Free customizable buttons and gradients

Dynamic Drive (http://www.dynamicdrive.com/) has many free and easy to use tools available for use. With them you can create custom web buttons, custom gradients (backgrounds that gradually shift form one color to another), and favicons, which are the little icons that appear to the left of the URL in the browser. You can optimize web images online, and change them from one type of image to another (e.g. a .png to a .gif). There is also an email encryption tool, but it doesn't appear to play well with Outlook.

Regardless of which tool you choose, the process is the same: you enter the variables (e.g. for gradients, you give the desired image size and the colors to use) and Dynamic Drive generates the image for you. In some cases it will generate code for you. The site always gives clear instructions as to where to cut and paste the code into your website.

Below is a custom gradient using Dynamic Drive tools.


And, finally, a screenshot of a "favicon" added to a blog URL.