So What Does Web 2.0 Design Mean?

By Tanicos Cosmin

Which are the most important aspects of Web 2.0 Design?

1. Centered Layout

2. Fewer Columns

3. Separate Top Sections

4. Simple Navigation

5. Bold Logos

6. Bigger Text

7. Strong Colours

8. 3d Effects

9. Gradients

10. Reflections

11. Rounded Corners

12. Cute Icons

What to avoid?

Here are a few things that you must avoid when designing a Web 2.0 website:

1. Animated GIFs, blinking logos or banners, anything that can distract the main contetn atention

2. Flash Web Sites

3. Websites without CSS

In this tutorial you will learn how to create Text Reflections in Photoshop.

1. Create a new Document, or if you already have the text in another document that you want to create a reflection skip this step.

To create a new document go to File, New and set the width and height as you wish. I will choose a 300px width and 100px height document size.

2. Enter your desired text

Select the Type tool from the Tools Palette and start typing your text.

3. Duplicate the Text Layer

Because our reflection will be vertical , first we need to duplicate the text layer. Select the layer containing the text, right click on it choose Duplicate Layer and the click the Ok button in the new dialog box that opens.

4. Rasterize the Duplicated Text Layer

This method is used to make the layer directly editable.

Attention!!!

After you rasterize a layer you cannot make further modification to this so check for spelling errors, colors and so on. To rasterize the duplicated text layer right click on it and choose Rasterize Type.

5. Flip the duplicated layer vertically

Next we have to flip the duplicated layer vertically so we can create the text reflection. With our duplicated layer selected (in our case "Text Reflection Tutorial copy" we will go to the Edit menu, choose Transform and then Flip Vertical.

6. Nudge flipped layer

Next we will have to drag the flipped text below the initial text. To obtain a perfect vertical movement keep the Shift key pressed when dragging downwards.

7. Edit Layer in Quick Mask Mode

Select the duplicated layer which contains our vertically flipped text and then from the Tools Palette click the "Edit in Quick Mask mode" button or press the Q key on your keyboard.

8. Select the Gradient Tool from the Tools Palette

We have to use the Gradient tool in order to create the fade of our reflections. Click the Gradient Tool from the Tools Palette, or press the G key on your keyboard. Make sure you are still on the Quick Mask Mode.

9. Choose the Gradient

From the Options bar we will choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient. Click the arrow next to the gradient bar to open the Gradients palette.

10. Drag the Gradient over the Text

Next with our Foreground to Transparent gradient selected we will drag from the center of our text downwards to the bottom of the text...Do not exceed the text area!! After you release the mouse button you will see a red fade over the text.

11. Edit in Standard Mode

After you have finished with the gradient it's time to exit the Quick Mask Mode. To do that click the same button which is now called "Edit in Standard Mode" or press again the Q key.

12. Delete the Marquee Selection

The result will be a Marquee Selection around our vertically flipped text. Next we will delete the selection by pressing the Delete key. Remember that you must have the flipped layer selected. After you delete the Marquee Selection the fade will appear giving us the Text Reflection. You can press CTRL+D to deselect the selection.



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