Web Page Backgrounds or Web Page Templates: How to Choose

It's Your Choice: Web Page Backgrounds or Web Page Templates

The wallpaper you choose for your computer's desktop and the web page background you'd like to add to your web site have at least one thing in common: they're both great ways to add a background image, texture or pattern to your website. Your computer's operating system makes it easy to add or change wallpaper; it's usually just a case of finding the background image you want and then clicking your mouse. However, adding web page backgrounds to a web site goes beyond 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. Because you'll need to create high-quality GIF or JPEG images for your backgrounds, you will need a basic familiarity with some kind of graphic design software. You don't need to be a Photoshop expert, although quick learners can download a free 30-day evaluation copy of Photoshop at the Adobe web site and jump right into creating their own background images. Once you're done, you'll need a basic knowledge of HTML in order to add the HTML tags that will make your background images appear in different browsers.

If you don't want to go the graphic design route, an alternative is to find web page backgrounds on - where else? - the Web itself.

Web masters working on their first website will often look for free clip art sites as a source for their web page backgrounds. This is exactly the choice I made a few sites ago and the backgrounds I found were pretty uneven in terms of quality. Because a web page background is made up of a single image file that tiles across the page, it's important that you can't see the seams between the tiles � something that doesn't always work well with clip art backgrounds. Many of the web page backgrounds found on clip art sites also have a tacky or garish quality.

Interestingly, a fair percentage of people who google "web page backgrounds" are actually looking for something else: a professionally designed web page template to use as the basis for their site.

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-made web templates are not only easy to use and customize, they also look fabulous and come with beautiful images and backgrounds that will definitely make your site stand out in a crowd. With this framework in place, you basically just need 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.

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