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Backgrounds for Your Web Site
How NOT to Design a Web Page!
FREE RESOURCES - TIPS & HINTS

A background image can add sophistication to your website. Of course, there are some 216 "web-safe" colors you can use, but these present a solid background. Solid can be better because it is less distracting. However, a muted or textured background can add that "extra something special" to your site.

You might take a look at our Virtual Web Design Workshop for some actual samples. You can generally right-click on the background of a web page or image (unless copyright protection prevents you from doing so) and save it to your own hard drive for your use.

This background image (used for this page as well) is only 4.05 Kb in size. It will load much quicker than the one below, and you can "tile" it so it seamlessly spreads out and down the whole page, as it does in this one portion of the page (also called a "cell.")

Some are even smaller, such as this one which is only 1Kb in size. (Click for sample page).

This image (above) is 40Kb - about 10 times larger and much slower to download.

Here is a nice background image. It's only 1.74Kb and is very, very small yet helps create
an impressive-looking page.

The only drawback is the way the original art extended so far to the right of the page, but you can edit in in a photo program like PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro to trim the size down to a decent 800-1200 pixel width.

Click on the image itself to see a page using it as a background.

NOTICE HOWEVER - that you would need to make adjustments to the vertical menu bar
at the left of the page. You could either change the text (and link) colors - or move the menu bar
over to the right (not a very good idea in this particular instance).

FREE SOURCES FOR BACKGROUND IMAGES

With that said, here are some useful tips and free resources:

For a much broader selection, go to Google.com and type in "free background image" or just click this Google link. You'll find about 17,000 returns on your search. Many of them may offer only one or two images, while others offer much larger collections.

Also, go to our Clip Arts page and try some of those links, as many free clip art websites also offer free background images.

TIPS & HINTS

Do not use distracting "busy" backgrounds such as this one at the right (despite it's relatively small 5Kb size). It makes it hard for the reader to concentrate on what you are trying to SAY, which is more important. Even the background you see in this cell is too busy for smaller type such as what you are reading - a solid light background would be better - so consider this page an example of what NOT to do!
Keep your background image size small, so it will download faster. You typically have 10 seconds before you start losing readers (visitors) - and that goes for the WHOLE PAGE, not just one picture.
If you must use a large background, adjust your web code so it loads in stages
Unless you have a very compelling reason not to do so, use the same background color or image on every page. It helps the reader know they are still on the same website; it gives your site continuity and uniformity. You don't buy books that have different colored pages, do you? DOn't do the same to your website.
If you have the skill, the software and the patience, you can even create your own background - BUT make sure it's SEAMLESS - that is, the images match like well-hung wallpaper so you don't end up with chaos
Do NOT use screen wallpaper images for backgrounds - they are HUGE!!
Do NOT just link to a background on another website: (a) that website may change and your background will disappear, and (b) it uses up bandwidth on the other website and may make the site owner unable to continue the free service. Download it to your own computer and then upload it to YOUR website. P.S. It will also load faster from your site than if it has to be hunted down somewhere else on the Internet!

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