How To Redesign Your Background For The New Twitter [Let's Fly Version Update]

Twitter went through a major redesign this year, going from "New Twitter" to the current version called "Let's Fly". This change included more than just some a top navigation and layout: it altered the dimensions of your Twitter home page and profile, so your old Twitter background might no longer be the right fit. We've put together this basic guide to creating a killer Twitter background for Let's Fly, so you can continue to brand yourself effectively and attract more followers in the process. New Twitter threw a lot of people for a loop when it was officially launched a few years ago, as the dimensions for the background were completely changed from the old Twitter. This meant that a lot of carefully crafted backgrounds looked funny on New Twitter, and a lot of Twitter users grumbled about the change. The Let's Fly updated design is not quite such a big difference as the change from Old Twitter to New Twitter, but it does alter the requirements for your background. And the good news is that the overall content area has shrunk, meaning that you've got more background space to work with now. Optimizing your Twitter background for Let's Fly If you aren't a designer yourself and have no interest in digging into Photoshop to whip up a custom background, we suggest using Themeleon, the Twitter-approved theme tool. They have dozens upon dozens of different designs and color schemes to choose from, all optimized for Let's Fly. However, if you do want to brave designing your Twitter background yourself, we've got a few tips for you. First, you must know the dimensions of Let's Fly. Twitter's content width is fixed at 865 pixels. This leaves you plenty of space to brand yourself using your background - however, since the visibility of your background depends on the screen resolution of each individual visiting your profile, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to what dimensions your background should be. Your Twitter background will really only be visible on the left and right side of the main content area, so you want to focus on these two columns. And, the left side is the one your should be focusing the majority of your your branding efforts on, as it will remain visible even if your visitor's resolution eliminates the right side. Here is a list of the sizes of the visible background on the left column of Twitter.com based on screen resolution, courtesy of BanyanBranch: 66px for 99% of visitors (1024px wide resolutions) 194px for 82% of visitors (1280px wide resolutions) 238px for 56.1% of visitors (1366px wide resolutions) Up to 520px for 42.3% of visitors with resolutions wider than 1366px. Which size to choose? If you want to ensure that your background is visible for the majority of your visitors, you have 66 pixels to work with. However, aiming for about 82% of visitors is probably a good bet, so you could choose to work with the more versatile 194px on either side. You can fiddle with these numbers in Photoshop, and even make a background that is branded at both 66px on either side and 194px on either side, using two different graphics. Good luck, and give us a shout @alltwtr with your newly redesigned background!

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How To Redesign Your Background For The New Twitter [Let's Fly Version Update]

Lauren Dugan

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Lauren Dugan