wider than it is tall.

Step 3: Choose the shape tool and pick your background color.

Using the shape tool you can create a rectangle of any color or you can add a gradient by choosing the gradient tool. If your choosing the gradient tool you'll want to left click at the point you want your first color to start and drag your mouse to the point you want your gradient to end.

Step 4: Add text or other images to your header.

Click on file> import in the top left on the image editor to add other images to your header. Click on the add text icon to add text to your header.

Step 5: Save and download your image header.

Once you're finished with your graphic click file> export image and save it to your computer. I recommend saving it as JPEG if you're going to use it on your website.