This effect takes advantage of the layers feature found in PSP 5to produce text that resembles burning coals.

Start off by opening a new file, about 400 x 200 pixels, 16 millioncolors, with a white background.  Set your foreground color to redand put down your text.  Here I've used Lingwalla Bold Black, 72 point.For this effect a bulky font works best. I like this font because of itsrounded edges.

Now we're going to expand these letters a bit. Deselect your textand go to the Image menu, Other:Erode. Erode your text twice.

Next, add some yellow to the mix. Change your foreground color toyellow, and lay down the same text. Be sure to center it over the red.Deselect your text.
 

Okay, now use the Erode filter again to get a bit more red. At thispoint, you might want to change the white of your image to something thatmore closely matches your webpage. You can do that by setting your foregroundcolor to what you want  and using the Flood Fill tool. Don't forgetto fill in any interior portions of the letters (such as the hole in theb.) Since this was for a tutorial, I just left it white.

Next we take this image and blur it. This will serve as the glowaround our embers. Go to Image, Blur:Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 5.00. This blur is the reason that your background color should match your webpage.Transparent GIFs don't deal with blurs very well.

Now we create a new layer to hold our text. Open the Layers menuand click on New. Set the Blend Mode to Normal, and the Opacity to 100. Change your foreground color to black and add your text. Center it in themiddle of the red/orange blur.  Be sure to leave the text selected.
 

Here's where we add the ashes to our coals. Choose the Airbrush Tool,and set the Brush Shape to Round, the Size to 10, the Opacity  andDensity to 100. Click on the Tool Controls tab and set the Paper Textureto Asphalt.  Now change your foreground color to light gray (RGB 192/192/192.)Draw around the edges of your letters. Be sure to vary to vary the thicknessof the ashes.
 

Looks good so far, but it needs a bit of depth. Go to Image, Effects:Cutout. Set the opacity to 100, the blur to 8, the Shadow color to Black,and the vertical and horizontal offsets to -4. Be sure that the Fill Interiorwith Color box is NOT checked.

All that's left to do is to get the coals burning. For this we'lluse a new layer.  Open the Layers menu and click on New. Set the BlendMode this time to Color, and leave the other setings as you had them. Set your foreground color to orange (RGB 255/88/43), and click on yourAirbrush tool again. Change the brush size to 5, and the Paper Textureto None.  As you color around the edge of your letters, the ashesshould change to a burning red. Be sure to leave some of the gray. To finish,save your project as a jpg.