A.G. Bloggin'

New Desktop Wallpaper: Bleeding Hearts

2011-02-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Despite seeing double right now, I managed to put together a new desktop wallpaper for you. In fact, I'm using it myself because I'm wishing for spring to come sooner than later. It is also appropriate to display for Valentine's Day!

The original photograph for the desktop wallpaper comes from morguefile.com and was created by a member called westminister. It's an image of the pretty flower called bleeding hearts. The drooping pink-and-white flowers do look like hearts.

What I did was surround the flowers with a nice frame, creating a dreamy image. Then the image was re-sized to six resolution sizes. All done with Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

Go to Wallpapers 5 to find the thumbnail image and download links. And remember, these graphics are for your computer's desktop, not for web pages!

Webpage Background: RGB Side

2010-08-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today's offering is a webpage background graphic featuring a left side border of small blocks in red, green and blue, thus the name of "RGB." After I created the Color Block backgrounds in June I thought about other colors than pastels that I could make backgrounds out of. I came up with this, which are the three basic colors of the original CRT color monitors.

Plain and functional. That's what this background graphic is. If you like it after viewing the sample page, download the graphic to your hard drive following the directions on the page. You'll find the thumbnail image on page 5 of the side border backgrounds page. Just follow the log-in instructions.

Desktop Wallpaper: Skateboards

2010-07-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Late today (in some parts of the world), I uploaded six (yes!) different sizes of a desktop wallpaper featuring skateboards with the accompanying legs of the skateboarders.

The original photo was provided by website member, mnp, at morguefile.com. I applied an impressionist painting effect using Corel Painter Essentials and Paint Shop Pro X. Pretty cool effects!

Anyway, the desktop wallpapers are sized from 640x458 to 1440x129. The thumbnail page contains all of the links. Just choose the one that best fits your monitor's resolution. Each link opens in a new, download window whereupon you follow the directions on the page.

Go to Wallpapers Page 5 to begin your download now!

Color Block Border Web Page Backgrounds

2010-06-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today, I've uploaded three web page background graphics, one side border and two top borders, in the same basic pastel color blocks on white. Each graphic has space between the page edge and the edge of the border to allow for menu items and small ads (side border) or menu items, header graphic or title text, and/ or banner ad (top border - 100 px and 150 px choices). While these graphics are made for page backgrounds, I don't see why they cannot be used as table backgrounds (large file size may be a limitation).

Check out the graphics at Arride Graphics!

Color Block Side Border
Color Block Top Borders

Graphics, At Last

2010-02-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Valentine's on my mind for these graphics. Today's offerings are two desktop wallpapers and one webpage background with a top border. All with hearts. For Valentine's Day and more.

All of the photos for these graphics came from one of my favorite sources, morguefile.com. The photographers are, by their user names, dieraecherin, taylorschlades, and sullivan. I used the photos of the first two photogs for the desktop wallpapers and used sullivan's photo for the top border webpage background. All are pretty cool and fun.

Check out the wallpapers on the fifth page of that section, and check out the page background on the fifth page of the top border backgrounds page.

Enjoy and happy Valentine's Day!

New Desktop Wallpaper: Fan's Eye View Behind Home Plate

2009-06-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Now that baseball is well into the 2009 season and has started interleague play, I decided to offer a baseball-themed desktop wallpaper to celebrate. I've played around with the original photograph, which I took some time ago, in Virtual Painter and sized it in four different resolutions (sizes) to fit most monitors, desktop and laptop computers alike.

The effect you see on the wallpaper is silkscreening on washi. It's easily done with Virtual Painter and any image or photograph. I think the effects are pretty cool and fun to work with.

View the thumnbnail and the full-size desktop wallpapers beginning with the fifth wallpapers page. Each size will open a new window from which you can download the wallpaper that fits your monitor's resolution. Remember, these images are not meant for web pages, including social networking profile pages, etc., and are blanket-covered by the Terms of Use.

New Desktop Wallpaper: Monarch Butterflies (and a Ladybug)

2009-03-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last offering for March is a desktop wallpaper featuring a couple of monarch butterflies and a teeny red ladybug atop some plants (I think they're sage plants but I could be wrong -- I'm no gardener nor a botanist). The photograph comes from the morguefile.com and was taken by member beglib.

We're into over a week of spring now and I felt like doing something with some harbingers of spring, like butterflies. I haven't come across a photograph of a robin yet or other birds that have struck my fancy. I like the butterflies. There's usually a ton of them swarming to Pacific Grove, California, on their migrations to and from Mexico. Read more about them at wikipedia.org.

As usual, the wallpapers come in four sizes to fit most monitor resolutions. Choose the link to the size you want to download and a new window opens up. Follow the directions for downloading the wallpaper either to your desktop (set as wallpaper) or to your downloads folder in your hard drive (save as...). The wallpapers are not meant to be used on webpages. The Terms of Use applies to the wallpapers you get from Arride Graphics. Please be sure to read it.

New! Side Border Page Background Graphic: Earthy

2009-03-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

I can't let March pass by without offering at least one graphic. Today's graphic is a little reminiscent of the Southwest U.S. and of Arts and Crafts/ Art Deco styles, all in earthy colors. This was inspired by my visit to Phoenix and architect Frank Lloyd Wright's summer home at Taliesin West before taking in a couple of games at Spring Training camp (baseball).

The side border background is 2000 pixels wide and 100 pixels high, enough to cover most monitor resolutions before repeating the side border. Clicking the thumbnail image on the page opens a new window, after you enter the username and password provided. Follow the download instructions on the page. You can use this on any web page without charge but must linkback and credit Arride Graphics as part of the agreement to use it. Read the Terms of Use, please!

Download "Earthy" here.

New Desktop: Wallpaper: Waterfall

2009-02-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

Every winter I go through the same thing -- I get tired of gray skies and rain, even when it (rain) is a good thing. Like last month's desktop wallpaper offering, this one is green and wet and fresh but hopeful of the coming spring.

I have on my desktop a wallpaper from the National Geographic website. National Geographic publications are known for their fantastic photographs and photographers. This one I have is of a cascading stream with moss-covered, overhanging trees and branches, some with icicles even. If not a winter scene, it is probably early spring. The photograph is by Nick Feller, an amateur photographer who contributed the image on their Your Shot (now called My Shot) page in December 2007.

While I love that image, I wanted one sans the icicles. So I scoured a couple of my favorite stock photo sites for something similar. I finally settled on the image you see on the wallpaper. It comes from ImageAfter.com. I'm not sure of the attribution because the download page really doesn't state who took the photograph. Anyway, rather than keeping the wallpaper to myself, I decided to offer it to you as well.

I paired the photo with an apt quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh from Quoteland.com. The font I used is Lucida Calligraphy.

To view and download the desktop wallpaper, go to the fifth wallpapers page. There are four sizes to choose from. Download the size that most closely corresponds to your monitor's resolution. And remember, these are not meant for use on webpages.

New Desktop Wallpaper: Flowers and Rain

2009-01-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here in California we're finding out that we may be facing a drought this summer due to the scarce snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains this winter. We rely on the runoff from the snowpack to fill our reservoirs, if not the rains. So with that on my mind, and me being tired of the cold, I look to spring flowers to cheer us up with this latest desktop wallpaper.

The flower and rain photograph comes from my favorite source, morguefile.com, and it was created by delboysafa whose real name is Derek Nutley. The quote I chose for the desktop wallpaper is by Rachel Carson which I got from The Quote Garde n.

The wallpapers come in four sizes (resolutions) and can be downloaded on the fifth desktop wallpapers page. Choose the size that closely corresponds to your monitor's resolution and save the wallpaper from the popup download window. Save it to your desktop directly or save it to your downloads folder in your hard drive. Brief directions are on the popup download window.

Snowfall Side and Top Border Web Page Backgrounds

2008-12-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

I've finally created a side border snowy background graphic for your web pages and a top border with the same graphic. The difference here is I'm experimenting with Cascading Style Sheets this time for the page layouts. Check them out!

This is pretty exciting for me because I've been thinking about getting away from tables-based web pages. While I'll still offer backgrounds and sets using tables for layouts, I will be basing sample pages more and more toward CSS layouts. So right now I'm working on changing my own web site to a CSS layout, for the most part. That means I won't have time to offer any more new graphics for this year.

Wow! Can you believe 2008 is almost ending?

Well, here are the links to the pages for "Snowfall":

Hope you enjoy using either one or both of these backgrounds. Finally, here's wishing you a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa!

Coordinated Web Page Graphic Set and Desktop Wallpaper

2008-10-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

This latest graphic set and desktop wallpaper are created from a photo I took a few summers ago of some koi fish swimming in a resort hotel's garden pond. The photo was treated to some artistic, silkscreen rendering with Paint Shop Pro. It gives the resulting image an abstract look without rendering the fish unrecognizable.

Initially, I made this photo into a web page graphics set with a top header for my own use. Then when I decided to distribute this at Arride Graphics, I wondered if the entire altered photo would look nice as a desktop wallpaper. I think it does. So there you go!

To view and download the web page graphic set, please go to the Top Headers page.

To view and download the desktop wallpaper in one of four sizes, go to page five of the Wallpapers section.

These two graphic offerings complete my releases for the month of October.

Start at the main page to see what other graphics are offered at Arride Graphics.

Arachnophobic: A Top Border Background

2008-10-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a new top border background suitable for the upcoming Halloween Friday, a personal page or maybe a science page about spiders. The spiders sit at about the 100 pixel line from the top but still provide plenty of space for your header information, such as your website's name or maybe even a small banner ad. The graphic's total size is 100X3000 pixels so there's a lot of space for your content before the spider border repeats itself.

