i hope that helps...ill try to get a screen shot of what im talking about to help you under stand more...one minute

Here's what I mean:

https://www.stardock.com/products/skinstudio/help/make_start_menu.htm

Since I cut each section right on the slice lines, each part SHOULD fit together when imported into SKS. But they don't. And it's driving me insane!

i dont use ps to cut, i use another program thati fnd more accurate for myself, called serif photo plus.

I created my start panel with a slight drop shadow and transparent sides so that it wont be completely touching the side of the screen when applied. So the sizes of the various parts (Userpane, Programs, etc) will include the actual start panel aswell as the drop shadow and transparent sides (as shown in the image that I posted earlier). So I'd rather not use the method you mentioned about "no blank space around the sides to deal with."

Basically, here's how I do it:

I draw the entire start panel (with drop shadow and extra room around it so that it doesnt hug the side of the screen when applied). Then I merge visible so that the entire panel and shadow are one image. Next, I set the guides for each of the 5 sections. Here's where some of the problem occurs --- I used to use the rectangle tool to select each part one at a time (say, the userpane), I would then copy (also tried copy merged). Then I'd open a open a new document and paste it there. The problem I found with doing this, is that the new document canvas size is only as big as the image piece but it DOESNT include room for the transparent edges (which I want). SO,I've recently been taking a different approach:

After creating and merging the startpanel into one image on one layer, I go to Channels Tab, create a new Alpha channel, and make it active (so that the entire document looks black, Then I select the section (say, the userpane again), copy the Alpha selection of the userpane in Channels, open a new document, I then de-activate the Alpha channel and go back to the startpanel layer in the Layers tab on the Start panel document, Copy that, then paste THAT selection into the new document. But it pastes the userpane selection in the middle of the new document. So I nudge the image to the edge of the side where it would meet with the other sections (in this case, I nudge it down a bit to match up with where the tops of the programs and Places List would be; careful to nudge it just to the edge and not beyond that. Doing it this way allows me to keep the same width and height of the selections from the original startpanel image including the "blank" areas (which I want to keep). But...... like I said, this method must also be flawed because when I import the 5 parts into SKS, they dont seem to match up evenly (EVEN THOUGH, all of the dimensions of all of the five sections DO add up to the dimensions of the entire original startpanel (which includes the "blank areas").

I'm thinking that the guides might be causing the issue. Here's my theory:

After setting up the guides to where I want the sections to be cut, using the rectangle tool (set to snap to guides). I think that when the rectangle snaps to the guides of each selection, perhaps it snaps to 1px INSIDE of the intended selection (thus, causing the selection to actually be 1px smaller that what I want) OR that it actually snaps to 1px OUTSIDE of the selection (thus, causing the selection to actually be 1px larger that what I want). If either one of these theories is correct, then the image sizes would be inaccurate.

My last method to solve this issue is to:

After setting the guides, I use the rectangle tool to select one of the parts (userpane), then crop it so that it preserves the "blank" areas, and I save it as Userpane.png. I then undo the crop, select the next part (say, programs) using the rectangle tool again, crop, save as Programs.png. I do the same for all five of the startpanel parts. I haven't imported the images that I did using this method into SKS yet. But I will post the results once I do.

I create a colored (green) section for the top margin, it fits in my slice lines.  It sits at the very bottom of the layer sets and is never used until I'm ready to slice.  I don't even turn it on.  I just control select that layer so I get the outline, then copy that portion of my merged startpanel.  Paste into a new document that is exactly that size because when you have something on the clipboard, a new document autosizes.  Save it.  Import it into SKS.  Viola.

Basically, Thats similar to my methods of using the Alpha channels (altho, more steps are involved in mine).  

Boy, what you all are doing sounds awfully complicated!

What I do, is open my whole start panel in Photoshop.  Select the slice tool.  (Make sure the slice guides are visible.)  Right click on the single slice that should encompass the whole start panel, select edit slice from the right click menu.  For the user pane, make sure it is the entire width of your panel, then make the height whatever you want....I usually make mine around 40 pixels tall.  Click ok.  Then right click on the second slice in the start panel (shoud encompass the remainder of the panel.)  Proceed as above...make your left panel (programs list) approximatally half the width of the whole panel, and however long you want, keeping in mind that your All Programs panel needs to be 30 pixels tall, and the bottom bar needs to be somewhere around at least 50 pixels tall.  Proceed as above for the rest.  Keep in mind that your right panel needs to be as tall as the programs list panel and the All programs panel COMBINED!  For instance, if you made your programs list panel 200 pixels tall, then your right panel needs to be 200 pixels plus the 30 pixels from the all programs panel together...230 pixels tall.  Once you get those 4 slices done, the bottom bar will be the height of whatever is left.  I then save these slices for the web in a folder in my working skins folder and then import each image into sks.

ortiz, if you are still having trouble slicing your start panel, you can send it to me, and i will do it for you.  Just click on my name here above my avatar, and there is an option to email me.

If you are starting a new skin and have the default skin template in SKS, you could do this:

1. Open each start menu piece in Photoshop. Do this by clicking the edit button for each piece in SKS.

2. Piece them all together on 1 document in PS. Be sure to keep the original sizes. For instance, if the top is 32 px, the middle (including right side, left side and more programs area) is 350px, and the bottom is 50px, then your document where you are piecing them together should be 432 px tall.

3. Draw guides so they align with the edges of each layer. The layers are the different pieces of the template.

4. Create your graphics.

5. Merge your graphics onto one layer. Using your rectangular marquee tool, draw selection boxes for each area (based upon the guides you drew earlier), then crop. You now have a piece.

6. Save the piece with an appropriate name like 'start menu top."

7. Undo a couple of times until you have your whole document again. Repeat until you have each piece finished.

This seems to be the easiest way for me. I've tried it other ways and had similar problems. I've never had a problem doing it this way.

Probably a good idea. Once you start, you can't stop!

Nice tip; Thanks.

Thanks for your help. Once I make the slice guides for each piece, what do I do next? (I'm not familiar with exactly how the Slice tool works). So, Once the slice guides are in place, how do I select each slice so that I can save each as its own .png image?

Like I said...try what you see here and when you find something that works, stick to it.