How to Make Tumblr Themes Using Photoshop

Use Photoshop's selection, guideline, coloring and text tools to create a basic theme for Tumblr. If you want to customize your theme, look first at themes others have made and determine the specific things you like about selected themes. If you want to install the theme yourself, work through some introductory CSS and HTML tutorials. Then study the specialized codes on Tumbler's "Creating a custom HTML theme" page. Tumbler's servers produce the actual HTML code for your blog from these codes.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Open Photoshop; then click the File menu's "New" command. Type "1280" in both the Height and Width text boxes; then click "OK" to create a new document sized to dimensions appropriate for Tumblr.
   • 2
     Click the vertical ruler at screen left; then drag until it reaches the "300" mark on the horizontal ruler above the canvas. Drag another ruler to the "800" mark, and drag a horizontal ruler to the "200" mark on the vertical ruler. These actions create guidelines you'll use to paint the different parts of your theme.
   • 3
     Click the dashed rectangle icon from the "Tools" panel to run the Rectangular Marquee tool; then drag from the top left corner of the canvas to the point where the left guideline crosses the canvas's bottom edge. Release the mouse to create the selection region, which you'll use to fill the left sidebar with color.
   • 4
     Click the upper color swatch from the "Tools" panel to open a color selection window. Click a color you want from the window; then click "OK" to complete your selection. Press "Shift" and "F5" simultaneously to fill the rectangular selection region you specified with the color you chose.
   • 5
     Click the "T" icon on the "Tools" panel to run the Text tool. Click the place on the left sidebar where you'd like to add text summarizing information about yourself you'd like to share on your blog.
   • 6
     Type "About me," then type the remaining biographical text you'd like to share with your blog's visitors. Press "Control" and "Enter" simultaneously to complete the text entry.
   • 7
     Use the Rectangular Marquee tool, the Text tool and Photoshop's coloring tools to create a heading for the page. Use the same steps as for creating the left sidebar to create the heading. Create the right sidebar the same way, including typing a "Topics" heading with the Text tool. Also, add text that categorizes your blog posts by topic, under the "Topics" heading. For example, under "Topics" you may type "Home," "Friends," "Art," and other topics you've written blog posts for.
   • 8
     Click the File menu's "Save" command; then type a name for your theme in the File name text box. Click "Save" to finish saving the theme. Use the instructions on Tumbler's "Creating a custom HTML theme" page to install your theme on your Tumblr account.