Interested? Well then, go to the fourth page of the Top Border backgrounds to find the thumbnail for the download. You'll need the username and password info found on that page to get to the download page. The download link opens a new window.

Shades of Gray Background Tiles

2008-10-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today I'm releasing some background tiles in shades of gray to complete (maybe) the first page of the solid color tiles. The four existing tiles were a bit lonely without more grays. So I added four more.

Hopefully, someone will find some use for these tiles.

To view and download the new tiles, go to page 1 of the solid color tiles section.

Also, in light of my missing releases in September, I'll offer a new/ old set and a new desktop wallpaper this month. Boy, is it hard to get back into the swing of things after returning home from vacation!

Check out some existing webpage backgrounds, too, in the Halloween spirit on the following pages:

Side Border Page 5 - jack o' lanterns, 2 styles
Top Border Page 2 - skeletons
Top Border Page 3 - jack o' lantern
Top Border Page 4 - cats on a fence

New Desktop Wallpaper!

2008-08-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

As promised earlier this week, a new graphic in the form of desktop wallpapers are here to decorate your computer monitor. I whipped this one up from a photograph I took of nasturtium flowers in my garden. Sometimes I fiddle with photographs using Virtual Painter in Paint Shop Pro, but this time I left it untouched. So what you see is what I took.

A little bit of info about nasturtiums: these are orange flowers, but they come in other colors, too. I also had some in a light yellow or cream color. Nasturtium is also known as tropaeolum. The young leaves, flowers and unripe seed pods are edible, having a peppery flavor like watercress, and can be used in salads for color.* They're really easy to grow and re-seed themselves. Unfortunately, for me anyway, snails and slugs love to eat them, too, so I had to remove them to avoid having to deal with those slimy critters; nevermind eating any of the flowers after they've nibbled on them. Yuck!

The desktop wallpapers come in four sizes to fit monitors in most of the common resolutions my visitors use. So go to the fifth wallpapers page to download one of them. Remember, they must be saved to your desktop or your computer's hard drive, or set as wallpaper directly. They're not meant to be used as web page backgrounds.

* Information on nasturtiums: Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995

Cool New Patterned Background Tiles!

2008-07-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

I don't know why these weren't offered back in 2005 when I made them, but here they are now. (Kind of like finding clothes in the back of your closet you forgot you had.) These are freeform, patterned background tiles to use on your web pages or your desktop for a very wild look. Count 'em: 12.

Like the ones on the page and the pages before it, these were created using Sausage Software's Reptile. Some colors were tweaked from the original patterns; others were cropped. All of the names are mine and I've written the tile name below each download sample. As for three of the tiles, I don't remember why I named them as I named them. So those will remain enigmatic.

Go on and check out the background tiles now, located on the "B" and "C" pages of the Freeform Designs page.

New Balloonz Web Page Graphic Set!

2008-07-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

I missed my self-imposed June deadline for releasing something new, and I feel a wee bit bad about that. But not so much because I've been enjoying baseball in the meantime.

On to the new graphics: This latest set is called "Balloonz." It's a double-border looking set composed of three graphics to use in a table to create the look. It's a fun set suitable for a child's web page or web site, a birthday web page for any age, or any fun page or site you can think of. The set comes with the three table graphics and three more background tiles to use as you wish in your page design. Accessories include two bullets, two page header graphics and a page divider.

In a break from the past, you can now download individual pieces of the set from a separate page or you can download the zip file as before. All graphics for this set, whether obtained from the download page or the zip file, must be saved to your computer's hard drive or your transloader space, if you're a WebTV user. There is no direct-linking or hot-linking allowed.

So now, go to the preview page for this set on the Double Border Sets page. Enjoy using this set!

Updates

2008-05-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

In the coming month or so, my web host will be migrating accounts to new servers located at a different data center, mine included. There may be disruptions of accessibility to this site.[Arride Graphics] I'm hoping it will be minimal.

My hand is feeling better but it is not completely healed. I will try to get out some graphics anyway between now and the end of June. This downtime has been nice in a way, because there's always something going on in life.

Hey Janet, What's Up?

2008-04-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been offering any new graphics for over a month now. That is because I've got a repetitive stress injury to my wrist and hand. Making graphics requires extensive use of the mouse and I can't do that much right now, especially while wearing the brace. Very awkward.

So while I heal, there won't be anything new to offer. I can say that my hand seems to be getting better every day. Hopefully, I'll be ready to make more graphics within the next month or so. In the meantime, please check out the existing graphics. Maybe you need a new desktop wallpaper?

Thanks for your visit!

Background Tiles As Desktop Wallpapers, A Mini-Tutorial

2008-02-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

If I judge correctly from how long some visitors stay on my site when they're searching for certain desktop wallpapers, I don't think they understand what desktop wallpapers are. In some instances, they are fixed-width images, e.g. 800x600 pixel photos or color graphics. In other instances, they are graphical tiles, mostly with seamless edges, in a variety of pixel sizes, e.g. 10x10 or 100x100 or 10x100, as examples. While I offer the fixed-width images as desktop wallpapers, you can use any of the web page background tiles on your desktop also. It's how you set the graphic on your desktop that allows the image to cover it.

The fixed width image, should you go ahead and install it immediately, is set as a Stretched image (Windows). Because you set it that way, you have to be sure you download the correct size for the resolution you've set your monitor. For example, if you're using the resolution of 1024x768, you download the desktop wallpaper sized at 1024x768. You can also use the option of Center, if you've downloaded the correct size. (Theoretically, you can use a size larger than your monitor's resolution, but you end up losing some of the image -- right and bottom sides -- in doing so.)

The other option is to Tile the image. Obviously, with a fixed-width image, it makes no sense to tile it since it covers the entire desktop anyway. This is the option you choose when you use a background tile. Instructing the computer to tile the image on your desktop will cover it all. Check it out. If you tell the computer to center the background tile, all you'll see is this lonely tile in the middle of your desktop. If you stretch it, watch out! It will be so huge and out of focus, maybe even funny-looking. (The screenshot doesn't do the real look justice. Believe me it looks bad.) Tiling the tile makes sense and is the best way to go. Additionally, the best thing about background tiles is you don't have to worry about knowing your monitor's resolution.

Centered, a 100x100 pixel tile

Stretched and fuzzy

Tiled

Words of caution: If the small, single tile looks good, it does not necessarily translate into a good-looking desktop wallpaper. It may end up looking too busy. Try them out. You can always change it easily, unlike wallpaper you put on house walls.

How do you set your image on your desktop? With Windows, you right-click on the image until a menu pops up and select "Set As Desktop..." Then in the next popup window, select the Position and change the color, if necessary. Finally, press the "Set Desktop Background" button. You're done!

For Mac users, click on the link to view the desktop image. Click and hold the mouse cursor over the image and drag it to your desktop. The image will be copied and saved. (The browser window may have to be resized in order to see and reach the desktop so the image can be dragged and dropped.) Next, open the appearance control panel ( Main Apple Menu drop down menu -> Control Panels -> Appearance) When the appearance control panel window opens, click on the "desktop" tab. Drag the saved image from the desktop into the appearance desktop window. Choose how you want the image to be displayed (i.e. position automatically, center on screen, tile...) then click on "Set Desktop".

Here are the Desktop Wallpapers and Background Tiles pages at Arride Graphics:

Wallpapers 1 - space images
Wallpapers 2 - more space images
Wallpapers 3 - variety of images
Wallpapers 4 - more variety of images
Background Tiles - color and patterned

Have fun!

New Top Border Web Page Background: Green Jewels

2008-02-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Top border backgrounds are pretty popular nowadays, if I can judge from the number of visitors here searching for them. I'll continue to make and offer them in a variety of patterns and colors as the demand dictates. Today, I'm offering two, similar top border backgrounds - Green Jewels - made with an emerald bead tube and Virtual Painter in Paint Shop Pro 7.

The beads line the bottom of the green, textured top border. One background graphic has a large bead and a tiny bead, giving the graphic a bit of presence. The other background graphic has a small bead and a tiny bead, a much more subdued yet still elegant look. The choice is yours. Both graphics are shown on sample pages from which you can download the graphic, and the instructions are right on the page.

You can find the thumbnail images on page four of the top edge or border backgrounds page. Each thumbnail image will open a new window with the sample pages. Have fun choosing!

New Desktop Wallpaper: Hammock at the Beach

2008-02-13T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last year, you saw this image on the July calendar desktop wallpaper. It's a photo of a white hammock strung from palm trees on the beach in Sri Lanka. The photo was taken by Ana C. Golpe and offered at Morguefile.com.

Feeling a little bit anxious for warm weather and for spring and summer to arrive, I decided to resurrect this image for another desktop wallpaper more permanent than a calendar one. Also because the beachy/summery image I had on my computer's desktop -- although nice and warm feeling -- was the one provided by Microsoft and I wanted something different, so I chose to bring this back. I love Ana's photo and the feeling it gave me when I first saw it. I remember sighing deeply and wishing I could be laying there in the hammock right then.

Now, the photo was a bit skewed with the horizon slanted upwards from left to right. So I leveled that out. In doing so, I needed to crop the image so that the background color I used would not be part of the photo. That meant the image sizes would be off the standard heights, e.g. instead of 800x600, it is 800x592 and instead of 1024x768, it is 1024x758 and so on. I also made the image less fuzzy by sharpening it a bit. All this was done with Paint Shop Pro 7.

Does this sound like something you want on your desktop? Go to the fourth wallpapers page (click link) to download in one or more of four widths, and enjoy!

New Desktop Wallpaper: Blue Ice

2008-02-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

Finally got a burst of energy to churn up another desktop wallpaper for you. This will be the last of the wintry-themed wallpapers for the season because I'm ready for spring!

