Tiling in Sigs ~ Ty_Tutes by Tyhart

Tiling is the repeating of an image in <body background> or <table background> when the picture is too small to fill the screen. Any image less than 560 pixels wide will tile side-to-side (horizontally) when used as a sig background. Tiling is good with a small jpg or gif of a repeating pattern or texture that blends seamlessly to make a full screen back- ground. Images like starry skies also tile seamlessly.

How to Correct Tiling
Quick Solution... Tiling can be prevented by putting novtilebg and/or nohtilebg in the body or table tag. The results may not be satisfactory if the image is smaller than the area to be covered.

Another Solution... Enlarge the image so that it fills the screen. Despite the fact that the post and email image area is only 445 pixels wide, we must enlarge the image to no less than 560 pixels wide or it will tile.

When enlarging an image to 560 pixels wide at the sites listed next, just specify the 560 width and the height will automatically be adjusted in proportion. The height should be at least 385 pixels to fill at least one screen depth.

Vertical tiling is unavoidable unless you are using an unusually deep image. Keeping the message brief so that scrolling is not activated can also prevent vertical tiling.

Resize Images... At ImageMagick and GifWorks (gifs only). Resizing can also be done at other sites and some homepage servers.

Resizing Is Not Perfect... Although the tiling is eliminated, the left side of the 560 wide enlarged image will be covered by the sidebar. So your background does not include the entire image. It may look good and you may be happy to use it that way. If not, do the following.

Make a Composited Image File for the Body Background.

See exhibit below and note the position of the image on the black background.

http://s91440092.onlinehome.us/jpegs/ufo_exhibit.jpg
(560 x 650)

In order to perfectly center the background image and have it show completely, we must:

1. Resize the image to 445 pixels wide.

This is the width of the visible image area in post and email. Again, the height will adjust in proportion when resizing.

2. Composite the resized image at Image Magick.

To expand on the linked tutorial, composite the 445 wide image on a solid color or clear gif previously resized to 560 width by 650 height.

When compositing, locate the 445 wide image in the "Northeast" sector and choose "replace". You see the result in the above exhibit.

The height of the composite base can be made greater than 650 height. Having the composite base height exceed the image height prevents vertical tiling up to the limit of the height you make the base.

So not only does this method make the entire image the sig background and eliminate horizontal tiling, it also can stop vertical tiling. Hence....The Ultimate Solution!

[Note: These composited background images will not be visible when the email or post is being written. But on arrival of the message, the background image is perfectly positioned as discussed.]