Modifying a style to implement the faux column technique is not difficult. What can be tricky is creating a background image to use in the technique. The image must be sized correctly and must work seamlessly with the CSS background color. How do you create a faux column background image?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

To create a faux column background image, you need to use a graphics editing program such as Microsoft Expression Design or Adobe Photoshop. First, create an image that is exactly as wide as the area that your columns cover. (The faux columns technique works only with a fixed-width design.) Then, for each column in your design, create a block of color on the image that matches the background color and width of each column. To match the color, you can use a color picker tool in your image editing program to sample from a background image, or type the hex code directly if you're trying to match a background color that's defined in the style sheet. Finally, crop the image so that you save only a thin horizontal slice of it. Because you are going to repeat it down the page, the image can have a very small height of, say, 5 pixels or so. That way, you won't end up with a column that is too long rather than too short, and the image will also download more quickly in the visitor's browser.