This desktop wallpaper, Blue Ice, was made from a photograph obtained at ImageAfter.com. I couldn't tell who the contributor was, so I guess he or she will remain anonymous. The quote is from QuoteGarden.com and I thought it was appropriate for the image. Finally, the font I used for the text of the quote is called Rage Italic from the Esselte Corporation and Microsoft Corporation, a commercial font.

You can view then download the wallpaper in one or more of the four sizes on the fourth wallpapers page at Arride Graphics.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm late. But this is the first work day of the year, so I am not that late. Hope everyone enjoyed their time off for the holidays. I can't believe how fast time goes by between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's 30 days but it seems so much shorter, especially when you're trying to find the right gifts to give everyone and trying to avoid the crowds at the malls by shopping mostly online.

So, I didn't get much done like I hoped I would, graphics- and site-wise. But there will be changes coming this year, if not this month. Look for a brighter-looking web site here. Out with the old; in with the new!

(Changes mentioned will be to the web site only, not this blog.)

New, Wintry Desktop Wallpaper: SnowTree

2007-12-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here's an alternative desktop wallpaper to the December calendar. It's a snow-covered tree, a leafless one at that, that I photographed a year or two ago. I applied Virtual Painter's Pointillism effect in Paint Shop Pro which gives the photo a complementary snowy effect. The cool blues and purples of this image chill - just the feeling you get when you walk outside on a crisp winter morning and forgot to put on your ear muffs and scarf.

Download one of four sizes of SnowTree on the fourth Wallpapers page and enjoy.

This is absolutely the last graphic I'll be releasing this year. I've got a ton of maintenance work to do on my web site in anticipation of the new year (wow, it's almost 2008?).

While you're on the wallpapers page, do check out the other offerings on the site as well. Maybe you haven't started a web page yet, but see what's available. Looking around might spark your interest; if not a web site, then a social-networking page perhaps?

New Background Tile

2007-12-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Alrighty! In keeping with the wintry theme, here's another snowflake background tile you can play with. Created from a Microsoft Wingding, this background tile can be used on web pages or your computer's desktop. The sample pages offer different ways you can use this tile on web pages. Go to the patterned tiles page 5 for more information and the download.

Note: the thumbnail image above is just a sample at 60% of full size. The full size 100x100 pixel graphic is more detailed.

(Edit 12/5/07: Thumbnail image removed due to someone in Florida thinking that was the download.)

Double Delight: Desktop Wallpaper & Background Tiles

2007-11-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Today's offerings are December's Desktop Wallpaper and Snowflakes Background Tiles! I haven't done background tiles in awhile, so what better timing than now and with a pattern that's popular at this time of the year. So is the image used in this month's desktop wallpaper: red berries, green foliage and snow.

The image for the desktop wallpaper comes from a photographer whose nickname on the web site, Image Temple, is Raistlin. It's a pretty picture that I left untouched other than putting those translucent boxes for the calendar. The font used on the calendar is called Girls Are Weird created by Robot Johnny AKA John Martz. Download a desktop wallpaper now in one of four sizes.

The background tiles were created using the dingbat font, Snowflake, from type foundry P22. I created the tiles with Paint Shop Pro, first making the "full strength" tile, then adding some translucent layers of white to create the two "faded" tiles. The sample page shows how you can use all three tiles with nested tables. You don't have to do that on your web pages; use just one tile or two tiles. View and download the snowflakes background tile now. By the way, these tiles can also be used on your desktop. Just set a tile as desktop wallpaper and make sure you indicate that it should be tiled, not stretched or centered.

The desktop wallpaper calendar is the last for this year and forever. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will not be making these any more for the public. I hope that those of you who downloaded the previous months enjoyed them as I did.

November's Desktop Wallpaper

2007-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's here! Download November now in one of two looks: Regular or Enhanced. Regular starts out with one of my landscape photos that I applied the Watercolor filter to and using the font, Pristina by the Esselte Corporation, created the latest calendar desktop wallpaper. Enhanced goes a step further with autumn leaves from a PSP tube. While I really like how the regular calendar turned out, I thought it needed a little something extra to give it more "oomph"; thus, the leaves. So I offer for this month two versions of November.

Choose one or both versions from the fourth page of the Wallpapers section. You can either download the image to install later or apply the desktop wallpaper now. Instructions are on each window of the size you choose.

More news: December will be the last calendar desktop wallpaper I'll make. I'm not sure how well these are being accepted because I don't receive any feedback. So instead of me working hard to create these graphics for the public, I'll resume creating them for my personal enjoyment only. But I will continue to make desktop wallpapers in general.

Top Border Backgrounds: Reversed Gradients

2007-10-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I released a group of top border backgrounds with gradient colors. Reversing the graphic so that it starts out with a white or near-white background then slowly transitions to the color is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile. So here it is now.

I hope that for some of my visitors wishing to use a gradient background for their web pages, this selection fits better than what was offered previously.

You can find the reversed gradients on the fourth top border backgrounds page.

Birches, Clouds & Sky: New Desktop Wallpaper

2007-10-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

While we are going through another warm spell, I'm releasing this scene on the latest desktop wallpaper of the European birches in my back yard against a backdrop of the brightest blue winter sky and fluffy clouds. But this is not your ordinary photo. I've taken the admittedly plain Jane photo and touched it up with Paint Shop Pro's Virtual Painter. I used the Drawing Effect on Washi paper to come up with this abstract desktop wallpaper rich with textures. I love it and hope you do, too.

Go to the fourth desktop wallpapers page to find the links to four sizes and set or download the wallpaper of your choice. Remember, the wallpapers are meant for your desktop, not for web pages. They are too large, even the 800x600 size, to use for web pages. Not everyone surfs with high speed connections...yet.

The November desktop wallpaper will be released on Thursday. So check back to the web site then.

Cats On A Fence: New Top Border Background!

2007-10-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Latest top border background graphic features sleek black cats scampering across the top of a fence. Added spookiness is the yellow glow emanating from the cats. Just right for your Halloween page or other pages of your web site.

This latest linkware is available to all users, subject to the Terms of Use. Download instructions are on the sample page which is password-protected. The thumbnail sample above doesn't do the background justice, so head out to the fourth page of the top border backgrounds to view the full page sample from the link there.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

October's Desktop Wallpaper Is Here!

2007-09-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

After some fits and starts, I've finally finished October's wallpaper for you to download to your desktop and enjoy for the entire month. This month's photo comes from the creative eyes and camera of Simon Schaller AKA simu at MorgueFile.com. It's an orange moon -- harvest moon perhaps -- on a dark landscape in a park, it looks like. Pretty cool! The font I used this month is called "Fletcher Gothic FLF" by Software Complement at the Casady & Greene page at Typoasis.

The thumbnail shot above doesn't do the image any justice, so check out the full size desktop wallpapers for yourself on Wallpapers 4 page. Click the link that most closely matches your monitor's resolution and follow the instructions on the page that opens.

In other news, changes are in store for the site. I'm working on them throughout October and November, so there may be fewer graphic sets and pieces coming during that period. I'll continue to make the calendar desktop wallpapers, though. So come back at least once a month to pick up a new calendar for your desktop.

Last Two Space-themed Desktop Wallpapers

2007-09-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded the last two desktop wallpapers with space images from GRIN. One is a revisit featuring the Carina Nebula. The other is an image taken by the Apollo 8 crew of the Earth rising over the moonscape.

The Carina Nebula is one of the most beautiful nebulae in the universe. I had offered it only in the 800x600 size, so this time I changed the look a little and created four sizes including another 800x600 size.

The Earthrise wallpaper puts you over the moon looking back at the Earth as it looked way back on December 29, 1968. Many of you haven't been born yet; many of you remember those years as being turbulent ones. Yet, how peaceful and beautiful our planet looked from space. This wallpaper is offered in four sizes to fit most of your monitors' resolutions.

Download one or both wallpapers from the second wallpapers page. Be sure to check out the other desktop wallpapers on the other three pages, too.

September's Desktop Wallpaper Is Here!

2007-08-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Just as I promised on the 17th the latest desktop wallpaper calendar is uploaded today, at least for some folks in my part of the globe. It's an acknowledgment of the arrival of fall or autumn coming soon.

The photograph of orange and brown autumn leaves serving as the basis for this calendar comes from me and my camera. I touched it up with Virtual Painter's watercolor effect. The font is called "Mistral" from URW and Microsoft. I'm kind of fond of those script and handwriting fonts, can you tell? Anyway, hope you enjoy looking at your desktop during the month of September.

Download one of four sizes at the fourth wallpapers page.

Break Time!

2007-08-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a slow month as far as putting out new graphics and it'll stop altogether next week, because I'm going on vacation. I've been so busy during the summer months with baseball games to attend and other things, I haven't had a lot of time to work on graphics.

But I will have a new desktop calendar for September which I hope to upload on Wednesday the 29th after I return. So hang in there and enjoy August's desktop calendar (see below or link in the left column) while it lasts.

August 2007 Desktop Wallpaper

2007-07-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

August's scenic calendar wallpaper is a closeup photo of shells and rocks on a gray sandy beach taken by kahanaboy of morguefile.com. This month's wallpaper is a farewell to summer as it winds down, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. So enjoy the sand and sun while you can, whether it's at the seashore or lakeside.

Download August's desktop wallpaper on the fourth wallpaper page in one of four sizes. While you're there, check out the other wallpapers on that page and the other three pages.

Two Cool Desktop Wallpapers Pages

2007-07-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

While I love offering desktop wallpapers for you to download, I also like some of the wallpapers available around the 'Net. Two of the sites I love are The Nature Conservancy, a conservation organization, and the National Geographic Society, known to me as a magazine but it's an organization that documents all things scientific, cultural and natural around the globe as well as funds projects. Both offer some of the most fantastic photographic desktop wallpapers around.

