Expert: LizaL - 7/8/2006

Question
I would like to make a square border that I can place a graphic inside.  Something maybe 1-3 pixels thick.  Every time I use the Rectangle tool (constrained) it always fills the square.  How can I just make an empty square?

Also, I feel bad about wasting your time over such a beginner question, do you know of any websites that have really basic tutorials?

Thanks in advance.

Ken  

Answer
Hi Ken,

You're not wasting my time! But at the end of this post I'll put some links to some tutorial Web sites that might help you.

As far as making a square border, it's probably going to work better for you if you first make a new layer, then draw a box using the marquee selection tool, and then use the Stroke command to outline the box you draw.

The marquee selection tool is the top left one in the tool palette. You can make a new layer easily by going to the Layer pulldown menu and selecting New > Layer. Then drag the marquee selection tool and make your border the size you want. Select the Stroke command from the Edit pulldown menu, and you can choose a stroke color and the width.

Like this:

http://little-works.com/all_experts/border.mov

(The movie might take a minute to load.)

As you can see, the border is white, and since it's on its own layer, I can move it all around independently of anything else. To add an image, just drag it in to the file with your border, and put its layer below the border's layer.

Like this:

http://little-works.com/all_experts/border2.mov


Some decent tutorial Web sites are;

CBT Cafe:
http://www.cbtcafe.com/photoshop/basics.htm

University of Texas has a decent tutorial section:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/photoshop7/

Janee.com
http://myjanee.home.insightbb.com/tutorials.htm


Hope this helps! Please post back if you need more help.

Lisa