Samples & Tutorial

Warning!!! Do not link your background images to my server! Download these backgrounds to your system, and then upload them to your web space. Linking back to images on other people's servers causes problems. To learn more and for a full explanation, go HERE.

This page is meant to be more than a place to pick up a few free backgrounds for your web pages, it is meant to help you choose the "best" backgrounds for your pages. So take a few minutes to read this information before you go grab up some very nice looking backgrounds. Bookmark this page since I'm always creating. At this time there are over 60 main sections with enough variety to suit just about everyone. The thumbnail pages are best viewed at 640x480. If you want to go right to the backgrounds then click here, but you might miss something important. If you want animations for your pages then go to our animation site.

1. What is the difference between a background and a desktop image? A desktop image is one that can be stretched as Wallpaper for your computer. A background is used on web pages and must be designed to flow seamlessly for any resolution.

The most important thing you have to decide first is the purpose of the web page where your background is going. Will it be an entrance page or an information & products page? Or maybe you want an exciting and visually stimulating page?

2. Once you have made that decision, it's time to pick your background. Let's talk about entrance pages first, then business & information pages, and finally end with artistic backgrounds. I am going to be handing out lots of samples at the end of this, so stick with me! (and I do mean lots of samples)

3. Since an entrance page is usually shorter in physical length than a normal page, you can use a beautiful, full size background image that will not tile on you. What is tiling? The standard and most often used viewing size of a web page is 640x480, followed by 800x600. If you choose a pattern or image background and it is less than 800 pixels wide, you will have the tiling effect as the background repeats itself. How many times have you found what you thought would be a great looking background only to find it looked terrible on a web page? But there is tiling, and then there is tiling! Some images can look ok repeated as long as the background seams/edges have been welded. In my Images & Fantasy sections, I have welded the seams of the backgrounds so you don't have to worry about what resolution the viewer might be using.

4. Satins: The most common type of background to look really bad is a satin one. What I have done is to make all my detailed satin backgrounds at least 800x600 or longer if I need the length. I'll give you samples of some of my favorite satins in different sizes. I don't resize these backgrounds; I use a method called resample which gives excellent results. This is often not enough though, and I go through several editing steps for the final product. If the satin has a lot of detail, one thing I do is to add a matching ribbon at the transition point; sort of a built-in bar. The only way to deal with a really detailed satin is to mirror it so that it flows back into itself. Due to the rich changes in tones with these Special Satins, seam welding them did not work so that they could be made smaller. There are several pages of satin or silk backgrounds though for you to use, and only Satins 2 could not be welded without spoiling the rich tones & changes.

5. For business or product pages, it is best to go with a simple background such as a texture so your message and products do not get lost in the process. Backgrounds with a sidebar or border make attractive presentations, but you have to have some experience with tables to make full use of this kind of background. You may want to place information on the left side of the page, and the body of your page to the right of the border. Take a look in the new Bordered Background Gallery for hundreds of my own border creations for your use. The gallery is divided up into sections: Abstracts, Fabrics, Flowers, Images, Beads & Things, Teddys, etc. And look in the Framed Web Art Gallery where there are many matching framed images which match the borders. And for backgrounds that go with anything, see the large collection of textures below in a multitude of colors. Depending on how much detail the textures have, they will vary in size from wee tiny ones to larger, very rich looking ones.

One compromise to satisfy your artistic eye with the use of information is to use a side border where the left side is for visual looks only, not for putting any text or information there. That way you can satisfy your urge to use a dramatic background image, while at the same time be able to present your ideas and other images clearly. Click here for an example.

The other thing to consider is whether or not to use plain white for the body part of the background. If you are going to have a lot of information and graphics on the page, you can keep the background plain white if you choose to. But, if there will be open areas on the page, it looks better to at least use some texture instead of a plain white look. The texture gives your page a richer look with depth. Delicate vellums, pastel marbles, and uniform small pebbles make the least distracting texture backgrounds.