I've always admired the photos taken by the National Geographic photographers. They are beautiful and moving. Ever since they began offering photographic calendars, I've been buying them each year. So when they started offering desktop wallpapers, I've stopped by their web site to check them out and download a few.

Every month I get e-mail newsletters from The Nature Conservancy about their projects and an offer of a new download of desktop wallpapers. Besides the wallpapers they also offer nature e-cards which I haven't checked out yet.

Every now and then I like to have a new look on my desktop, not satisfied with the same old image day after day, month after month, nor with the standard stuff MS offers. So these two sites allow me to have a different and fabulous look on my computer's desktop. Of course, sometimes I have one of my own on there, too. But check out these two sites. It's one way to see the world without actually having to travel there.

The Nature Conservancy's "Decorate Your Desktop" page
National Geographic Photo Archive - wallpapers and photos to e-mail

July 2007 Desktop Wallpaper

2007-06-27T10:19:00.001-07:00

This month's scenic calendar wallpaper was made from a photo taken by Ana Golpe of a hammock swinging poolside near a beach somewhere in Sri Lanka. The colors of blues and greens are so cool and serene, it makes you want to be there. What a great view to look at while you work on your computer!

It comes in four sizes, so there's sure to be one that fits your monitor's resolution. Check it out and download one from the fourth wallpapers page.

Photo source: Morguefile.com

New! Yellow Lily Desktop Wallpaper

2007-06-06T13:19:00.001-07:00

I made this desktop wallpaper last year but didn't release it then. I don't even remember why. But here it is now to splash some bright and cheery color to your monitor!

I used a photo I took of a yellow lily from a bouquet and applied Virtual Painter's Watercolor filter to it. Looks pretty good. The desktop wallpaper comes in four sizes and you can go to the fourth wallpapers page to get one. Be sure to check out the other wallpapers, too, including this month's calendar wallpaper.

New! Sunset Kaleidoscope Web Page Graphic Set

2007-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

As promised on Wednesday this week, a complete nested tables set using the same kaleidoscope graphic as on the top border and side border backgrounds. The set comes with 10 background tiles to mix-and-match, a bullet and a page divider. The colors are oranges and shades of brown. Very earthy.

I'm not going to chat too much today as I'm going to a baseball game tonight and really need a nap. So go to the sample page to view the graphics and layout, then download the zip file. If you think you'd like to make sure no one else (or very few other people) grabs this set, click the Kagi link on the page to buy the non-exclusive license now.

Set 214 - Sunset Kaleidoscope

Be sure to enter the username and password provided.

Two New Web Page Background Graphics!

2007-05-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Featuring an orange and tan kaleidoscope border on the side or the top, these two background graphics will make your web pages pop! I started this background from a funky sunset photograph that I cropped and then applied a kaleidoscope filter over and over again until I got the graphic that I liked. Then I sampled parts of the kaleidoscope to get the light-colored background used for the rest of the graphic. The first background made was the top border in 100x3000 pixels. I turned this graphic 90 degrees and cropped it narrower to create the side border background.

The top border background sample page shows a fictitious company's main page just to show you how the border incorporates the company's name which I made as a .gif with a transparent background. You can do the same or leave the border area blank and start your content below it. Since the border is only 100 pixels wide, in the side border background I made the text smaller at 10 points so that the links would just fit. I also added margins of zero width to make the table hug the left side more closely.

Enough chatter about these two graphics. View and click on the thumbnail images to get the sample pages where you can proceed to download the graphic. The sample pages will open in a new window after you enter the username and password provided.

Sunset Kaleidoscope Top Border
Sunset Kaleidoscope Side Border

Also coming later this week is a nested tables set using the same kaleidoscope graphic as a tile and some background tiles in colors sampled from the image.

Two New Desktop Wallpapers Featuring Whitewater Rafting!

2007-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

One of them is actually June's calendar wallpaper. Springtime usually signals the start of the commercial whitewater rafting season out here in California, so that's the inspiration for these two desktop wallpapers. Both are created from photos that I took many springs ago and gussied up with Paint Shop Pro 7 or PSP and Virtual Painter.

A little more information about the photos: These show whitewater rafters from two different companies on the North Fork Yuba River near Downieville, California. This is the class IV lower section below Son of Maytag rapid (IV) that's run from Goodyears Bar to the Fiddle Creek campground. (Maytag rapid is the only class V rapid on this run.) The river runs next to the highway for the most part and that's where I was standing while I took these photos with my trusty little Pentax ME Super film camera with zoom lens.

The set, "Kayaker's Delight," is on the same river, but I used only the photos of the kayakers who were going down the same time as the rafters to create the set.

Go to the fourth wallpapers page to download the desktop wallpapers in one of four available sizes.

For more information about rafting California rivers:

California Whitewater Rafting
RaftInfo.com
Total Escape

Whitewater rafting companies featured in the wallpapers:

Beyond Limits
Whitewater Voyages

I've rafted with both of these companies and they are great!

Earth Day Desktop Wallpaper

2007-04-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

In honor of Earth Day, I've modified one of my favorite desktop wallpapers created with two photos of our planet from NASA's Visible Earth web site. Our planet is often referred to as "The Blue Marble" due to its resemblance to marbles. For this wallpaper, I've replaced the "blue marble" reference for some terms in honor of Earth Day.

Some of the common experiences astronauts and cosmonauts expressed have been the feeling of awe, humility and respect for the planet that is our home. While geopolitical turmoil, personal drama, natural disasters and more make us forget where we are, seeing it from the vantage point of space shows us how beautiful and fragile it really is.

The Earth is our only true home. We really cannot live anywhere else without help from mechanical, electronic or other artificial means. Despite all the space exploration stuff and sci-fi stories, there's no place else that humans and the other creatures and living things we share this planet with are meant to live. So it is imperative that we respect and protect our home.

What are you doing for Earth Day and every day?

You will find the Earth Day desktop wallpaper on the 2nd wallpapers page.

New Top Border (Sort Of) Backgrounds!

2007-04-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd get the snowflake background graphic out of the way to remind us that we are in spring now. And now for something completely different. Here are the gradients!

These backgrounds are way lighter in color than the names suggest, and they really aren't strict top borders per se. But they are gradients nonetheless. All of them -- black, blue, green, orange, red and wine -- are 50x3000 pixels. So there's lots of room for lengthy content per page. If you want, you can use different colors for different subjects on your web site or blog. These backgrounds make great backdrops for other graphics you'd want to put on your page, such as photos.

Since all of these colors blend into white, do not use white as your text color. Black works fine for all, even the black gradient background which really looks more gray than black.

Anyway, go to the third top border backgrounds page for the thumbnail samples and link to the full download pages. All open up to new windows. Be sure to use the provided username and password.

New Calendar Desktop Wallpaper for May!

2007-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

While this is way ahead of schedule, I need to put this up now before I find myself having no time to do it.

For the month of May I chose one of my photos of some purple wildflowers (sorry, I'm not that botanically minded so I don't know the name of these pretty flowers!) The photo was treated to Virtual Painter's watercolor filter and covered with a sheer white layer to really soften it.

The font I chose this month is called "Steinem" by Apostrophe of Apostrophic Labs. While the web site no longer exists, you can find this font as well as the entire catalogue at pedroreina.net. Another source of most of the Apostrophic Labs' fonts is Typoasis.

To download or install May's desktop wallpaper, go to the fourth page of the Wallpapers section and click on the link for the size you want. This month we have four sizes to choose from. Cool, eh?

New Background Tiles: Polka Dots!

2007-03-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Having fun with polka dots!

Call it the influence of modern pop culture. Or not. The "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" tune has been swirling around in my head ever since a certain yogurt company's commercial featuring that tune aired every start of the year when women supposedly are dieting like crazy to fit into their swimsuits. Yogurt, and other milk products, reportedly help you lose weight. Okay, so that's the basis for this background tile's creation.

But instead of just yellow polka dots, I've created pink, green and blue polka dot background tiles. All come with a sample page to see what they look like tiled on a page and with download instructions.

Check out the page now.

New Calendar Desktop Wallpaper

2007-03-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

The month of April is only a couple of weeks away, so here's the April desktop calendar for you to download now. Might as well get a head start, no? This month I decided to do a flowery daffodil with greenery decor calendar. The font used is called "Penguin Attack" by Dustin Norlander. It's a curly and somewhat girly font face but appropriate with the daffodils. Spring comes in a few days, so what better way to celebrate April than with some spring flowers!

You can either install the desktop calendar now or download it to your computer's hard drive to install later. Instructions are on the download page of whichever size you choose. These come in 800x640, 1024x819 and 1280x1024 sizes.

As to tomorrow's holiday in some areas of this globe, I already have a shamrock side border background on site. Sorry, no corned beef and cabbage to go with that.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Changes to Web Graphic Sets Pages

2007-03-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

I've removed a set type, created a new set type and moved sets to other types.

First, the set type called "Home, Kids & Pets" was removed and all of those sets moved to "Simple Table Sets." Second, I created a new set type called "Left Border Sets." Last, three sets in "Simple Table Sets" were moved to two other types because the setup of those sets more closely resemble their new set types. Those sets are "Pretty Pink Roses" and "Poppies," which were moved to the newly-created set type of "Left Border Sets," and "I Heart You," which was moved to "Double Border Sets."

All of these changes put sets into the type that best describes the layout of the set. In the case of moving sets out of "Home, Kids & Pets," the layout of those sets were simple tables. The "Home, Kids & Pets" set type was the only one that described the sets' target user or subject rather than type of layout. These changes are noted on all affected pages mentioned above.

More sets are in the works in both the non-exclusive and exclusive categories. The debut of the exclusive sets may be delayed into the next quarter, though, as I'd like to offer more than one set in the debut and I haven't figured out the layout of the Kagi page.

