I think you misunderstood me.  I had never been able to get the actual image thing to work for me.  So, I came up with this:

I drew the outline directly on the All Programs Panel.  Then I made my painting margins to enclose the "fake" image...using the top, bottom, and side margins of the outline.  That image is from my Kayonite II blind...download it if you want to see what I did.

Ok Thanks I will do that there are so many different approaches it good to have more then one.

This is for anyone who stumbles on this thread its a tutorial on how to cut up an image with guides its pretty easy thought I'd share my find http://www.absolutecross.com/tutorials/photoshop/basics/image-slicing/

Thanks, I never used the slice tools I tried it but can't seem to get the hang of it yet.

Here is my Progress so far slow but sure

COOL!  You GO, Girl!

very nice looking for a first go at it...hope to see you evolve into a promising skinner...keep it up

You are progressing quite well! I like it, and it looks really good with that wall too.

Looking good! 

Back with more questions ok I'm reworking my start panel I wanted to make it more compact view my picture above post

well I do that and its not really smaller top to bottom is what i'm trying to reduce and the mouseover on the left and right are now displaying different sizes with the exact same picture see below what can I do here what did I mess up? is it fixable?

and I messed up my programs image too

Oops I just checked out some other skins and they are the same as mine for the left right mouse over

I still can't figure out how to make the start menu smaller top to bottom like I've seen in other skins I tried adjusting the margins but it's still the same.

Any ideas appreciated

its the text margins in the allprogsbackground that aligns the allprogs arrow (the one you are having troubles with) and its a case of trial and error sometimes, basically you will have to keep adjusting the setting until it sits where you want it. you have to have 3 images for the all progs arrow, the first is normal state, the second and third are mouse over. the pressed function dosent work. play with the left text margin that is the only one you will need to align it back to how you like, make sure the top, bottom and right margin is set to zero.

a startmenu will grown and shrink according to how many programs you have on your startmenu or pinned to the startmenu. changing the number in the startmenu properties/customize area.

also check the size of you userpane, making that smaller makes the skin smaller, same for the bottombar

as for your mouseover , it naturally changes sizes when it goes from the programs list to the places list, that is nothing you can change, but the less graphics you have there, the more useable it will be. try your best to make that button plain with no images, otherwise your just giving yourself a free headache for nothing. xx

Vampothika's advice is the best, but a quick fix is to choose small icons.

Thanks for the tips I'm managing to make a huge mess LOL I did choose the small icons and it didnt help I chose classic view and it caused my panel to vanish replaced with yucko xp I'm still plugging along.

Here is an example of a compact start menu that Im trying like hell to replicate I've brought the whole thing in PS and created my own same demensions then I checked out the paint margins he had used them and still can't get it small like that.

Could it be the separators causing the issue they are the same size images as what there just my version.

Upon further investigation of other skins I am seeing that the code is not showing height and width for some odd reason it may be why I cant make the start panel compact.

here is an example from my programs list left when I tried to manually add the demensions it crashed the program.

ContentRight=4
ContentTop=9
ContentBottom=5
Tile=0
TileTop=0
TileBottom=0
TileLeft=0
TileRight=0
NormalColour=1
FocusColour=2
Trans=1
PerPixel=1
BackgroundEffect=1

Ok now here is the same section in another persons skin notice the differences it seems my program is screwed up

Image=Mardi Gras Beads\StartMenu_LeftPrograms.tga
PartWidth=228
PartHeight=307
NormalColour=0
NormalFont=4
FocusColour=0
FocusFont=4
ContentTop=5
ContentBottom=3
ContentLeft=17
ContentRight=2
PartWidthVista=228
PartHeightVista=307

eh i dont know anything about compact start menus so i cant help there. im sure someone who does will pop in and give you the answer you are searching for..

The sizes for each part of the start panel are set via the Extra tab for that image.  When you click on the Extra tab, scroll down a bit until you find the Width and Height area for the skin you are currently working on, highlight the one you want to set, and enter your size via the combobox that pops up on the right.  Only set the dimensions for the skin you are working on.  SKS will then enter the sizes into your code.

When I do that the panel still is the same it doesnt shirk it

Well I guess I will be stuck with it the size it is til I run across somebody with some experience with this

Thanks for all your help guys much appreciated

Did you try adding the height and width code in yourself -- just typing in what you want, since your images are the same as the one in reply 69 above?