Hi Tracy, Thank you so much, I am happy that you enjoyed looking at my site. I made it with MO basics and great tips from folks I met here on the message boards. Once upon a time, someone asked me for tips about the header and colors. I'll paste it here for you. If you have any questions, please ask.
There are a couple of things going on with the colors on my site. Take a look at this page as an example for what I’m going to explain.
First, the dark grey/black area surrounding every page is from a pre made color scheme from the site designer. Since this color issue is related to designing the header and adding the photo, I’ll get back to it later.
Next, the dark blue background on this page was created using the color generator at: http://thexbanners.com/Documents/bgcolor.htm Note: once you’ve found a color you like, and inserted it with the html module, you can copy and paste the module from your page onto any other page on your site you wish to be the same color.
The gold color on the example page is from the page designer. On this page, the photo and text are inside a two column table using a light blue/grey color fill. This is inside a one column table using the gold fill. (For tables, start with a generic table, one column, one row. Then, add columns and tables as you work.)
Beneath that table is a small one. The inside has text and grey/blue color from the page designer. It is inside a table with a background photo. Right click on the table you make, choose properties and choose to insert your own background. For more about tables see: http://click-to-score.com/officelivedesigntips.aspx
Below the contact us module is a three column table with a photo background inserted. (The photo is of the ceiling of our chapel.) Inside each column is a one column table with a different photo. And, inside each of those is a one column table with color fill and text.
There are many possibilities of what to do with color. I’ve only explained a little about where I got mine. I hope this helps. If you have a specific question, please let me know.
Now for the header, photo and color scheme. First of all, the header layout choices and color schemes work together in a way that actually provides you with many more options than you would think. To see how it works together, first choose the photo you want as your logo.
Size it in your photo manager program to about the size you want. My logo photo is 309x240 pixels. Upload it into the image gallery. In site designer, select your logo photo, “next to title” and “large/true size”. If the size is too big or too small, delete it, go back to your photo program and adjust. Of course, you are working with a copy of the photo and never the original.
In header, type some text. You can change it later, but for now put some in so that you can watch what happens to it as we go along.
Under theme, choose “general, no photo”.
Skip to navigation and choose one of the three arrangements. It is possible to remove the navigation bars, using Advanced features, going to Properities and unchecking the navigation box. I chose top navigation, but I don’t actually use it. The grey line under my title and logo photo is really the navigation bar. Left navigation leaves a wide blank space on the left side of the page, but it does seem to leave more room for tabs. On the other hand, too many tabs on the left side can be overwhelming.
Go to color and select the first set. Go back to style and select the first option. Take a look. Next go down the list of style options watching how your text and photo are affected. Don’t bother looking at the symbol for the style options – it does not give you a good idea of what the finished header will look like. (I’m using the last one on the list. I guess this is why it took me half the night to do.) You will notice that different colors from the color scheme are featured with different styles. So, it is worth while to take the time to look at ALL the combinations. For me a factor was what color the navigation bar would be since it would be underlining my header. So when the nav bar turned up orange and purple again and again I didn’t choose those combinations. When the nav bar turned up grey (with the color set “shadow”), I couldn’t see my text, so I changed the text color to bright green. Suddenly, I hit on a combination that I really liked. Go to the next color set and go down the list of styles again. I’m not going to do the math, but there are MANY choices when you do it this way.