Stay tuned!

New Desktop Wallpaper Experiments with Calendars!

2007-02-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

I decided to try out calendar desktop wallpapers for this year. Starting out with March, it's a kite decorating the calendar. You'll notice the casual look. I tried hard not to strive for perfect alignment of the numbers. The boxes aren't exactly in line either. I made the kite with Paint Shop Pro 7. It's not made from a dingbat font nor clipart nor tubes, for that matter. The font, in case you're wondering, is called Eskargot by Apostrophic Lab. You can find it at DaFont.com (PC and Mac), Apostrophic Lab at Pedroreina.net (#0156 PC and Mac) or Typoasis (PC only).

Each month I'll pick out a theme to decorate the wallpaper and release it a few days before the month starts. This will be an experimental year. If it's popular, I may continue it for next year.

To view and download the appropriate size for your desktop, click here to go to the Wallpapers 4 page. Note that the sizes are bit larger in length from the standard for 800 and 1024 width wallpapers. The 1280 width is 1024 long.

Kagi Now Offers PayPal

2007-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Just about a month ago Kagi announced that PayPal will be another payment option for buyers. What that means for you, my visitors, is that you have more ways than ever to pay for a non-exclusive or exclusive set license from Arride Graphics! What that means for me is now I don't have to open a separate PayPal merchant account to give you another option of paying, although Kagi already has many options to pay for all visitors from around the world.

Just select PayPal when you go through the checkout process. If you don't already have a personal PayPal account, go to https://www.paypal.com/ (Be sure a locked icon appears in the status bar of your browser and that your address bar shows the above URL with the https and PayPal "P" favicon next to it to assure you're at the real PayPal web site, or type in the above URL in a new window.)

Shortly, I will be changing the look of the web site and will begin offering the first exclusive set. I still need to work out how each set will be presented in the Kagi order form. But the non-exclusive set licenses are ready to go now with the new fee schedule in place. Additionally, I will not be able to put text on navigation buttons, header graphics and do the JavaScript for rollover buttons, so those fees are removed.

I have other offerings in mind to have at Arride Graphics. Whether or not I'll implement those, we'll see.

New Side Border Web Graphic Set: Pretty Pink Roses!

2007-02-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

Something for a little girl's page? Maybe for your wedding page? This web page graphic set is pretty in pink roses.

Created with PSP tubes and a little touch of Virtual Painter, it comes with the left side border background graphic, a blank header graphic, a page divider and two bullet graphics, all in pink roses. This is a very nice set, not too heavy with graphics, and fairly simple in appearance, so it doesn't take away from your content. The sample page shows how you can use the set. But you can use as much or as little of the other accessory graphics as you like.

This set is linkware for all users, personal or commercial, and requires no user license. You must, however, link back to my web site from all pages using any graphic from this set. You have the option of using the provided link button or a text link.

Click the screenshot on this page and enter the provided username and password. It will open a new window with the sample page and the download link. Close the window when you're done to return to the previous page.

This 'n' That

2007-01-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm just going to ramble. I've had a bad cold with the works since the weekend and I'm now just beginning to feel a little better. And I really don't feel like working hard on any graphics today.

I was checking out some stats on this blog and noticed that someone was looking for linkware with fishing boats. They found my blog post about the boat near Skagway, Alaska, wallpaper, but for some reason Goggle search did not list the actual post, which happened on September 5, 2006. So all the person got to was the main page of this blog that only has the most recent blog posts. I don't know where the problem lies since I recall most posts are searchable in Google by post date/ title.

Then I got to thinking, the wallpaper image really could make a nice header web page graphics set. That's getting off on a different tangent. Or maybe not.

Anyway, when I go through the stats page for Arride Graphics, sometimes I get ideas for the next web page set or desktop wallpaper. Just by viewing what people are looking for. Maybe the graphics won't be for the person who was searching, but it could be for the next person who's searching for the same thing. It can happen.

Also, I've amended the template for this blog by reversing the order of the archives so that the most recent month is on top. That may have helped the boat-linkware-seeking person, maybe.

Lastly, I mentioned previously that I'd stop reporting on the milestone visitors. That was a mistake. It will continue. I said awhile ago (last year?) that I'd stop reporting on my web host's downtime. Overall, my web host has been pretty good with uptime (97-99%). That's why I'll stop reporting it.

New Spacey Desktop Wallpaper!

2007-01-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

I really spaced out today, literally. I mentioned on Wednesday this wallpaper will debut today and I forgot to upload it until I saw something else. Well anyway, here it is.

It is an image, actually multiple images on the left side, of Star V838 Monocerotis. I obtained this public domain image from the HubbleSite.org. Here's the blurb accompanying this image:

"The red supergiant star in the center of this image brightened suddenly for several weeks in 2002, illuminating dust that may have been ejected from the star during a previous explosion."

Awesome! And so are the desktop wallpapers I made of this photo. Three sizes to download from the Wallpapers II page. Choose one size which will open up in a new window. Large images, so be patient while it loads in your browser window.

Visitor 12500!

2007-01-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

I knew this person was coming but I didn't know how soon.

This visitor comes from Escondido, California, on January 9 using a Windows XP computer and surfing with Internet Explorer 6.0. He or she was using the MSN search engine looking for floral wallpaper and found the Big Orange Flower. But I guess it wasn't the right flower.

Better luck next site... Thanks for dropping by anyway and keep us in your bookmarks.

(Did I say I wasn't going to report these anymore? Well, the next milestone will be the last I promise.)

I will announce the latest desktop wallpaper on Friday.

New Double Border Background Graphic!

2006-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

"Snowflake" is the latest double border background I'm offering this year. It's not a set, just the page background graphic. (There are other snowflake background graphics as well as a set at Arride Graphics to check out.) This one has a light blue border background on two sides with a single style white snowflake. You can use this background graphic on a winter sports page, a holiday page or a general web page.

I made the snowflake using a dingbat font called "Snow" from the P22 font foundry. It was a freebie giveaway and you can get the font too.

All details about the background graphic as well as the dingbat font can be found on the sample page. Go to the Double Border Backgrounds page to view the thumbnail image and sample page link. Be sure to use the username and password on that page after you click on the thumbnail image.

Site Changes for 2007

2006-12-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Besides a change of look for this site, I will be implementing new policy changes with regard to the linkware web page graphics offered. I will also begin offering an exclusive set once a month.

The change in the policy for the linkware web page graphics include making the linkware sets free of charge for all, whether the intended use is for personal, non-profit, commercial or professional web sites. The backgrounds only graphics will also be free of charge to all. Background tiles have always been free, so there is no change with that. Everyone still will be required to provide a link back to Arride Graphics with either the provided link graphic or a text link. All copyrights will still belong to me and/ or to anyone whose art or photo I use.

Those linkware web page graphic sets that are available for purchase on a non-exclusive basis will still have the same fees as before: $15 per set per site for personal and non-profit use and $35 per set per site for commercial or professional use. This is per site not per page. You can use the graphics on web sites with one to 100 or more pages; the fee is the same. Copyrights are as described above and linking back will be required.

With regard to the exclusive sets, right now I plan to charge between $150-$300 for each set, regardless of its intended use whether personal, non-profit, commercial or professional. The fee and fee range may change at any time. Copyrights are as described above and linking back is optional.

I am also looking to add another payment processor, most likely PayPal, so that you have another option besides Kagi (whose name means "key" in Japanese but they're not a Japanese company; a little trivia FYI).

All of the above changes will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2007, barring any issues with software, hardware or otherwise.

Other Page Links:

Fees
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Linkware portal page

Above pages show current information not 2007 information.

New Desktop Wallpaper!

2006-11-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

I couldn't let November go by without offering something, so here's a desktop wallpaper to chase away the winter blues. Yeah, I know it's not quite winter yet in the Northern Hemisphere, but it sure feels like it.

This wallpaper is of the shoreline at high tide at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, California. It's not too far away from Half Moon Bay on Highway 1, subject of another desktop wallpaper on page 3. At low tide, all sorts of marine creatures that inhabit the tidal zones can be viewed, such as sea urchins, anemones, starfish, crabs, limpets and more. To read more about this fascinating park, go to its webpage at the San Mateo County Parks web site or visit the Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve's web site.

To download a desktop wallpaper in one of three sizes, click here.

Visitor 12000 Acknowledged

2006-11-27T15:28:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to take the time to acknowledge visitor 12000 who came on November 20th via the MSN search engine. He or she was looking for floral desktop wallpaper in 1024x768 resolution despite the fact that their computer (or the computer they were using) was only 800x600. They were surfing with Internet Explorer 6 on a Windows XP computer. The visitor hails from Kuwait.

Thank you for stopping by! Hope the Big Orange Flower desktop wallpaper was just what you were looking for.

Another New Top Header Set!

2006-10-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

This is an exciting set which has nothing to do with Halloween. It's a set I created for a personal web site and decided to release here because it's that cool. My web site deals with a certain online web host's webpage builder and the photo I used from Morguefile reflects the technical nature of my site. It is actually similar to what I have now but without the hands and in a totally different color scheme.

The photo is from member "justcola" of a keyboard in shadows. I don't know if he/she used a filter or maybe a paint software to color the photo but it's in blues. I thought the photo was so good I downloaded it knowing I'd use it for a set, whether my own or for Arride Graphics. I ended up doing both.

So, check out the set yourself. I call it "Coolin'" and it's set number 308. Go to the Top Headers page to view the thumbnail and click it to go to the page itself. Remember to use the username and password provided on the page. It'll open in a new window.

Enjoy!

New Halloween Side Border Backgrounds!

