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This is a printable version of the article found at http://onepc.net/reviews/0035/ To print, press CTRL + P on your keyboard now. |
By Kelly Lu (kellylu@onepc.net) - June 5, 2001
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Making these small buttons shouldn't be too tough or use up too many resources, right? Wrong! If you're looking to create attractive buttons for your website, you're going to have to at least spend a few bucks on a image-editing package such as Paint Shop Pro for your button needs and then spend even more time fiddling around with its features just to create a simple 100x25 button; not very economical or efficient.
That's why today we're looking at a neat little program called ButtonFly by GOTO Software. ButtonFly is a program that'll, well, make buttons and more buttons until you're sick of seeing buttons! So, without further a do, let's check it out!
First Impressions
Upon installing and starting ButtonFly, I was greeted with a very smooth interface with butterflies in the background. Creating a new project involved all of a few clicks of the mouse, and the program even allows the user to pick between using up to 7 languages for their buttons (including English, "American,"-finally, a company that distinguishes "American" from "English"-French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch); a bit of overkill, if you ask me, but the extra language support is very nice to have.
Unfortunately, most new users will start to get a bit confused because of all the features built into the project window. Upon closer inspection and some random fiddling, I was able to figure out the basics of using the program. The project creation is split into three steps-template creation, data input and image generation. Let's deal with the template creation first.
Step 1: Template Creation
The template creation screen is basically split into 3 sections-the preview screen where one can see the button that they're working on, the feature navigation where one can browse and fiddle around with the numerous properties for the appearance of their buttons and a "Become Inspired" screen where one can open up another button and use it to help and design their own buttons. The entire window can get quite crowded with all these features and screens on lower resolutions.
Creating and customizing a template is very easy. One can set settings such as the background color (or texture), shape (such as rectangle or star), surface color (or gradient fill and texture), outline (for a border), effects (concave, convex, etc.) and, finally, the look of the text (font, alignment, etc.). As you can see, there are plenty of features to play around with to make any button that you please.
Another important setting is the button's image file type (you can choose between GIF and JPEG), transparency and even how the program generates file names for each of the buttons.
Step 2: Data Input
Once a template has been made, ButtonFly has a very easy interface to make mass numbers of the buttons, each with different text or images on them. Using a simple chart, one can input filenames for the buttons and the text that goes into each button-with room for multiple versions for multiple languages. This is by far the easiest feature to use and is a very good reason for anyone to use ButtonFly over just any image editing program since it allows very easy creation of different buttons using the same template.
Step 3: Image Generation
Ok, so now that we've got our templates the way we like them, and the text on the buttons that we want, it's time to generate the buttons themselves. With ButtonFly, it's simply a matter of point and click. Since we've already set the file names for each button in the Data Input step, all that's required is to set the output directory and then, with a click of a button, all the buttons are generated and exported! It's as easy as that!
Roll-Over Buttons!
ButtonFly even includes a utility to create those nifty RollOver buttons that, when the mouse is "rolled over" it, will change to whatever design you please! There's a button at the top of the ButtonFly window that, when pushed, will open up your web browser to script that will generate the necessary coding for you. All you have to do is input the two buttons (on and off) that you have created in advance (with or without ButtonFly, it doesn't matter) and the link that you want them to go to, and wham! You've got roll-overs! It's that easy!
There are two versions of ButtonFly, a free, time-limited version and a registered version that one can get for $49.95 USD. For many users, the 30-day free version will actually do, since making buttons shouldn't take any more than a few hours to do. If, however, you wish to make changes, or add buttons that you created more than 30 days ago, then you're going to have to register it. At $49.95 USD, the price is a little steep, since if you consider the fact that this program can only make buttons, especially for those who only need it to make changes or additions once in a while. It's so easy and quick to make buttons on a massive scale that, if you're a professional or amateur web designer who tends to create and manage multiple websites, I see no reason not to register it as it will shave off hours in the production process--just think of it as an investment!
... hmm... maybe I should use this to add some buttons to OnePC...
Pros
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