Newbie question re changing template

[rg8043]

I am a new user; I was able to download a template and update it with a different theme. Now I want to change the logo and remove the "smf" references so the forum looks like my own.  I have designed a logo in a word processing program, but it appears to me that I will have to make it a gif file to use it, and I can't figure out how to do that. 

Is there a resource or help file that will guide me in this area?  Is there a web design program that would let me change these aspects of the template? 

Thank you.

Rob G.

[bloc]

You will need a graphics program to convert images and its formats. There are a few here to choose from:

http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/gmm/fwgraphicedit.html