2006-10-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

You know, I'm sure I made these two backgrounds last year but since I got started so late I didn't release them then. You now have the chance to make a neat Halloween web site or web page with either or both of these side border backgrounds that I call "Jolly Jack One" and "Jolly Jack Two."

These two backgrounds feature a smiling jack o' lantern on the left side on a black background, natch, with tiny pumpkins rimming the border. The difference between the two backgrounds is Jolly Jack Two has a couple of sinister glowing eyes peering above the jack o' lantern. The choice is yours.

View the thumbnails and access the backgrounds on page 5 of the side border backgrounds section. These are linkware so please link back to Arride Graphics on every page the background is used by either a link button or a text link. Thank you!

New Top Header Set!

2006-10-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, this is one of two sets I was working on in September which I call "Watching Grass Grow." It was created from three photos by two photographers who offer their wares at Morguefile, one of my favorites places on the 'Net to obtain free or inexpensive stock photos.

This set has the three photos as a top header and comes with two custom color tiles that match the colors in the photos. The dark tile is not exactly black and the light tile is not exactly white, although you can substitute standard web-safe color codes for the graphic tiles if you wish. There are no other graphics such as navigation buttons, bullets or page dividers. All of the graphics are zipped up for you and have no watermarks as in the page sample.

For personal and non-profit web sites or users, except web designers or developers hired to create those web sites, it is free of charge. For professional, commercial or hired web designers/ developers, there is a small user license fee. Please see the Fees page for prices. Everyone must read the Terms of Use page for details before downloading this set.

All copyrights to the photos belong to the photographers.

Click here to view the thumbnail image of "Watching Grass Grow" and see the download page at the Top Header Page.

Visitor 11500 and Upcoming Graphic Release!

2006-09-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

I've been anticipating visitor 11500 since earlier in the week as I saw the count get closer and closer. This visitor is from Clarkton, North Carolina, USA, and uses Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6.0. They came searching for background tiles on Yahoo! Search in the wee hours of the morning today. They didn't stay long -- I guess they didn't find what they were looking for here. I hope they bookmarked the site or the page anyway. Thanks for stopping in nonetheless!

I'm working on a couple of sets at the same time and thought I'd be able to release at least one today. I don't think it'll happen, so I'll save them for release in October. I'm really excited about one of the sets and I think you will be, too. It's a top header set that I call "Watching Grass Grow." If I wasn't releasing it for you, I'd use it myself on my site or one of my other web sites or blogs. It's that cool. Look for it in the coming week or so.

New Double Border Background Graphics!

2006-09-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Double border background sets have been offered on this site for awhile. Now, I'm offering just the backgrounds. (Why didn't I think of this before?) The first offering comes in five colors for the borders with decorative black squares on each of the two borders. They're 1000 pixels wide and 24 pixels high, optimal for use in 1024x768 resolutions pages with slight bother for those with smaller and higher resolutions. People with smaller resolution monitors will have to scroll to the right if you've got content there and people with higher resolutions will see a repeat of the left border.

Check out the double border backgrounds now. I'll continue making a few more of these graphics for your web pages.

New Desktop Wallpaper Revisits Alaska!

2006-09-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

This month's first offering is a desktop wallpaper of a boat just outside Skagway, Alaska, taken off the cruise ship my hubby and I were on while on our first cruise aboard a large ship ever. You may have seen another wallpaper of Glacier Bay, Alaska, on the third wallpapers page made from another photo from the same trip.

Back to this photo, our ship left dock in the early evening and this boat was right alongside for awhile. I'm not sure whether this is a fishing boat or one of the Coast Guard boats. Anyway, the original photo was treated to Virtual Painter's airbrush effect. I tried them all and liked this one. Kind of gives it a dreamy appearance.

Comes in four sizes, count 'em! Click one of the sizes that best fits your monitor's resolution and set it as desktop wallpaper. Remember, don't use this for your web pages because it'll load so darned slow it'll upset your visitors. It cannot be altered, i.e. cut into smaller pieces to be put back together either. Read the Terms of Use for details.

Site Down

2006-08-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

As I write this around 11:30 a.m. PDT, my site is unaccessible. The reason why I write this now and have not reported these occurrences in awhile is that I'm trying to upload a new Resources page with the font used in the latest set. I discovered my error of omission earlier this morning and am trying to correct it. So I will wait. Perhaps later today whatever problem that's causing this downtime will be corrected.

I will no longer report these downtimes because they're usually so short in duration.

Two New Desktop Wallpapers!

2006-08-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Forgotten and quietly awaiting their debut are "Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud" and "Liquidamber in Autumn," two new desktop wallpapers that I had finished some time ago, I think. "Supernova..." comes in four sizes and will most likely be the last of the space-themed wallpapers that I'll issue. The image comes from my usual source, GRIN. "Liquidamber..." comes in three sizes and is a photo of a young liquidamber tree in my parents' back yard. At first I thought it was a Japanese maple tree but upon closer inspection, it looks more like the leaves on the mature liquidamber tree I have in my front yard.

Enjoy these wallpapers!

Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud is on the Wallpapers 2 page.

Liquidamber in Autumn is on the Wallpapers 4 page.

New Interface Set!

2006-08-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

At last! I was able to finish this set I started in July and wanted to release then but didn't get around to it. This latest set uses a navigational interface graphic. Primarily neon green on a black background, it looks totally out of this world with the swirling lights. The image was photographed by "ppdigital" (Darren Hester) and uploaded to the free digital stock photo site, Morguefile.

Copyright to this image remains with "ppdigital" even if it is changed from the original full photo. All pieces of this set are invisibly watermarked. The visible watermarks on the sample page graphics are not on the graphics in the zip file. I have not enclosed the html page in the zip file. But if you need to view how the graphics are set up, you can "View Page Source" or "View Source." Then you can copy-and-paste the html for the page onto Notepad or similar or your web page editor. If you do that, please, please, please delete all of my text including the copyright notice and the Sitemeter script at the bottom of the page before you even put a line of text or photos for your own web pages.

This set is free of charge for personal or non-profit web sites/ users but commercial or professional web sites/ users and web designers/ developers need to pay a user fee via Kagi, my payment processor. While the set is zipped for your convenience, if you cannot open zipped files with WinZip, PKZip, Stuffit Expander or similar I can send the pieces by e-mail. Just e-mail your request using the form on the Contact page or e-mail your request directly using the address on the same page.

View and download Neon Green Abstraction here. Click on the thumbnail image and enter the provided username and password in the popup window.

Visitor Number 11000!

2006-08-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

While the hubby and I were away on vacation, visitor 11000 stopped by on the 15th. This visitor had JavaScript disabled so I'm unable to tell how long he/ she stayed and where he/ she went other than to the first desktop wallpapers page. Visitor 11K is from Clarkston, Michigan, and uses a computer with MS XP and IE 6.

On another note, it looks like I probably won't have enough time to complete the set I promised. Been so busy after coming back home from vacation, it's like I never left! Maybe I'll make it, maybe I won't. We'll see...

New Summery Wallpaper!

2006-08-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm getting psyched for vacation! Here's a desktop wallpaper featuring footprints strolling across sand.

This wallpaper was made with Paint Shop Pro 7 and tubes. Comes in three sizes; choose the one that fits your screen resolution best. All free!

Remember, these aren't for web pages as they are each one huge graphic and will load exceedingly slow for any user not on a high-speed internet connection. You don't want to lose any visitor and create a bad rep for yourself and your site. Desktop only!

Check out the thumbnail and download here.

End-of-the-Month Notes

2006-07-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to release a new linkware web set today but don't have enough time to do it. So it will be released sometime in August. It's a really cool interface set and worth waiting for!

I will be unavailable from August 9 through August 23. If you need to contact me, go ahead and send that e-mail. If received before or after those dates, I'll reply as soon as possible. I don't intend to check e-mail during that period though. Work never interferes with play!

Contacting Me

2006-07-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you need to contact me, whether it's about one of the graphics you downloaded or about this site, you can use the form on the Contact page. The form will send me your note to my e-mail address.

Now, my e-mail address is not in the form of my name at arride.com or webmaster at arride.com at all. I do not use my domain. Instead, I use a webmail service provided by Fastmail.fm with the domain of allmail.net. If you write to me, please include allmail.net or my full address in the whitelist or filters of your webmail or e-mail client so that it does not get deleted or sent to the junk mail folder. You should review your junk mail folder regularly anyway so that legitimate e-mail does not get removed accidentally.

The reason why I'm writing this is that a person named Eve contacted me via the form and I sent an e-mail back to her the same day, but have not heard from her. I've sent two e-mails in total within a week and I'm afraid both of them have been junked. So this is a public message to her.

The following is my valid e-mail address, coded to deter 'bot harvesting. I willl put the same link on the Contact page for anyone not wishing to use the form.

Email Arride Graphics

Click the above to send me e-mail using your e-mail client. Otherwise, please use the form on the Contact page.

Credit:

E-Cloaker from Codefoot - an e-mail address or text encoder using unicode

Page Changes

2006-07-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've made some changes that will affect your viewing of some pages as well as possible bookmarks.

In order for the backgrounds pages to load faster, I've divided up the top border pages further into three pages and the side border pages into five pages. All of the pages are accessible on the other pages by page number. The newest backgrounds are on the last page of each section and subsequent new backgrounds will be added to the last page.
I've changed the username and password to access each background to easier to remember words or acronyms. The new username is "bg" and the new password is "look," both in lower case only and without the punctuation marks.

I hope these changes make for a faster browsing experience. In time, I may remove the username and password requirements on the backgrounds pages.

Thanks for visiting Arride Graphics!

Cat's Eye Nebula Desktop Wallpaper!

2006-07-13T01:38:00.000-07:00

I saw I hadn't offered this wallpaper before and started making it only to realize I had already done it but not uploaded it. Talk about senior moments! So much on my mind, I'm getting flakey.

