How to adjust your background to the new Twitter

Since you came across this post you are probably one of the lucky people that already uses the new Twitter. Or maybe you do not think of yourself as one of those lucky ones but still want to know how to adjust your background ;)

Your Twitter background can be of great importance to increase your group of followers and to leverage some business. Use it the right way and it could increase the appeal of your Twitter and persuade people into following you.

I will not go into detail about all of the new features the #newtwitter brings but will be discussing the consequences for your personal background and how to make adjustments to it.

Out with the old, in with the new

Below you can see a screenshot of my old Twitter background in the previous version of Twitter and my old background in the new version of Twitter. As you can see, Twitter has changed its layout and therefore also the dimensions of its layout (really? ya really!). The new Twitter pane is substantially bigger and this means that in the case of small and medium computer displays your background will hide behind the Twitter pane. Maybe a nice gimmick: the new layout has been designed according to the golden ratio (http://www.flickr.com/photos/twitteroffice/5034817688/).

According to W3schools 20% of computers have a screen resolution of 1024×768 and 76% of computers have a screen resolution higher than 1024 x 768. Take this information into account while designing your background. The layout will not be of any problem for computers with a big screen resolution but it would be nice if your followers with smaller screens can also see your nice design. For my new background I used an overall size of 1600×1200 (just to be sure that my background will cover all of the possible screen resolutions ;) ).

Old Twitter

The old background and the new Twitter

Help! I have no idea what to do with my new background!

If your old background displayed information left of the Twitter pane, you probably noticed that it does not fit appropriately on some of the screen resolutions since the release of the new Twitter. To make it visible on those smaller computer screens you have to adjust the dimensions of your design. In my design I used a width of 108px for the field on the left of the Twitter pane (76% of computer users should be able to see your design). If you want your design to be visible regardless of the screen resolution you should use 41px for the field at the left. As I use this Twitter account mostly for my website yourdailyintake.com I displayed the link to my website in a vertical manner with a nice font. You can search for a nice font to use at dafont.com. At the bottom of the left field there is still some space to display any kind of information you would like people to know about. I choose to use the space to display my website motto.

The new background and the new Twitter

And now for some magic! Maybe you already noticed, the right side of the Twitter pane is see-through! You can use this space to your desiring and display whatever kind of information. For instance you could display your contact information, a photograph, your favourite quote, be creative!

The new background with extra info at the right

My current design does not display anything at the right side of the pane but if you want to you should use the same dimension you have used for the field at the left.

Don’t worry if you do not have the new Twitter yet, “Please be patient, we’ll get to you!”. In the meantime you can use this post to help brainstorm about your new Twitter background! Keep the goal of your design in mind and try to be original and distinguish yourself from the pack!