WebPage Backgrounds

Welcome to Mills Group Multimedia's Internet Tips and Tricks Newsletter for April 2001. Our newsletter shares our Internet trade secrets directly from the desktop.

Photographic images used for web page backgrounds can be a striking effect. For example, we used a montage of fighter planes, emblems, and pilots over light blue as a background for Air Combat USA. If done properly photographic backgrounds provide a subtle yet distinctive backdrop to your web pages. The trick is to be able to discern background images without completely overpowering the text. Here is an example of effective use of a photographic background:

http://aircombat.com/main.html

One of the technical challenges is getting your photograph to tile seamlessly over the entire background and not show the any hard edges. This problem is solved using a little know PhotoShop Filter called Offset. This is how you "take out" the hard edges in a tiled background:
1.Create your background image in PhotoShop.

2.Go to Filters, then Others, then Offset

3.Enter 100 pixels down, 100 pixels across, and check Wrap Around. Click OK.

4.Use your PhotoShop tools (eraser, paint brush, rubber stamp, etc.) to eliminate the hard edges that have now moved into the center of the image.

5.Jpeg your image and assign it as the background. You will now have a seamless background without any hard edges.

Photographic backgrounds aren't appropriate for all sites. However, for sites that convey a theme they can be exciting. Photographic backgrounds are fairly difficult to execute so this is one technique that not overused - and that's refreshing.

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