6. Now comes the Artistic Look in backgrounds. If you are doing something like a science fiction page and you want your graphics to stand out, you will probably be using a space background. What you don't want to do is to leave the background as plain black. That is almost as bad as using plain white backgrounds. Even a slight hint of texture in either plain black or white will add depth to your page. Now say you are doing more of a Fantasy or artistic page and want to use a really different looking background. Make sure your background is not so busy that the viewer can not see anything but the background. And tiling applies here too. You found what you thought was a great looking background, but then it looked terrible up on the web. How the background will appear depends on the pattern. Some patterns will flow so that the tiling is not apparent, other backgrounds tile quite a lot. I'm going to give you some of my favorite space, abstract, image & fantasy backgrounds. You can use a favorite fantasy image as an entrance page background, but it does have to be welded unless you don't mind really large files!

I do have one other "trick" for you if you are using a great looking background, and you really wish all the things you put on the page didn't cause that background to repeat as you scroll down with nasty looking tiling. There is a code that will fix the background so that it will not move. Then everything else you put on that page will float over it. Not only will I give you the code, I'll show you what it looks like: Sky Test

You'll have to paste the code into your html, and then type in the name of your background.. This copy of the code includes the image title from the sky test page, so just use the background part of the code.

<TITLE>Sky Test: Set Background</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" LINK="#0000EE" VLINK="#CC33CC"
ALINK="#FF0000" BACKGROUND="skyset2.jpg" bgproperties="fixed">

So you just need to add bgproperties="fixed"> and your background will not move.

Just one more But!!!.....this code doesn't work on Netscape! Oh pooh! Well, many people surf the web with IE, so go ahead and use the code. We make our web pages in Netscape, but we surf the net with IE.

TERMS of USE

Well, that about does it for the tutorial, now on to the free samples. First the terms.

These backgrounds are free for you to use. All I ask is that you place a link back to these pages. Download the backgrounds and upload them to your own service. Do not link to the graphics on my server so that the image loads on your page from here. Asking for a link back to this page is not the same thing as someone directly drawing the graphic from my server. From now on the actual location of the backgrounds will change once a month. It would be best not to add one of the individual background sections as a bookmark; instead, always use this main page as your bookmark.

A great deal of these backgrounds are my own original designs, and the rest are backgrounds that I have gathered and fixed up. Just right click to save this wee logo and use the address: http://www.glorianon.com/backindex.html when linking the button back to the background entrance page. All image backgrounds were designed from royalty free photographs or fantasy art. It can take hours to get one of them to weld for use as a background image, so I would appreciate a link back.

Please read the next paragraph. It includes important directions for saving!

When a thumbnail links to the full size background on its own page, right click and choose "Save Background As." (Or "View Background Image" and then "Save Image As" for Mozilla users)I placed many of these backgrounds on their own page, as the background for that page. That way you can see just how they will look for you. AOL users please make sure that you uncheck Use Compressed graphics in your web preferences or you will get an .art file. And pay a visit to our new Paint Shop Protutorial site. I give out a nice zip of fillers there. Now go enjoy one of the largest collections of backgrounds on the Internet!

Abstracts 1	Dragons	Leaves	Silks 1
Abstracts 2	Fabrics 1	Marble 1	Silks 2
Abstracts 3	Fabrics 2	Marble 2	Sky
Abstracts 4	Fabric: Fans	Marble 3
Abstracts 5	Fabric: Pansies	Marble 4	Space
Abstracts 6	Fabric: Roses	Marble: Classic	Swirls 1: Flowers
Abstracts 7	Fabric: Tapestry	Pastels	Swirls 2: Streams
Assorted 1	Fabric: Trees	Pearl 1	Swirls 3: Wood
Assorted 2	Fantasy 1	Pearl 2	Twisters
	Fantasy 2	Pearls Waxed	Unicorns 1
Chrome	Flowers 1	Ripples	Unicorns 2
Colors 1	Flowers 2	Satins 1	Vellums
Colors 2	Forests	Satins 2	Vortex
Colors 3	Images	Side Border Gallery	Water
Daisy		Silky Folds	Whirlpools 1
Diamonds	Lace	Silky Sheets	Whirlpools 2

Textures

Bricks	Concrete	Linoleum	Pebbles 1
Pebbles 2	Pebbles 3	Pebbles 4	Stucco

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