Anyhoooo, I like the new version better than the old, particularly the colors I used with the text, so I dumped the old sets. Version 2 comes in three sizes to fit your monitor's resolution. Most of my visitors use 800x600 or 1024x768. You can find the thumbnail view and the download links to all three wallpaper sizes on the Wallpapers 2 page. Nice lime greens and oranges, just like my cats' eyes.

Check out the other wallpapers, too, if you're new to this site. Links can be found near the top of the page and the right side of the page. Wallpapers 1 contains 800x600 and 1024x768 space-themed wallpapers and Wallpapers 3 contains all non-space themes in up to three sizes (I changed the sizes offered in mid-page).

So stop by and see the site! More than just desktop wallpapers...stuff for decorating your web pages, too!

Visitor 10500!

2006-07-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

I knew early last week this visitor was coming but totally missed his/ her arrival until today.

Visitor number 10500 actually came to the site on the morning of July 10th, their time. He or she hails from Germany, I'm guessing, as they use Deutsche Telekom AG to access the internet. They were using a computer with Windows 2000 and Internet Explorer 6, possibly at an internet café, though. The reason why I say this is this person was looking for a download of FontClerk, which is software that converts Windows True Type fonts to be compatible with Mac OS 9. I can't imagine a Windows user being able to use that software because it's made to be used with Macs.

I know that software is a little hard to come by and even the download of the software by that name at TuCows states that is does something else. I think it's the same one that was offered at the Yamada Language Center when I first had the link to it on the Resources page, though.

Anyway, the search engine of choice was Google. Thanks for stopping by and hope that link helped.

New Side Border Background!

2006-07-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Drawing from school days (yes, I know it's still only July and no one is ready to go back to school yet much less be reminded of it), today's offering is a side border background reminiscent of spiral bound notebook paper.

Note that in most cases the lines will not necessarily align with your text nor with the text anyone else sees on their monitor because everyone will have different default font settings. The workaround to this is to set the background in the table cell or content box to white or to use a white background tile. A white background tile can be found in the tiles page of this site.

Spiral Bound can be found here. Click the thumbnail image to open a new window with the full graphic on the page. Remember to enter the username and password found on the page. Then follow directions for downloading the graphic to your hard drive.

(note: edited 02/07/2008 to change link)

Latest Space-themed Desktop Wallpaper!

2006-06-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today's offering is a montage of Neptune and of her largest moon, Triton. The "computer-generated montage shows Neptune as it would appear from a spacecraft approaching Triton," which is the larger of the two images on the wallpaper. Neptune is a beautiful blue, but I prefer our own gorgeous blue planet.

Download the wallpaper from the second wallpapers page. Choose the size that fits your monitor's resolution. And please, do not use this for web pages!

Quoted from image description at GRIN.

Outage? Really?!

2006-06-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

This is really odd. After being out-of-town this weekend, I just logged into my e-mail and found one from one of my uptime monitors. The e-mail said my site was unavailable just two minutes before I logged into my e-mail account. So after making sure I would not trigger my Sitemeter counter, I visited my web site. Hmmm, looks fine to me.

The main page is accessible. One of my other pages is accessible from a link on the main page. All pages, as far as I can tell, are accessible! Now I'm beginning to wonder about this monitor's accuracy. My other uptime monitor hasn't been triggered at all. Usually, if the site is down both monitors would be triggered, I thought. I wonder if the past reports from this monitor are false. I'll need to check it all now -- the entire history through the e-mails I've received from all of the monitors.

It may be time to shop around for another uptime monitor.

Oh, brother!

New Baseball-Themed Set!

2006-06-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

What I taketh away, I bringeth back. Baseball on my mind, this new set combines my photo of a pro ball team (without showing who) and some clipart graphics made from dingbat fonts.

Oh phooey! I just remembered I didn't watch today's game. Argh! That's what happens when you're busy trying to release a set. (Just a quick peek at the team's web site to see what happened.) Oh shoot! It's happening right now -- top of the 8th! Gotta post this quick.

So if you're a big fan of baseball, download this set and try it out. Lots of graphics but no pre-printed nav buttons -- sorry -- so you can create a really cool fan web site or blog.

Check it out here. It's called -- ta-da! -- Play Ball!

Ooh, I just noticed they're behind big time. Argh!!!

And ooh, I almost forgot -- Happy birthday honey bunch! XOXOXO

New Graphics!

2006-06-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I've got three new side border backgrounds and a new desktop wallpaper in three sizes for download.

The side border backgrounds are called Metallic on Black, Metallic on Gray and Metallic on White. Rather than just offering the metallic left side border on one color background, I made it on three. You decide which one you like. The border has enough room (about 150 pixels) to put text links or small link buttons to other pages on your web site, or for small graphical ads not more than 120 pixels wide. These are linkware which means you need to post a link back to Arride Graphics on every page this background is used.

The desktop wallpapers are called Mars: Four Faces, Four Major Features, and come in three sizes from 800x600 to 1152x864. I obtained four separate images of Mars from the GRIN web site and combined them for the wallpaper. This is the third version I made and liked the most. These wallpapers are meant to be used on your computer's desktop not on web pages. Choose the one that most fits your monitor's resolution and follow the download instructions. While you cannot post a link back to our web site, if anyone asks where you got it, send them to Arride Graphics at http://www.arride.com. Thank you!

Just to whet your appetite, I'm re-doing a baseball set I removed earlier this year. I was using a third party graphic in the previous incarnation, which I decided wasn't a good idea. Don't know if anyone actually downloaded that one, since no one has e-mailed me about using it nor has anyone triggered Sitemeter by its use on a temporary web page. This new incarnation uses a photo I took at a pro ballgame. Naturally, I tweaked it in PSP so it looks generic. I really like the image. I may use some of the icons from the previous set or I may create new ones for this set. Still a work-in-progress. You'll get notice of this new set on this blog and on the main page of Arride Graphics in the near future.

Downtime

2006-06-03T01:39:00.000-07:00

One of my uptime watchers reported downtime for less than one hour (again!) Friday night at about 7 p.m. PDT.

New Background Tiles!

2006-06-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'll admit these have been sitting around in my computer for who knows what reason. Anyway, here they are - more basketweave background tiles in larger weave than the lonely one already on the page and in more colors! Can you find a use for any of these? Good!

I've got another desktop wallpaper in a space theme coming up. This time it's Mars. Look for it soon!

Okay, gotta watch baseball, so bye for now!

New basketweave tiles on Page 1 of Patterned Tiles.

New Stuff!

2006-05-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are three new things to decorate your web site, web page and desktop!

Right border web page graphics set called Statica. The colors are green and violet with two page backgrounds you can work with. Comes with 20 navigation buttons, a blank button if you don't like the font I chose, a matching bullet, a matching page divider, and two Welcome header gifs that coordinate with whichever background you use.
Top border background called Rainbow Paper Chain People. Could possibly be used for a child's web site.
Finally, a hot and sunny desktop wallpaper that I actually created last year and forgot about. I think I was going to add some people to it but that never happened. So here you are, plain ol' sun on warm colors that I call Hot Fun in the Summertime.

All of the above were created solely with Paint Shop Pro 7 and with tubes as in the case of the latter two things. Hope you enjoy them! See ya next month.

Visitor 10,000!

2006-05-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know how to report this accurately. On one hand, the person who triggered Sitemeter to record number 10,000 should be just that. But on the other hand, I did trigger two visits myself (at least) accidentally when I forgot to ignore my visits, so visitor number 10,002 ought to be the rightful owner of the honor. But, to simplify everything, I really should go back to the person who actually triggered the 10,000th visit count. I'm all for simple!

So he or she hails from Jackson Heights, New York (I have no idea where that is), uses a computer with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0, connects to the internet using Verizon Internet Services (I thought they only did cellular phone services), and used MSN search engine to look for palm trees wallpaper. This all happened on Saturday, May 27, at 8:22 a.m. (such an early bird for a weekend day!)

Anyway, they did not stay long enough (or maybe they used some blocking software) because they looked at the palm tree wallpaper I have. Maybe it just wasn't what they had in mind, though.

Thank you anyway for your visit!

Keep coming back, everyone, because one of these days I may have what you're looking for!

Downtime Two Days

2006-05-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

My uptime watchers found downtimes both yesterday and today, both for less than one hour each. Yesterday's occurrence was at 3:31 am PDT and today's was at 11:30 am PDT.

I wish my host had a system monitor page so that we can see what servers are/ were affected by downtimes. My previous host had such a page which I found informative. I'm only informed about outages caused by scheduled maintenances. I don't like being kept in the dark about unscheduled downtimes such as these, though. I'd like to know what causes them. Still, the downtimes are not severe, so I can't complain too much.

In an unrelated topic, I believe I can release three things before the end of the month: a new desktop wallpaper, a new top border background, and the new web page set I promised. Also, we're getting close to seeing the 10,000th visitor. I think that will happen very soon if not today, or may have already happened yesterday.

New Background Tiles!

2006-05-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was looking at the solid color background tiles today and noticed in the brown-tan-beige section there were three too many that looked almost the same color. So I removed those three (they were blah-looking anyway) and created five more in different shades to replace them. One of them looks a little pinkish but was created from a brown color starter. I named that one Tad Pink Tan.

View all of them on page 5 of the solid color tiles page.

Just an update: I'm still working on a set I will release as soon as I find a font/ typeface I like for it. I thought I had just the right one, but it didn't work with the pattern after all. So I had to hit a few font archive sites to look again. Hopefully I'll have the set out before the end of May.

Down Again Over the Weekend

2006-05-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

One of my most reliable site uptime monitors reported Arride Graphics down on Saturday night beginning around 7:15 PDT for less than one hour.

