Backgrounds
Background Guidelines
- Avoid prominent use of the Ubuntu logo. It appears in enough places already.
- No version numbers. Some individuals may desire to use an older theme, or use the latest theme in their older version of Ubuntu. Let your submission be about choice and do not use version numbers in your artwork.
- Avoid text, it calls for attention too much and will likely look bad when scaled. Plus it can't be translated easily.
- Be careful with small patterns, they might become uneven when scaled.
- Consider how the wallpaper will interact with the panels, icons and windows.
- Show restraint in your use of color tone and contrast. The wallpaper sets the scene for other elements, it is not the main act.
File Formats
- Use PNG format for bitmap files. Only use JPG for final results and only in case the filesize is an issue, as this format can cause visible compression artefacts.
- Make the XCF source files available, if you happen to work with GIMP
- Use SVG for vector art.
- Work generated with proprietary applications like Photoshop and Illustrator is acceptable, but files in their formats are useless for many of us.
Screen Resolution and Aspect Ratio
Table of screen resolutions of hardware offered in an online store on 2009-02-23:
Monitor
Width |
Height |
Factor |
Aspect Ratio |
2560 |
1600 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1920 |
1200 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
2048 |
1152 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
1920 |
1080 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
1680 |
1050 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1600 |
1200 |
1.33 |
4:3 |
1440 |
900 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1280 |
1024 |
1.25 |
5:4 |
1024 |
768 |
1.33 |
4:3 |
Laptops
Width |
Height |
Factor |
Aspect Ratio |
1920 |
1200 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1920 |
1080 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
1680 |
1050 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1680 |
945 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
1440 |
900 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1366 |
768 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
1280 |
800 |
1.6 |
8:5 |
1024 |
576 |
1.77 |
16:9 |
Template
An SVG template for use with Inkscape and an XCF template for GIMP. Both have a 2560 x 1600 pixel canvas to use the largest commonly offered resolution, currently. "Passepartout" layers allow to see how things will look when this space is cropped to conform to other common aspect ratios.
This simulates the effect the "Style: Zoom" setting in "Appearance Preferences: Background" will have: the image is scaled up or down such that it fills the screen without distorting it. If the aspect ratio of the image is wider than that of the screen, it will be scaled to the same height and the areas on the side will be cropped. If the aspect ratio of the image is taller than that of the screen, it will be scaled to the same width and the areas on top and bottom will be cropped.