Click, Click, MySpace Makeover

Using a set of free online tools you can completely re-design your MySpace with just a few clicks of the mouse. You can add advanced effects to photos, create animations or hide your MySpace friends list without writing code.

All of the action takes place at LunaPic.com. This site is extensive and offers a large number of tools and free themes to help you customize your MySpace page. The focus here will be on the tools that will get you the most benefit with the fewest clicks.

Make Pictures More Interesting

One of the best features of the site is the simple to use photo editor. The editor runs entirely in your browser, so there is no software to download or install. Simply click the browse button on the site's main page and pick an image to work with. LunaPic also supports the ability to pull an image direclty from the web if you have the link.

Once you have an image, you can use the drop down menus to apply effects to the photo. The site allows you to add multiple effects so you can layer on the creativity to create something truly your own. The one-click undo feature allows you to go back to any previous edit instantly, making experimentation painless.

Most of the filters tested provided very impressive effects. However, a couple of the newer filters still seemed to need work. One example is the tanning filter. This filter promises the beach look, but the results are questionable. In sample images it seemed to adjust colors far outside the skin tone range. It tended to tan the background as well as the subject. The "Censored box" effect, which adds a movable censor bar would be far more satisfying if it could be rotated independently from the rest of the image.

Cropping and performing other photo editing tasks is also possible with the editor. While not difficult, the steps involved might not be intuative if you are accustomed to working with traditional image editors. The site compensates for this with instructions that change after each step.

When it comes time to save the image, you can save it back to your computer, or (also with just a couple clicks) you can have your file hosted on ImageShack. If you choose the hosting option, you will be given the code necessary to display the image on your MySpace page.

Saving the image back to your hard drive does bring about one small issue. Instead of using your original file name, or allowing you to pick a new one, LunaPic will assign the file a numerical sequence. This can be frustrating if you are working with multiple pictures.

Make It Move

In addition to still images, the Animation menu will allow you to create animated effects on top of a picture, or string multiple pictures together for flip-book style animations. There is one caution with this feature. In order to make these animations work, the editor must convert the file to the animated GIF format. This could mean the loss of some detail and color. Animation will work best with simpler images, or at the very least images with solid backgrounds.

Building a Theme and Hiding Your MySpace Friends List

Looking under the MySpace menu you will find several options. Lurking at at the very bottom of the list is the impressive MySpace editor. Clicking this link brings you to an area of the site where you can design a completely new look for your MySpace page.

Once in the editor, you will be presented with multiple tabs. These offer the ability to customize your background, add tables or include video and images. Everything is menu driven, no coding required. There is even a tab for information hiding. In the information hiding area you will find that you can hide your friends list, the contact table, your extended network or several other parts of the page. All by simply clicking check boxes.

Once your page is designed, you have two options for making the changes live. Clicking the generate code button will give the actual code to copy and paste. However, for an even simpler option the site will allow you to login to your MySpace account and post the information directly. The editor allows you to save multiple layouts so you can easily switch styles on a whim.

These are only a few of the of the options available. The site offers a number of other tools as well. Including free MySpace themes neatly organized into categories. However, in testing some of these features did not seem to be live yet.

Despite a few minor bumps, and some limitations the overall experience is impressive. With just a few clicks, you can easily create a truly customized MySpace page.