For clarity's sake . . I'd look at it again (and repost) with a solid, light background.

I'm really, really bad with paint programs. I actually, dont have the expertise to create my own transparent background with a gradient; which is why I was trying to use one from another skin.

Don't laugh, but I spent my entire evening last night cutting and pasting and stretching a tiny background I found from another skin. I think I messed up the original background when I stretched it. It wasn't tall enough.

The problem I'm having is finding a transparent png that has this kind of gradient. Could someone please point me to a URL which has a background very close to what I'm using? I'm a complete newbie, I get completely lost when I see too many backgrounds!

Edit: I am looking and looking, under Adobe's website, there's a "Community" section with dozens of categories. I have no idea where to look.

I'm so desperate, I'm would GLADLY pay someone via Paypal to just do this for me... (adding top, programs list, bottom backgrounds to my skin). Anyone want to make quick money? As a last resort maybe someone can at least point me to a specific place to look.

For stuff like that, I think Inkscape should create good results. It's great for vector images.

http://www.inkscape.org/

Some things to note:

-WARNING: Anybody with lower number of colors will see gradients with banding and/or dithering. Keep that in mind when designing a skin with a gradient.

-Not all LCDs that claim to have true color really do. There was a big dispute about Apple's LCDs, which apparently dithered a lower number of colors to create their images.

-ALWAYS check it on multiple monitors, preferably both CRT and LCD.

-Check it with clean backgrounds! With transparent menus, often it's the background causing the problems.

-I really prefer to create stuff myself, since many skins seem to use images that seem to have been through JPEG compression at one point or another. JPEG creates artifacts, and many people use it for non-photos when they should only be using it for photos.

-You're going from (73, 73, 72) to (40, 39, 39). In other words, 33 levels of each color over a distance of 448 pixels. Each color band is about 13.57 pixels thick. Normally, the color difference is too small to be noticeable, but with a large gradient with small color differences on a monitor with large contrast, they may actually be visible. Some dithering may help.

I can probably create a gradient for you, if you know the color range and transparency you want.

The first gradient is MUCH more slight than the one you tried to do.. gradient 'banding' which is what your trying to avoid can be hard to get rid of in some case if not tackled properly.

Adding some slight Noise and using slight gaussian blur can help.. One thing, using Photoshop layer styles will almost always leave banding over a stretched out gradient, always best to rasterize the layer and use the gradient fill tool. In some cases, depending on color and \ or translucency it can be almost impossible to avoid it, especially on white over black images.

What you have there in your second image, considering the gradation.. is pretty close to being as good as its getting.

Even the Vista start panel has banding.

Hi Cobra, YES! Will you please make this for me? It's rare to find someone who is not only good at creating images, but also understands the intricacies of SKS/WB.

I will send you a private message and send you my skin. All I want is to replace the existing background which spans across top, all programs (left), and more programs with one that is super clean.. as good as it can be. Of course, I'll gladly pay you for this small job.

-Michael

Thanks cobra! BTW, I dont want you to get the wrong idea, I'm actually a senior network engineer supporting enterprise network OS's and respective hardware for over 18 years; and, extremely technical. Unfortunately, I've just never had the motivation to learn how to use paint programs... but with SKS, it looks like I'll need to be. I just started using pbrush.exe and Paint.NET about a week ago when I bought SKS.

BTW, your background is perfect! I didn't notice any imperfections even on my 46" 1080p display which all PC black levels (0-255) are distinctly displayed at 24bit color... I sit 5 feet from it

Thanks again for your help!
-Michael

Yeah, I've been using Inkscape and the GIMP. Underneath all of those pixels, it's all just numbers, usually integers from 0 to 255. Add some layers, and you can do some really cool stuff.

I used a Floyd-Steinberg dither to dither the colors smoothly instead of banding them. I find that helps for gradients that are problematic.

Hi Cobra... when you get a chance... please check your PM. Thanks a million!