So what IS the standard size for banners these days? I've been using 900 x 150 but got told that was a heinous crime. I researched it and never got any consistent answer. I've never had any formal education in web design, every thing I know is self taught, the good and the bad. I haven't made a new site in a while but I need to remodel my personal one and have been deciding what size to use for my banner.

I think it's a matter of personal preference on the webmaster's part. The banner we have in here is 930x200px.

I think it just depends on what kind of things you want happening at the top of your website. Some designers like clocks, weather magnets, Ad banners, RSS feeds and the like. That will play into the size of the actual banner.

My feeling is most people use at least 1024x768 screen resolution and I try to design for that. Certainly, there are those who use 800x600 or use a real high resolution (keep up two browsers or a browser and some other app) but that's not the norm. So, I figure 900px-950px wide is about right. I like to allow the banner to float as the resolution increases. You can fill (or tile) with a pattern or gradient to allow the banner to float and fill as the browser size changes.

You also have the option to use several smaller graphic images and fill (or tile) in between with patterns or gradients. For example, you could use a small logo graphic on the top left and simply fill to the right with your pattern or gradient. The banner on Gimp Chat centers and fills on the left and right with this graphic. That allows me to extend the gradient and the blue bar on each side of the banner. Some people get creative and fancy with those kinds of things.

If you're designing completely from scratch, you can just dispense with a banner, design your page as a single image and cut it up (as needed) for navigation. You see some really creatively designed sites that use that method, but it can be time consuming.

This site is based on phpBB3 so a floating banner seemed like enough. Oregonian and I designed the other graphic elements (buttons, folders and stuff) on this site and chose the color scheme we liked. We thought lighter color backgrounds on the posts would be best for a graphically oriented website like this one. We used lots of shades of blue.

Thanks,
I'll stick with my 900 x 150 then and rest easily knowing the style police won't be banging on my door in the middle of the night.

Wonder what the major objection was to wider banners?

GIMP is really an excellent tool for creating web graphics. You can always post your banners here to get some ideas and suggestions. Maybe we should have a dedicated section here for website graphics design.

I think that is an excellent idea. It's easy to get stuck in designing a website and sometimes two (or more) heads are better than one.

In truth I think it was a wannabe, some people can only feel intelligent if they can degrade someone else in the process. The person wanted to seem like an expert and ended up making a fool of them self as usually happens with people like that especially when they underestimate other people's intelligence. I asked the question again here so I could be sure I wasn't the one being a fool.

I think whatever you want is the main thing. Hope your website isn't black with neon text. Urg!

yes with lots of animated GIFs, every font i can find, and blinking neon on a pink background.

Whoa!!



Enjoy!

Sorry, I forgot to mention those little javascript water waves, couldn't forget those.

That would be tragic. Mustn't forget those.

I'm guilty of using javascript bats for Halloween, snow for Christmas and confetti for New Years.

You left out that annoying cupid you use for Valentines Day.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. The cupid would just come flying out of no where and scare the heck out of you.

I might have to bring it back.

Tacky is ok when it's meant to be tacky, it gets disgraceful when people don't know any better. I'm glad you reminded me, I have to go sort though my library of little animated cupids.