How do I choose the most suitable images to use as an ePortfolio wallpaper?

It is important to think about the type of image to use as a wallpaper as it plays a large part in the first impression you present to a recipient.

Apart from the subject matter of the image you choose there are a few technical issues to consider to get the best results.

Here are a few guidelines to follow:

Because your text pages are displayed on the right hand side of your ePortfolios try to choose images that don't have too much contrast on that side.

Try to choose images where the subject is on the left hand side for the same reason as the last point. The one shown here was cropped so that the subject was not covered by the text on the right.
Image cropped so subject is on left

If you upload an image that is of a different aspect ratio to the 3:2 (900x600 pixels) of the ePortfolio one you will get varying results. But upload your image anyway and try it out, after all you can't break anything and you will get a better understanding by trying.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Long skinny images will be more likely to give unwanted results
  • Landscape images (longer width than height) will give more consistent results than portrait ones (longer height than width)
  • If you are using a digital camera or mobile phone to capture an image for your ePortfolio wallpaper set the image size to a setting that is large enough to fill the background area (something like 1024x768 or larger) for best results.