In this video I walk you through my process for setting up a really slick Twitter background that displays your important content across various screen resolutions. You can check out my Twitter page/background, and check out Cassie Fisher’s updated background.
FREE DOWNLOAD!
I’ve developed a starter template you can use to lay out your own Twitter background so go ahead and download it free of charge. The gray areas are the regions where your content is safe (most of the time). Just use the 1920×774 PNG as the bottom layer of your project in Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, or any free Photoshop-alternative and build your layout on top of it.
You’ll notice in my video that I actually set up some Photoshop guides to show me the edges of the safe areas, so you may want to add those to your project once you get started.
Happy background building! If you use this template/layout, feel free to post a link to your Twitter account in the comments below. I would love to see what you create.
About Dave Yankowiak
Dave is the founder of Lift Development and an enthusiast of all-things web. He lives in the small town of Grand Rapids, MN and enjoys technology, music, the outdoors, reading, and his family. He has no plans to ever retire.
Lewis Nelson says:
Have you had a chance to preview the new Twitter? I’ve only seen the screenshots and video, but I’ve seen some comments that may effect the background… but it does seem like it will lead more people to use the actual Twitter interface so backgrounds may be more important!
Dave Yankowiak says:
Yeah I’m using it and it pretty much renders the background image useless since it’s an extra 200px or so wide. Soooo…great timing Twitter! ;-) Thinking of updating the template file here with the new width, but you’ll really only have a small area to post any content.
As for the new Twitter, it’s not so great. It now takes me multiple clicks to view my saved lists. Hootsuite, Seismic, and TweetDeck are still far beyond Twitter’s own interface.