Using Swap-Out Graphics from a PSD File

The following generic tutorial will assist you with using a PSD file associated with our swap-out graphics. The exact steps or terminology would depend on your graphics software. We have included a few keywords at the bottom of this tutorial to assist you in finding the exact process in your graphics software's help section.

1. Make a backup copy of all files in the original template package before beginning this tutorial. ;)

2. Open your graphics software program that is compatible with the .psd file format. If you don't know if your software is compatible with .psd files, download our sample file and try opening it into your software as described in Step 3 below. Download PSD Sample File

3. Go to File > Open > browse your hard drive for the .psd file. It should fully open showing all layers. If it does not or an error message appears, your graphics software may not be compatible with this file format. Consult your graphics software help files for assistance or your graphics software's tech support area of their website. PSD files are proprietary to Adobe Photoshop; however, many of the newer versions of other well-known graphics software packages have made their software compatible with this widely used, popular file format. It really doesn't matter what graphics software you use, but how familiar you are with your software of choice. The more you understand what it does and how to do it, the more effective your web design and web graphic design processes will become.

4. Select the layer you want to work with and depending on your software's options, you can copy/paste it to another open canvas, optimize it as a .gif or .jpg directly from the original .psd file, or pull it off (drag it off) of the original .psd onto your work area which may place it into it's own new canvas.

5. Then optimize the new image (layer) as you would any other .gif or .jpg file being careful that the new optimized image is the same exact size as the original image you want to replace (swap-out).

6. Save it with the same name and in the same location on your hard drive as the original image you want to replace (swap-out) within YOUR.BasicTemplate.

Try the following keyword searches within your graphics software to find the tools used in this mini-tutorial: "select layer", "optimize", "optimize for web", "PSD format", "PSD".