Abcs of Web Page Backgrounds

Web page backgrounds are to web sites what wallpaper is to your computer's desktop: a great way to add a background image, texture or pattern to your virtual presence on the Web. Regardless of whether you use a PC or a Mac, adding or changing your desktop's wallpaper is a simple point-and-click exercise. But adding a background to a web site requires a little more than basic point-and-click skills. Luckily, changing a web page's basic white background into something more appealing doesn't have to qualify as rocket science.

The most demanding of these is to create your own backgrounds. To do this, you'll need to have a basic knowledge of some kind of graphic design software, so you can create the good-looking GIF or JPEG images your backgrounds will need. Although you don't need an expensive program like Photoshop, if you're a quick study you can download a free 30-day trial copy of Photoshop from Adobe and dive right into the process of creating your own web page backgrounds. Remember, too, that you'll also need a basic understanding of HTML to add the HTML tags to your website that will make your background images appear.

If you don't feel you should have to learn the basics of graphic design to give your web page a background, another approach is to find web page backgrounds on the web.

Most beginning web masters will head for free clip art sites when they first decide to use a background on their web page. That's exactly what I did for my first web site and the results were, well, somewhat uneven. What they frequently lack is a truly first class image that doesn't show any seams as the image tiles across the browser window. You may also discover that the web page backgrounds on clip art sites are often just too garish or even worse, too tacky.

While researching this article, I found it fascinating that a fairly large percentage of people trolling the search engines for "web page backgrounds" are actually looking for a professionally designed web page template.

The third way to ensure that your web page will have a great-looking background is to start with one of these professional-grade templates. These ready-to-use web templates are not only easy to use and customize, they also look fabulous and include beautiful pictures and backgrounds that will absolutely put your site head and shoulders above the competition. If you start with a template, all that's left is to add relevant content that gives your site its own unique voice.

That's why, in the long run, choosing a template is the fastest and easiest way to get your web site up and running while also giving it the professional look you want.