# Creating website banners **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787 "2013-04-04T00:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/1 "2013-04-04T00:37:56Z")
What are the best programs for designing website banners? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/2 "2013-04-04T05:47:32Z")
Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape is decent though, and is free. It doesn’t do animation but IMHO that’s a plus. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/3 "2013-04-04T19:29:32Z")
Personally, I’d say Adobe Photoshop rather than Illustrator, but that’s a matter of preference. [moderating] And since “the best” is subjective indeed, I’m moving this from GQ to IMHO. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/4 "2013-04-04T19:49:41Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:654787”] Personally, I’d say Adobe Photoshop rather than Illustrator, but that’s a matter of preference. [/quote] Seconded. Illustrator can be a good general tool but it tends to be overused when better tools for a job are available. Web stuff is raster; use a raster tool. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/5 "2013-04-04T20:13:13Z")
I just downloaded Inkscape, so thanks for the hint. I do have Photshop, which I got to do stuff for a conference (on their dime) but I find it almost incomprehensible - and I like command lines. Does anyone know a good book about it? I got Photoshop for Dummies, but I’m too much of a dummy. I’m not all that interested in retouching pictures, constructing banners is more like it, and I’d prefer something that says “you do this for this common task.” I really don’t want to learn the entire theory of graphics to change the color of a simple object. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/6 "2013-04-04T22:49:49Z")
I use Photoshop mostly for creating things rather than modifying things. I was quite disappointed when I signed up for an all-day “comprehensive” Photoshop course a few years ago to hone my skills and they spent all but about a half-hour on photo manipulation. Photoshop has amazing features for building images, vector manipulation, text manipulation, and so forth. Most of the books and classes ignore them, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/7 "2013-04-05T04:52:34Z")
You should look on Google for specific tasks to do with Photoshop instead of a general book on Photoshop. “embossed buttons photoshop” “website banners photoshop” “shadow cutouts photoshop” “reduce redeye photoshop” - stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/8 "2013-04-05T06:45:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I do have Photshop, … but I find it almost incomprehensible - and I like command lines. Gimp (perhaps even more incomprehensible than Photoshop 😉 ) has a [command line mode](http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/), though the command langauge is Lisp. :smack: (I don’t need Gimp enough to spend the required learning, but if anyone stumbles on a good tutorial, or starting examples, I might try this.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/9 "2013-04-05T07:40:44Z")
Graphics through a command line? The mind boggles. I’d definitely recommend Photoshop. When I was first starting out with Photoshop it overwhelmed me with its multiple tools, menus and options, but the key to it finally clicking in my mind was understanding layers. Once I saw their power, the step-by-step of assembling a design made so much more sense. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/10 "2013-04-05T09:10:25Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Graphics through a command line? The mind boggles. Performing the same transformation on every frame of an animated gif repeating mouse actions rather than using macros? The _fingers_ boggle. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/11 "2013-04-05T09:15:03Z")
I just use the Actions palette. ---
**Author:** ![the\_O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@the\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_O)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-website-banners/654787/12 "2013-04-06T05:00:48Z")
For PhotoShop instruction, try the Digital Tutors website. They have really very good instruction for dummies (self.) Here’s the generic PS address: [http://www.digitaltutors.com/software/Photoshop-tutorials](http://www.digitaltutors.com/software/Photoshop-tutorials) And here’s the introductory course address with a handful of free lessons: [Browse courses by subject | Pluralsight](http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/739-Introduction-to-Photoshop-CS6)