Iframe Layout I - Designs / Layouts tutorial
- Added: Dec 14th, 2004
- Level: Medium
- Author: Melfina
- Reads: 62,357
- Description: A tutorial on how to do an iFrame layout from the very beginning.
Iframes can't be viewed in certain browser, specially old versions, so be careful. Same introduction as for the Div layout tutorial applies. Have fun!
Starting the layout
Create a new document. You can use any size you want your iframe layout to be, I chose 450x300
pixels. You can set the background as transparent, white or foreground color, it
doesn't matter.
Open the image you want to use for the layout. I chose a Kingdom Hearts image you can find
on CS Gallery. Now copy the image (Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C) and paste it on
the new image you've just created (Ctrl+V or Edit > Paste).
If the image is too big, you'll need to make it smaller. To do so, go to Edit >
Transform and drag one of the corners to the center and move the image (clicking
somewhere on it and draging) until you like the size. To apply the transformation double
click somewhere on the image.
Blending to the background
Now we'll need to put a color as background. Make a new layer and name it bgcolor
for example. Drag it under the image layer. At this point you can also rename the layer
containing the image to image or something like that. This is not necessary,
though.
NOTE: The bgcolor layer will have to be always at the very bottom of all layers.
Fill the new layer with the color you want. Take a color with the eyedropper tool from the
image background. Go to Edit > Fill and make sure Foreground color is
selected from the dropdown. Click OK.
Adding effects
If your image background is not plain you may want to blend the image with the background.
You can make this with a big soft eraser (like 100px), changing the opacity for a
better result. Now you're the point where you can add any effects, brushes, text and/or
patterns. Be creative and original, make it look pretty!
Making the box for the iframe
Now we'll make the area for the iframe. With the rectangular marquee tool make a selection
exactly where and how you want the iframe to be. We could also do this with shapes to make
nifty iframe areas, but you'll learn it yourself with practice :) I left a little more
space on the top to put a title, you may want to do so too.
Without deselecting the area, make a new layer on top of all layers. Name it iframe bg
for example. Select as background color the one you want as background color for the
iframe and go to Edit > Fill and select Background color from the
dropdown. Click OK.
Again, without deselecting the area, make a new layer on top of all layers. Name it iframe
border for example. Now fill the area with the color you want the border to be by
going to Edit > Stroke. Select all the image (Ctrl+A or Select > All) and
again go to Edit > Stroke
Now we'll change the iframe background opacity. Click on the iframe bg layer and
change the opacity to what you want, I changed it to 50%
Final touches & customizing
You can add the title if you want now. Take the text tool and write your site title. Right
click on the text layer and click on blending options to add any effects you want to the
text.
If you like this tutorial why not 
digg it or 
add to del.icio.us?
Tutorial © Melfina. Do not reproduce in any way without previous permission from the author.