Herself's Webtools

Way back when, any ‘cool’ website had a black background and lots of animation. We’ve gone through several designs along the way. Web 2.0 design involves drop shadows, 3d gradients, rounded corners, lots of white space and grayed out pastel colors.

The rounded corner backgrounds are very easy to create in GIMP. The CSS code is not difficult either. Both of these examples have a rounded corner background with a drop shadow. Then each has an image behind the title. TimesToCome has a drop shadow image behind the title which is not a link. TimesToCome Blog has an image with a border and the title is a link.

Rounded corners in GIMP:
- Use a slightly smaller image than you need, rounding the corners will increase your image size.

- Select Script-Fu -> Decor -> Round Corners { if that is grayed out be sure your image is Image -> Mode -> RGB, and be sure to click Layer -> Anchor Layer }

- Choose a reasonable Edge Radius, Shadow X Offset etc for your image. You may have to experiment a bit. I usually tell it to work on a copy, add a background if you choose or leave it unchecked for a transparent background.

* That’s it.
I used the rounded corners for both background images and the title image on TimesToCome.

Border Image in GIMP:
- Again use a little smaller image, adding borders will increase the image size by the amount of the borders.

- Choose Script-Fu -> Decor -> Add Border

- Select your border size, color and delta. The higher the delta the larger the difference between sides and the more of a 3d effect you’ll get.

* That’s it for adding the border

Layering the image:
- On the TimesToCome main page the title is not a link, we’re already at the home page. So I created a logo in GIMP and rounded the corners and added a drop shadow.

- I rounded the corners and added a drop shadow with a background to the main background image. We’re using a white background there anyhow.

- This looks like several layers but is only one image. I used Layer -> New Layer with Transparent fill on the main background image. I then pasted the logo image into the new layer. Then I went to Dialogs -> Layer and opened up the layer dialog. I changed the opacity of the new layer so you can see a little bit of the main background through the title image. When everything is as you like Layer -> Flatten Image.

- The CSS for TimesToCome main page:
body {
background-color: #ffffff;
}

#container {
background: url( images/background.jpg ) no-repeat #ffffff;
height: 600px;
width: 800px;
margin: auto auto auto auto;
}

#menu {
float: right;
margin: 150px 30px auto auto;
}

The CSS for the TimesToCome Blog header is a bit more complex:

#blogtitle
{
width: 980px;
height: 230px;
display: block;
color: #786;
margin: 0px auto 0 auto;
padding: 5px 0 0 0;
background: #fff url(img/header.jpg) no-repeat;
text-align: left;
}

h1.blogtitle
{
font-size: 32px;
margin-top: 10px;
margin-left: 15px;
background: url(img/headingbg.gif) no-repeat top left;
background-position: -10px -1px;
}

You will have to adjust the padding and background-position to center your title on the background image properly.

If you are looking for cool images, try My flickr account. These are all CC attribution copyright. There are also many CC attribution images there if nothing I’ve added interests you. Just drag and drop the images you wish to work with to your desktop and fire up The Gimp.

You Tube Tutorial, Gimp for image stacking

Here are some tips on creating backgrounds.

Use colors that are close together. (navy w/ black, tan w/ white) (see color notes ) Your background should be in the background not draw people’s attention away from the text, and other things on your site.

Use bland colors. Bright colors hurt to look at for long times. People won’t stay long if your background is glaring at them.

Watch the size (you get to learn from all my mistakes!) I tested the download times on my pages and learned the background was the largest image! I fixed it but make sure you pay attention to the size. It’s in the back and not the main eye catcher so how good does the detail need to be?

Making backgrounds is easy. I’ve been using the Gimp to do the ones on the TimesToCome site.

1. First choose an image that isn’t too busy.
2. Tone down the colors.
   1. In Gimp I choose colors, hue-saturation. Then darken or lighten all the colors by moving the Saturation slider.
3. Then you have to match seams.
   1. In Gimp choose Filter, Map, make seamless. It is all automated.
   2. By hand
      1. Add 4 layers all of which have clear backgrounds.
      2. Copy the image and put it off center by 1/2 in each layer. (one so the bottom of the image is in the top 1/2, one so the top of the image is in the bottom 1/2 etc.)
      3. Make each layer transparent by about 50%.

View your image tiled in a web page. What looks good small doesn’t always look good when it is tiled over the whole page. The colors often seem much brighter when you tile the image. You may have to go back and tone down the colors a few times.

See also Gimp Basics: Beginning