In my travels I love visiting some of the other sites who create fabulous backgrounds and blog elements. Some might consider it taboo to visit a "competitor" but I learned along time ago in jewelry design that to have an appreciation for other talented artists is a true gift. While there are many of us who create blog backgrounds and themes we each have our own unique style and cater to different tastes, rather like art itself being in the eye of the beholder.
Today I learned that some of the lovely ladies who create blog backgrounds are doing themselves a disservice. While their designs are drop-dead-gorgeous, the technical aspects - specifically the sizing - is lacking just a bit. I'm fortunate in that I have two monitors and this helps so much with the design work I do, I find them invaluable. One monitor is the standard 17" square screen while the other monitor is the popular 21" wide screen.
What I discovered in my travels today is that some blog backgrounds are being created for viewing on a 17" monitor like so...
However, when viewed on a 21" wide monitor the background is suddenly cut a little short (note the blue areas to the right and left highlighted in red). This is a tragic shortcoming in my opinion and one that's easily fixable.
So... for my friends and associates who spend time creating blog backgrounds, simply increase the size of your background image to 1800 x 1200 pixels (see updated measurements below). This will help ensure that your gorgeous creations can be viewed on some of the most popular monitor sizes while ensuring your fabulous creations fill up the page.
And for those of you who work with one monitor you can easily check the background image size by simply dragging a corner or edge of your browser window out beyond one side. Then click on the top of your browser bar and drag the browser across your desktop. This will bring back into view the side of the image to judge whether it's large enough. The image below shows my browser stretched to about the size of 25 - 30 inch screen where the white areas begin to show rather than the background...
Lastly, to show my appreciation for some of the other fabulous designers I have the pleasure of sharing this online design stage with, below is a little shout-out, a way of saying thank you for continually inspiring my life and work...**UPDATE**
{{I've done a little checking and to completely avoid any border colors showing through around backgrounds the standard size would be best set at 1920 x 1536. This takes into consideration the highest HD wide screen resolution commonly used today at 1920 pixels and the highest square monitor resolution at 1536. I'll be updating my backgrounds over time to compensate for this new info and hope it's helpful to you as well.}}
Enjoy!
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Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're THE BEST. I'm going to resize my background immediately:))
ReplyDeleteMuch hugs,
Diana
You're always so generous with your knowledge and talent Sharon! And I'm still getting compliments on my "Plumrose lane" banner! x
ReplyDeletewow! that's informative ... i can't do the browser thingy you are talking about ... hmmm... i wonder if mine is the right size. another thing sharon ... i realize that i dun do the background like you guys do ... like you just stick the html into the gadget box right. mine was made in the EDIT HTML itself in 2 layers...which makes is very troublesome to change the background often. i've always wondered how you guys can change your backgrounds like every other day!! eg our lulu :)) so that's how ;)
ReplyDeletei know you store your backgrounds in flickr ... i do too, but since mine is not the pro account ... they wouldn't let me download backgrounds the right screen size!! UGH!!! it's always smaller no matter how big i size it, flickr won't give me the any larger than 1024px ARGHHHHHH!!!! that's also one of the reason why i can't make the background for IA's red carpet blog ...
You are such a lovely soul to share your gift of tekkie stuff with others.
ReplyDeleteLuLu♥
Hello Sharon, I don't make backgrounds but I read your very interesting message here and will tell if a friend had a problem. But first of all, thank you for your wonderful generous soul ! Wish you a wonderful Easter time :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the sweet comments ladies!
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted I could help Diana, and I'm loving your new blog theme, fabulous!♥
Thanks so much Angie!♥
Ah, sweet Luthien, you're a perpetual angel yourself! Most blog designers store their backgrounds on Photobucket rather than Flickr. You still have to subscribe if you want to store more images and larger pixels however it's a meager $2.95 a month which is certainly doable - even for us starving artist. ;-)
Hugs♥
Thank you Sweets - you're equally giving in your generous frequent giveaways. (throws Dating Game kiss ~ Muax♥)
Thank you so much for your continued support of my work Nigea, I'm honored. Love your work!♥
Sharon, You are a kind and generous soul.. Your advice is Priceless, thank you so much..( I must admit, I was a bit shocked to see my images in your post.. I'm still blushing )
ReplyDeleteI think your designs are 'drop-dead-Gorgeous'..
It is a wonderful thing to share your knowledge..Bless you..
ReplyDeleteI can't get use to your new name..happy to get a chance to visit you again..Will change names so I can watch what you are doing.
Even though you don't hear from me, you are always in my thoughts..
xooxRosebud..
Thank you so much for your kind comment Cat! I absolutely *ADORE* your work too and it's an honor sharing the stage with you.♥
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Caroline, I know, I forget who I am sometimes too, lol!
You're always near to my heart & thoughts too♥
Lovely blog! Sweet comments on my altered book too, thank you. Pulp Redux has been an absolute blast for us all.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Sharon! I'm lucky enough to own a new 21.5" iMac, so I'm used to seeing those little bits of white background popping up on most blogs and websites I visit (there is about half an inch of white showing on either side of your blog background on my monitor too!)
ReplyDeleteI am soooo guilty of this myself, and your wonderful post has prompted me to do something about it. It is now at the top of my 'to do' list! LOL
Hugs,
B.
-xo-
Thanks so much for your comment Belinda it was SO helpful! I imagine you're seeing the white on either side because your resolution is set higher than most Window PCs - something I hadn't considered so... up we go again. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHugs♥
Sharon, I had no idea what resolution my monitor was set at until you mentioned it...so I went off to check, and it is 1920 x 1080. Sounds big to me! LOL
ReplyDeleteI discovered today that if you change the HTML code for your background repeat to "background-repeat: repeat-x" it will repeat your background horizontally only, and so it eliminates the white peeking out from the sides altogether.
I'm still learning about all of this stuff, there's so much to it! Thank you for being a constant source of information and inspiration! :-) Hugs, B. -xo-
I know what you mean Belinda, I'm constantly learning something new about html, css and blogging in general, it's amazing! Your previous comment was still a huge help in that I'm not creating my backgrounds even bigger. I'm such a perfectionist, lol!
ReplyDeleteThanks loads!♥♥