Cool Text

• 1). Bring up the Cool Text website and click a glass design under the "Choose a Button Design" section (see Resources).
  
  
• 2). Enter the content of your icon in the "Text" box and use the remaining menus to style your icon. Type values in the "Size" section, for example, to create the dimensions of your graphic and click the drop-down arrows in the "Shadow" area to specify the type and color of the image's shadow.
  
  
• 3). Click the "Render Button" at the bottom of the page and then click the "Download Image" link underneath your icon to place this image file on your computer.
  
  

Glassy Buttons

• 1). Point your browser to the Glassy Buttons site (see Resources).
  
  
• 2). Enter number values in the "width" and "height" text fields to create an image that looks more like an icon instead of a button. For example, type "70" in the "width" box and "60" in the "height" field to create a rounded, square form. Click the "Reload" button to preview the icon's dimensions.
  
  
• 3). Use the menus on the page to build your icon. For instance, click the "Choose File" button next to the "upload image" title to select a picture for your graphic and click the color picker next to the "background color" entry to pick the shade for the background of your picture.
  
  
• 4). Click the "Reload" button and then click the "download zipped images" (png, jpeg, readme) link underneath your finished icon to get the icon file.
  
  
• 5). Access a drop shadow generator such as Drop Shadow or PicShadow (see Resources). Click the "Choose File" button, select your downloaded PNG or JPEG icon file from the dialog that appears and use the remaining menus to specify how you want your shadow to display. Click the "Get New Image" or "Generate" button to download your glassy icon picture with the shadow.