Button Workshop Features

The Overview page has offered you a "bird's eye" view of Button Workshop. We will now list the most important features that you can experience first hand when you download your free trial copy of Button Workshop.

	Create an unlimited number of buttons for your entire creative project.
	Each button is dynamic, supporting eight states: Normal ("idle" or "up" state), MouseOver, Clicked, Disabled, and the same 4 states in Downed mode, when the button enters the depressed or toggled state.
	Buttons and states are almost entirely independent from one another, so you can vary all visual aspects of the buttons and their states to achieve the artistic effect you want.
	A grid panel lets you see all your buttons and all their states at once (screenshot).
	A Preview panel displays a WYSIWYG view of your creation, letting you interact with your dynamic buttons with just a flick of the mouse (screenshot).
	Output your work as a collection of images representing the states of every button.
	Choose the graphic format most suitable for your project: JPEG with control over compression/quality level, GIF with transparency if desired, 8-bit or 24-bit PNG with optional transparency, and 8-bit or 24-bit BMP (Windows bitmap) format.
	Obtain an HTML file that brings all your buttons together, maintaining the exact layout you have chosen.
	JavaScript code that lets your dynamic eight-state buttons "come to life" is generated for you, automatically.

	Create entire navigation bars or panels, with full control over the layout of the buttons: vertical column or up to 3 horizontal rows.
	Buttons can partially overlap if desired, giving you even more flexibility.
	Button position can be further adjusted individually, if necessary.
	Use a solid background color or a texture of your choice as Global Background for your entire set of buttons.
	The Global Background will show through any transparent or semitransparent areas of the buttons.

See the Samples Gallery for a few examples.

	Use an unlimited number and variety of custom button shapes by loading them from any suitable image file (which can be textured and partially transparent).
	For a more classic look, use the basic button shapes: rectangle, oval/ellipsys, and adjustable rounded rectangle, all with optional border.
	Compose your buttons using multiple independent layers: Shape, Texture, Glyph (icon), Caption, and Molding.
	Use as few or as many layers as required, and adjust their blending (transparency), position, and other properties to achieve the desired special effects.
	Control all visual aspects of buttons, for all buttons in the project as a whole, for a specific state of all buttons, for a specific button in all its states, and finally even for a specific button in a particular state.
	Improve Caption text appearance with font antialiasing (smoothing), as well as an optionally blurred shadow, with all aspects of the font and shadow appearance fully customizable.
	Easily achieve seamless texture transitions with most images using the texture Mirror mode.