Comments on: A Study of Photographic Website Backgrounds

By: Calderon

Calderon — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:11:57 +0000

thanks for this usefull info.

By: air max 90

air max 90 — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:29:52 +0000

I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent job and reporting! Keep up the fantastic works guys I have incorporated you guys to my own blogroll. In my opinion it will improve the value of my own webpage :]

By: Quodavid

Quodavid — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:37:17 +0000

Great article!

By: Vim

Vim — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:26:15 +0000

Photography backgrounds looks great, but can be a distraction when you see high resolution images, When i see a glossy background i tend to stare more at that, i agree with Oliver i there was a balance between text and imagery then i would not be much of a distraction.

Tom would you happen to know how to implement background images like the ones in your showcase? so that they retain quality when expanded, if you do that would be great tutorial.

By: Stephanie Webb

Stephanie Webb — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:39:51 +0000

I can really see some of the appeal with using photography backgrounds, but I can also see its drawbacks. I think that it can’t always work but applied to certain websites like for example the ones above can really pay off. I will definitely consider photographic backgrounds more as an option for my website designs in the future.

By: MAX08

MAX08 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:15:49 +0000

tanx…

By: Gemma

Gemma — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:38:21 +0000

I liked some of the websites in this showcase, and I’ve been considering doing something similar for a future project (seriously, this way of using photography would be ideal) but in this particular project, I would have to come up with a timeless design. This way of using photography has become a trend, which isn’t timeless in my mind.

By: Paul Eustice

Paul Eustice — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:08:00 +0000

RustyEight – it is relevant to a point. Firstly, if the photo takes up the entire viewport and does not hint at further textual content, it may appear that there is nothing else on the page. ‘The fold’ isn’t a problem provided there are clues to the user that there is something ‘down there.’ Take them on a journey through your content. Secondly, a large image that pushes textual content far down the page will hinder your SEO efforts.

An obvious downside to using large photos is the bandwidth required, I’m not sure why that wasn’t mentioned.

On another point, I think most of the examples here use nice photography and implement it fairly well, but the Romapa example should be a ‘how not to do it’ case – that text isn’t readable at all!

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:38:28 +0000

dON: Thanks for pointing that out, all fixed . Embarrassing considering I’m an English graduate!

RustyEight: Personally I do think it’s still relevant, but I’ll admit that it comes down to personal taste. I’d say particularly for business orientated websites it’s more useful to display vital text and calls to action above the fold rather than just a large photo (if it’s alone).

By: RustyEight

RustyEight — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:44:00 +0000

You really think the scrolling issue is still relevant? The concept of the fold is pretty dead at this point as far as web design is concerned. I wouldn’t put that as a con at all.