I was away visiting my mom and dad for Mother's Day weekend, so I couldn't report this until today. Hope all you moms had a great Mother's Day!

New Desktop Wallpaper: Saturn System Montage!

2006-05-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Just uploaded another GRIN photo montage, this time of Saturn's system including her moons.

I discovered this oversight today when I was going through my collection of GRIN photos. I haven't done a wallpaper for it! So here you are. This may be the last desktop wallpaper I make of the space series. I think I've run out, although there are photos of astronauts I could possibly use.

I hope you've enjoyed the entire series.

Look for another web page graphics set to come out soon.

View thumbnail of the Saturn System Montage and download the size you need on page 2 of Wallpapers.

Outage, Again

2006-05-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Another one of my site watchers reported an outage early this morning, my time, at 4:05. It lasted until an hour+ later. If this continues, it'll bum me out. I just paid for another year of hosting.

Not to worry, though. There is no perfect, 100 percent uptime all the time with any host.

Outage

2006-05-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

Another outage lasting less than one hour occurred in the early evening PDT on Monday, May 8th. This will not be posted on the main page of Arride Graphics. Kind of droll, no?

Visitor 9500!

2006-04-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, as I predicted, visitor 9500 came by before the end of April...today, in fact.

While this visitor is recorded as 9502, I tripped the counter accidentally twice this month and added to the count so this visitor really is 9500. If I count the visitor tripping the counter at 9500, it would be boring to report because that visitor was Inktomi Search.

Anyway, this visitor uses an ISP whose address I won't divulge and I don't know exactly where there are, but they are somewhere in North America. They are using a computer with Windows 98 installed and IE 6 as their browser. They were looking for some linkware and found Set 131 - I Don't Believe in Time. Their total time here was 4 minutes, 35 seconds. They were good and looked at the Terms of Use page. *pats on back*

Cool! Hope that the set was of interest and they come back to download it.

So here's to the end of April! Wishing lots of visitors next month and see my first 10k visitor.

New Web Page Graphic Set!

2006-04-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Just as I promised, the latest web page graphic set was uploaded today. Today's release is called Aqua Gel and was made purely with Paint Shop Pro 7. It's another one of those sets I started last year and never got around to finishing until this week. Check it out on the Simple Table Sets page.

In looking at the other unfinished sets, I decided to move a few of them out of the non-exclusive side to the exclusive side. That means that I will be offering those sets to just one of you. No one else in the world will have that set because it will be sold to only one party, first come, first served. Of course, if someone takes the graphics from your web site, then it will be around elsewhere. But that's stealing. As with the non-exclusive sets I give away for a link back to Arride Graphics, the copyrights to these sets remain with me and with any third-party whose photos or graphics I use with their permission.

When will the exclusive sets come out? I don't know right now. I do hope to start releasing them sometime this year, though.

So take a trip to my web site and check out the latest set and the other graphics I offer. Maybe you'd like a new desktop wallpaper? Those are my most popular graphics!

Have a great weekend!

New Background Tile!

2006-04-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Just uploaded the newest background tile which I call Sierra Granite, because that's just what it is. The tile is made from a photo I took of a granite rock up at Lake Tahoe, California, which is in the Sierra Nevada range. Although I tried making it seamless, you can tell it isn't quite so. Nonetheless, you should not use this background tile alone for your web pages. Please use a solid-colored tile or color designation in a table or content box so that your text can be seen.

In a departure from the usual, I've created a sample page so that you can see how it looks tiled. My notes, which are similar to what I've said here, are included.

So head on over to the Patterned Tiles page 3 and check it out!

Also, I may be releasing another set on Friday and that will be all for April.

Outage Again

2006-04-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

My web site was out last night (Sunday 23rd) between 10:17 and 11:15 pm PDT but I couldn't report it because Blogger was not available. Less than one hour so not too much to worry about.

Also, at the rate visitors are coming to Arride Graphics, I expect to see visitor number 9500 before the end of April. Nice way to start May!

About the Desktop Wallpapers

2006-04-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

(from the Linkware page at Arride Graphics)

I have noticed people looking for web page backgrounds and sets wander over to the desktop wallpaper pages. The desktop wallpapers are meant to be installed on your computer's desktop, not as web page backgrounds.

Your computer's desktop is the image on your screen after you log in. That's where your shortcut icons to your installed programs and your system are located. The wallpaper is the background image. Because the image is one piece, many of the wallpapers are very large in size, meaning as far as kilobytes and megabytes are concerned.

If you use these on web pages, the pages will load very, very slowly, as you notice when you try to download them. If they load that slow for you, imagine how slowly they will load for your visitors if you use them as web page backgrounds. That will really annoy them and drive them away, never to return to your web site again. Not good. So please do not use desktop wallpapers for web pages. Enjoy them on your computer.

If you find a desktop wallpaper appealing enough to want to use something like that for a web site, please contact me and I will consider making a web set or just a similar background for download.

Outage

2006-04-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

An outage lasting less than one hour occurred on Saturday, April 15, beginning approximately 10:18 a.m. PDT and until 11:16 a.m. PDT.

New! A Set and A Wallpaper

2006-04-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

As I promised last month, a new set is released today and a new desktop wallpaper, too.

The set is called "Wish You Were Here" and features a dream-like photo of two lonely, empty lounge chairs on a tropical beach just waiting for you and your honey to sit in them. If you're sick and tired of the rain and snow like I am, here's your set to make a sunny web site for your summer vacation photos, of your paradise home, your travel web site, if you're a travel pro, or whatever's your fancy. See and click the thumbnail on the Top Headers page for more.

The latest desktop wallpaper is one I've been enjoying on my own computer's desktop now. It's a detail of the largest pillar of the Eagle Nebula. You've probably seen NASA's full photo taken by the Hubble Telescope before of the Eagle Nebula with its three pillars of gases and dust. The Eagle Nebula is also called M16. Read more about this fantastic nebula at NASA's GRIN web page. To download one of three sizes of the Eagle Nebula Detail, see the Wallpapers 2 page.

Visitor 9000!

2006-04-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

Been asleep again, but not for long. This time I "caught" the visitor only one day behind.

Visitor number 9000 uses Verizon Internet and Windows XP with the Mozilla browser. He or she was looking for spring web borders graphic but apparently didn't find it on my site. :-( They got as far as the top border backgrounds page and looked no further. Too bad.

Maybe it was just too late to look as it was just after 9 p.m. their time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hopefully they bookmarked the site for further viewing when they have the time.

Thanks for visiting, anyway, and hope you come back later!

Three New Desktop Wallpapers!

2006-03-29T14:11:00.000-08:00

I have to confess that these have been sitting around in my 'puter for probably the past year. Sometimes I make things and let them "age" a bit. You know, sort of like what you do with red wine. Sometimes they come out better; sometimes not. I hope these wallpapers are well-aged.

The first one I call "Mexican Sunrise" although initially I called it "Mexican Sunset." I believe the former is correct, because I recall getting up early one day in our hotel room in Puerto Vallarta and watching the sun rise as the workers began coming in for their shift. You can see a little bit of the mountains surrounding the city through the fronds of the palm trees near the room. It was my first trip to Mexico and a really interesting one. Some parts of it reminded me of California, especially when we went on a bus ride through the countryside to a treetop zip ride excursion in the mountains. Anyway, I digress.

The second wallpaper I call "Color Bump." It comes from experimenting with some of the features in Paint Shop Pro. Kind of fun to play around with things in the software program. This is nice because it is just colors on your desktop. Bright and cheery, I think, not to mention a little psychedelic.

The third wallpaper is just as colorful and I call it "Wild Colored Bubbles." Again, it comes from experimenting with Paint Shop Pro, this time with tubes. I just let the mouse go wild with a bubble tube. Maybe not for adults but certainly nice for a kid's computer.

You can see all of these new desktop wallpapers on page three of the wallpapers section. You can also access them from the main page of the site.

This is it for March. I do have a set in the works and I will release it next month. Promise!

Who Is This? Or How Not to Use the Graphics

2006-03-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

Going through my Sitemeter stats today, I found an entry for a page that is not mine on someone's desktop (again!) Obviously, someone is using either a background graphic or a background graphic from a set with my HTML code fully intact with my Sitemeter code and viewing it on their desktop.

While I do not mind people copying the layout from a sample page, you really must delete my text and my Sitemeter code from the page. If you do not know how to do that, don't use the code. Start from scratch with your own HTML editor.

What is also disturbing is that this person may be viewing a pornographic web page either saved from the 'net or he/she is the one who created that horrible page. That would be in direct violation of my Terms of Use. Section 8: It is absolutely forbidden to use any piece of the linkware collection or any of the bits-and-pieces within pages promoting child abuse, hate, bigotry, racism, animal abuse and/or illegal or legal pornographic activities."

I have taken screenshots and printed out the pages from my Sitemeter stats and from my search on Google for this page. While the page name is not exactly the same, it is easy enough to change the filename within the directory where the file is stored on the computer.

Edit: It appears that this visitor is using the set for legitimate purposes but I wish he or she would remove my Sitemeter code now. They are also using my page name and adding number 1, 2, etc. on subsequent pages of their site. That is why I thought what I did in the stricken paragraph above. I'm somewhat relieved now. I'd hate having to take legal action; it'd be such a mess.

Visitor 8500

2006-03-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention the stats for visitor number 8500 yesterday.

Actually, the visit occurred on March 11 so I'm late again with this report. He or she comes from near Euless, Texas using a computer with Windows XP and IE 6. They used Google to look for interface sets and were disappointed to find only one on my site (alas!) so they didn't stay long.

Sorry about that. I do have some interface sets in the works, but nothing near being released yet. I have spring on my mind so that's what's coming out next.