How can I make type labels

I noticed it is better to make your labels of whatever fonts you want and use them as gifs becoz you never know if the worlds computers can display fonts as u intended! But today I found that Photoshop wont let me just type (using the type tool) on hte canvas. Can anyone please tell me how I can use PS and type on the transparent canvas? Thanks

*blink* of course you can

what you're probably doing is opening the gif file, then trying to add text.. which even still, you can do that, your just going to have to use the colors that were saved onto that file... if the original only has one color, you wont be able to use anything other color for text...

Just copy the gif image and paste it onto a new created psd file... though, remember moving a gif file doesnt necessarily mean the transparency will move with it.. you will probably have to use the magic tool to highlight and clear the area for the transparency to take effect in the new file... and make sure your background layer isnt visible by clicking the eyeball icon on your layer window.

Thanks Favian,
Actually, may be I did not explain myself properly; sorry about that. Well what I am trying to do is to make labels as in a set of letter together to use as headings of my text content. For example I would like to have the word "MAIN MENU" as a gif with transparent background with say a vivaldi font. What is happening is that when I try to type this on a transparent layer it is barely visible and it tells me I must be doing something wrong somewhere. I hope I have explained better this time. Thanks