Creating cool Myspace layouts is a hobby for many people. The good news is that virtually anyone can do it and you don't even need a fancy $500 art program either! All you'll need is a web browser and some idea of what you want. You can snag photos online or from your computer. Let's face it; nothing is worse than a bland Myspace profile, especially with all the glitter graphics, YouTube videos and custom contact tables out there! So get creative and reinvent yourself today.

First, you'll need to find the best place for layouts. At www.backgroundstation.com, you can easily create your own custom Myspace layout. First, choose a theme, for example: "Dark," "Star," "Cute," "White Dust," "Vintage," "Postal" or "Grunge," to name a few. Next, select an image for your background. You can search Yahoo, Google, Flickr or add your own from your computer! Lastly, you can tweak options, like transparency, flip the columns or change the background alignment. Similarly, www.pimp-my-profile.com allows you to make your own layout, although this Myspace editor is a bit more advanced, allowing you options like custom Myspace contact tables, text/heading, scrollbars, cursors and the ability to hide your friends or even create a custom slideshow using "Rock You!"

Next, you'll have to ask yourself, "Do I want a loud Myspace layout that catches the eye, or do I want one of the more subtle Myspace layouts, leaving myself room to add personality through other images, videos and glitter graphics?" Some sites allow you to just create a solid one-color background or a backdrop with stars or a sunset, which isn't too crazy looking. There are many options if you're looking to tweak the basic layout. For example, you can change the transparency of the boxes overtop the background, you can add glitter graphics to "rain down" over your background or you may want to add or hide certain aspects of your profile.

You may be wondering, "Why are all these Myspace layouts sites free?" Once you paste the Myspace codes to get your layout, icon or whatever, you'll notice a few new lines of text appearing on your profile. These lines let others know where you found your artistic add-ons. In turn, these sites can charge advertisers the big bucks on their sites. If you want to get rid of the advertising, you'll need to sift through the coding very carefully to find it. However, if your page is particularly awesome, you may decide that it's easier to leave the advertising up so you don't have to field tons of queries about where you got the glitter graphics, layouts and contact tables!

Have you noticed that there are literally hundreds of third party sites offering Myspace icons, layouts, avatars, contact tables and other codes? It can be a bit overwhelming, but you'll find a million different ways to express yourself or send a message to your friends. The best part is you don't need a credit card, you don't have to sign up for anything and you don't need any real knowledge of graphic design or HTML! All you need is a few hours of time to browse.

Some people embed the Myspace codes into their profiles to embellish the sections with Myspace images, rather than plain text. For example, if you love Family Guy, instead of just writing "Family Guy" in the "Favorite TV Shows" section, you can go to www.myspacenow.com and snag the code for a moving animation of Peter Griffin grabbing onto his knee in pain. Similarly, if you have a favorite celebrity, like Marilyn Monroe, Paris Hilton, Gwen Stefani or Avril Lavigne, you can snag their images from www.123icons.com and post them under the "Who I'd Like To Meet" or the "Heroes" section of your profile. For your music section, get an animation of Greenday at www.wondericons.com or a dancing Jennifer Lopez music video at www.123icons.com. At www.myspacenow.com you can get a nationality Myspace icon for your "General" section or you can get Emo icons from www.mywackospace.com for the "About Me" section.

Other people use Myspace icons to indicate their emotion that particular day. For example, at www.123icons.com, you can select a picture of an emo boy sitting at the playground with the text "And the empty swing was left for you" to indicate your loneliness following a breakup. Or you can select stick figures hovering over a computer, yelling "I Am So Bored!" Once you find the best Myspace images for each emotion you normally run through, you can cut and paste the codes into Wordpad, label the emotions and save them for later to make it easier to update. You'll find your friends coming back each day to see which mood you're in!

At www.glitter-graphics.com you might want to choose customized "Online Now" Myspace icons. Why settle for that generic blue Myspace image when you can have a skull and crossbones, hearts, a headbanger or Tinkerbelle? You can also have different words instead of the basic "Online Now." For example, "The Loser Is Online," "Princess Online," "Rockstar Online Now," "Hell Yeah," "In Love," "Single" or "Engaged." While it's a small touch, it can add a lot of personality to your profile.