[3n1gm4]

Hey guys, was just wondering if I could get some advice on the background of the site I'm working on. I'm pretty content with it, but my gf is quite adamant about changing it what do yall think?

[urban1977]

too dark at the top struggle reading the lettering.

too dark!

[Zygote76]

Originally Posted by urban1977

too dark at the top struggle reading the lettering.

too dark!

Agreed. I honestly wouldn't have known there was text there if I hadn't put my face into the monitor.

[fasterthanlight]

Betchya thats just filler, can't see a conscious human being leaving it like that

How is this going to be built? HTML? Flash?

If its HTML, you've got QUITE a task ahead of you interms of actually making the design work in a coded world

[steveb]

Does the wooden panel floor, the leather and the handmade paper relate to the content you'll put the there? If not, omit it. Gratuitous decoration is a no-no.

You could maybe get away with using the dark lettering if it were larger.

[teehoi]

Originally Posted by fasterthanlight

If its HTML, you've got QUITE a task ahead of you interms of actually making the design work in a coded world

Hmm....I don't get it, how? I'm curious why you say that.

[3n1gm4]

Originally Posted by urban1977

too dark at the top struggle reading the lettering.

too dark!

Agreed, I did this at home where (apparently) my monitor is quite a bit brighter than normal!

Originally Posted by fasterthanlight

Betchya thats just filler, can't see a conscious human being leaving it like that

How is this going to be built? HTML? Flash?

If its HTML, you've got QUITE a task ahead of you interms of actually making the design work in a coded world

How would this be difficult in html? tile the background, tile the paper, add the header and footers... pretty straight forward if you ask me.

Originally Posted by steveb

Does the wooden panel floor, the leather and the handmade paper relate to the content you'll put the there? If not, omit it. Gratuitous decoration is a no-no.

You could maybe get away with using the dark lettering if it were larger.

Its basically a personal site, portfolio, code snippets, and blog. The theme was the "old timey" book and paper, but thats about it, the wood texture is just there for a non boring negative space.

and im still playing around with the lettering up top...


any comments on the background ( the wood texture )

[steveb]

Don't you have a larger piece of leather you could use? Or extend the slice of leather with Photoshop to cover the entire background. Don't really see why there needs to be parquet flooring at all, yet. Like I said, if it doesn't relate to anything, drop it.

[fasterthanlight]

Originally Posted by 3n1gm4

How would this be difficult in html? tile the background, tile the paper, add the header and footers... pretty straight forward if you ask me.

Ok but look at the drop shadows behind the texture, you're going to have to find a way to tile your background wood pattern in a way that it lines up the the drop shadows.

Its not impossible, but like I said, its going to be a task, you'll really have to be pixel perfect with the placement of your background within your psd

[3n1gm4]

Originally Posted by fasterthanlight

Ok but look at the drop shadows behind the texture, you're going to have to find a way to tile your background wood pattern in a way that it lines up the the drop shadows.

Its not impossible, but like I said, its going to be a task, you'll really have to be pixel perfect with the placement of your background within your psd

I see, good point, and i would probably end up with a compromised version of the shadow

[fasterthanlight]

Well all you *really* need to do, is fully utilize the power of

background-position: center;

Let me try and explain this in an easy way,

your wood pattern will tile horizontally, right?

ok, so on a new layer, create the actual TILE that you will use in the HTML,

now duplicate it, and find the mid point of your design, and drop a nice Rule there for reference.

Place one copy on the right hand side of the middle rule, and the other on the left hand side of the middle rule.

now, these two tiles (left and right) will become ONE tile (which you will save-for-web and use in the HTML)

So what you've done is made a double-wide tile, which when you use

body { background-position: center; }

in your css, it will align to the middle (obviously)

Now, the reason why we did this is because you now have to tile these images outwards left and right to fill up the remainder of your PSD,

And then you slice your dropshadows including the background tile, so that when you tile it in HTML, it tiles the exact same way it does in the PSd, from the center -> outwards, which will create a seamless, patterned drop shadow.


I hope that made sense, if it didnt i can try and do a crudely drawn photoshop mock...

[3n1gm4]

thats what i was going to do, but then I thought "how would i tile the paper if background fades" on a static site its pretty straight forward, but since its going to be stretching vertically its a whole new problem.

I do agree the wood floor isnt the best background, onward to find a new "themed" background... i want something there so its not blank

[fasterthanlight]

Yea in that case you might be better off doing a PNG and IE-molestation-fix

[RICHIE DESIGN]

Yep its too Dark im having trouble reading the lettering too.

too dark!

RICHIE DESIGN- Lowestoft - Freelance Website & Myspace Designer.