To change the background color you create document normally and push ok. then double click on the color palette. You then pick the color you want and push ok. You then want the paint bucket tool and just click on the canvas. I hope that answers your question and makes sence.

You'll need to right click on it to get it. Hope that helps

I am just starting to think with photoshop 6.0 I am looking forward to reading all these tips :) Clothing, Grooming, Wearables & Backgrounds~ http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=ladytaelorae

Im not sure which version you are using, but for me the tools when hidden are located at the top in the Window section, you have to be sure they are checked to show. If your version doesnt have "window" check each section, it is in one of them. If your other tools are showing, pointer, hand, etc.... you should see a square with the color fading from one side to the other, that is the gradient tool, if you right click it you can select the bucket tool instead. Each tool usually has a few other tools behind it like that. This site should help some http://www.tutorial9.net/photoshop/photoshops-basic-tools/ you will also probably want to look up text and layers at that site

I'm using photoshop CS3, so there will likely be some inconsistencies.. but that paint bucket tool can be hidden under a different tool. For me it's the gradient tool. If you look at the icons for your tools, some/all will have a small arrow in the bottom right corner. If that arrow is there, you can click and hold to display a drop down list of tools. See if your paint bucket tool is hidden somewhere else; most likely under the gradient. As a small guide: Photoshop works strongly on layers. You should have a layers panel on the bottom right of the photoshop window. If it's not there, you should be able to open it via the 'window' (sometimes 'view') drop down list on the heading bar for photoshop. I'm not sure of the terminology here, so I'll try to explain things by description. You can create layers by clicking on one of the icons at the bottom of your layer panel. It will be next to the bin icon, and looks like a page with the corner lifted. When creating your work of art, you will need to have the right layer selected. If you have a background that's white, you can make a layer on top of this to draw on. Subsequent layers on top of this will overwrite (cover over) those below without changing their content. One of the features with layers is to make it transparent, so if you adjust a black box over a white background, the box will turn gray. With each layer, you can double click it (in your layer panel) to bring up a heap of special effects that you can perform (one of which is setting transparency). Make sure you double click to the right of the name of the layer, otherwise the program will think you want to change the name. Other special effects are within the filter drop down list in the heading bar. Have a play around with it, but you will likely only end up using a couple of effects from this list. As an example of what I've said above; You can create some spiffy text by selecting your Text tool (or by pushing 'T' on your keyboard). Click on your page, this creates a new layer with a cursor to write something down. At the top of the screen you will see a range of normal text options; size, font, colour, etc. Write something onto the page; maybe 'Neomallers.com rocks my socks' :P You can move the text by clicking on the page (outside of the text itself) and draging. Double click on the layer lable in the layers tab (as explained above). Click on the 'drop shadow' option (not just the tick box, the tab itself) and change the distance and size sliders to about 4 or 5 (maybe more depending on how big your text is. Click on the 'outer glow' tab, and move the size slider to 2. Change the blending option (drop down list) to 'normal'. And then choose a colour; something subtle usually works better than a bright or rich colour. Click on 'ok' to accept the changes. In your layer panel, select the layer below your text. Then click on the 'create new layer' icon. You can also use the 'layer' drop down list and click on 'new'. With the marquee ('M' on the keyboard). Create a box around your text (leaving a fair bit of room around the edges). A neat trick with marquees is holding down the space bar to move the marquee rather than resize it. Holding down the shift key will constrain it so it's always a square. Once your happy with the size and position let go of your mouse button. Use the paint bucket and paint it black (or any dark colour). Then click on 'select' in the top drop down list. There may be some differences between versions here, but you should be able to find an option to contract/shrink (on mine, it's within a 'modify' sub-drop down list). Just shrink it by 1 pixel, or 2 if you've got large text. Then hit delete. This deletes out the inside of the black box leaving a border. If you've still got your marquee tool selected, click once anywhere on the page to deselect. Grab your paint bucket tool and change the colour to white. Then click anywhere outside of the box. You wont notice any difference, but this is a key process to our next step. Open up any image you like; something from neopets if you wanted. Get your marquee and select an area (any size, but) roughly the same shape as your box. Hit Ctrl-C to copy. Click back to your text/box page, and hit Ctrl-V to paste. Now this image is likely on the layer above your box, but below your text. To move this, click and hold the layer in the layers panel, and pull it down below your box layer. What should happen is the image disappears, but shows through the empty space made by your box. Next you will hit Ctrl-T (for transform). The screen will display a marquee style box around the image (which is mostly hidden behind your box-layer). Grab the top left corner, and while holding shift (to keep it's proportions), resize it to a size that resembles your box. You can also click inside the marquee itself and move it into position. Don't worry too much if it's bigger than your box, but don't make it smaller; you'll only see what's behind your opening. Once you're happy with the result, you should save your work (as a photoshop format). In your layers panel, you should have a small arrow in the top right corner. Click on this and look for a 'merge visible' option. This compacts all your layers into one layer. You can then get your marquee, select your box, copy, create a new page, and paste this in there. This creates a new image with only your new button (no white / working space around it). Save this as a jpg or gif. Make sure you don't save your original image again otherwise you'll lose your layers. You can either 'undo' or close without saving. Hope this helps get you started. And I'm sure you'll work out that when making changes like this, you have to be careful what layer you are on. But with some basic understanding like this, you'll be able to make a range, of banners and eventually lookups and images for petpages. Give me a private message if you wanted any more advice. You've likely guessed that I quite like helping. :) /wow, that's a lot of text...

Have patience, learning the concept of layers might take some time. Try some of the tutorials on rnel.net :) Also, if you can't find the bucket tool, try selecting the colour you want and press Ctrl + Backspace, or Ctrl + Del. As you might have noticed, you can select two different colours at the same time, and one of them key combinations will fill your canvas with one of the colours and the other with the other colour (can't remember which is which, I always pick the wrong one first anyway *lol*) But yeah, www.rnel.net have great tutorials, or at least used to... Hope that helps!