Creating a Graphical Background

I have been creating webpages for about 2yrs now, but i never managed to get into creating an attractive background. I would like to know what program designers use in order to create the backgrounds that have many different pictures blended in, turning the background into one awesome picture.

Please provide me with the name of the program that is to be used for this.

What these type of pictures are called and where i can find some info on how to get started and creating them.

Thanks to all that reply

PaintShop Pro from Broderbund
PhotoShop from Adobe
There are others, but this is what I've used & seen used. Personally, I've avoided using graphical backgrounds for webpages, I've never seen a really good one that tiled well or they are so big they take forever to d/l.

Well i am not really thinking of making an entire background, i would just like to make something that will go at the top of the page. For example: The name of my page placed on like a sceenic background of say a beach, and have the name of the page blend into the background. Say maybe some sun on some of the letters, sand on some of them, etc.

Any ideas on this.

Did you mean this or where talking about something else.


Any ideas on how to tackle a project like this.


Thanks for your help.

Ahh.... when you said backgorund, I thought you meant ... ah, well it doesn't matter. I get you now. That's cool. You might want to also invest a few bucks and get M-Clips. They have a lot of what you are looking for. But, you'll still need something like PaintShop or PhotoShop to do manipulations.

Can you explain a little more about the m-clips that you mentioned about. I have never heard about them, but would like to know what they are and where i can find them.

Thanks for your help.

I already have Photoshop, so that isnt a problem.

M-Clips is short for Master clips... it's a collection of various types of clip art. I believe the 50,000 image (all on CD) version sells for around 20-30 dollars, and is available at places like CompUSA, BestBuy, or almost any software store.

Thank you very much, i will look into that. And see what i can come up with.