Designing Wallpaper for the web
Background images or 'wallpaper' can be a very flexible design element for websites. A very small image file can have a very large impact on the appearance of the web page. Since even very old browsers recognize the code for background images, it's also a very widely supported and accessible design element.
Background images can be very subtle or very high impact. Some examples are included below. For a page with extensive text, a very subtle background image that will provide high contrast with the colour of the text is important. Wallpaper with horizontal lines can help readers follow the text, providing an aid to legibility.
For a page with very little text; perhaps a page with only an image or title or navigation tool, high impact wallpaper may be more suitable. A well designed wallpaper can provide significant visual impact without long download time.
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Wallpaper Gallery
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Title
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Comments on Sample
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Link to open Sample
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Autumn Leaves
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Mottled background suggestive of autumn leaves.
The lightness and moderately low contrast of this image make text moderately legible.
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Autumn Leaves Wallpaper
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Night Sky
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Background suggestive of a starlit sky.
Very small 'gif' image, only 2kb. The near black background provides good contrast for light text. Star-scape is a bit too busy for extensive text.
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Night Sky Wallpaper
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Brick Wall
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Background suggestive of a Red Brick wall
A large 'jpg' image, 47kb, much larger than the previous image. The detail in the image does create a very distinctive background, but the red colour of the bricks makes it difficult to find sufficiently contrasting colours for text and links though.
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Red Brick Wall Wallpaper
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Grey Brick Wall
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Background suggestive of a Grey Brick wall
A much smaller image than the red brick wall example above - a 5kb gif - still strongly suggestive of a brick wall, but with less detail. The grey colour creates a background that is easier to contrast text with too.
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Grey Brick Wall Wallpaper
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Fire
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Background slightly suggestive of fire
A very high impact background that is too busy for text. Would be suitable for use as a background to display an image on, or for a logo or large text title.
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Fire Wallpaper
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Gas and Water
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Background slightly suggestive of gasoline on water
Another very high impact background that is too busy to use behind text. A very bright pale version of this image might make suitable wallpaper for text.
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Gas and Water Wallpaper
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Twirl
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Another very high impact background, suitable only for small amounts of text or very large text.
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Twirl Wallpaper
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Stone
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A low contrast but visually attractive background that provides good contrast for text
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Stone Wallpaper
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Canvas
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Another good low contrast but visually attractive background that provides good contrast for text
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Canvas Wallpaper
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Back to the Design page - AGWebServices Main Page
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