The banner photos are all from various tramps I have done. I try and find a nice photo which isn’t too busy and then use the Gimp to take a 1680×180 slice out of it. The problem is finding a feature wide enough. Normally I go to the hi-res image, take a crop from there, resize it down to 1680 and then crop off the excess top and bottom to give the 180 height. I’ve tried stretching and repeating images, but that doesn’t work well. I do create a repeating background image to go behind the banner, and when I get that right I achieve the cool infinitely wide banner which looks good if you have a monitor which displays more that 1680 pixels of my web page.

I used to use the Random Image Selector by Keith Murray to display the banner, since then I’ve coded it into my WordPress and MoinMoin themes. It’s pretty simple code, but Keith’s plugin is an easy way to test if you like the idea on your blog. One day I must get my themes packaged nicely so I can share them.

Click on the images below to see the original photos they were cropped from

Jackson Peaks, across Lake Te Anau, Fiordland, Feb 2006.

West Ruggedy Beach, Stewart Island, Feb 2006.

West Ruggedy Beach, Stewart Island, Feb 2006.

Long Harry Bay, Stewart Island, Feb 2006.

Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu from Mt Taranaki, Feb 2007.

Waiaua Gorge, Taranaki, Feb 2007.

Lake Ada, Milford Track, Fiordland, May 2007.

Rangitoto, New Years Eve, Dec 2007.

Rangitoto, New Years Eve, Dec 2007.

Dart River, Mount Aspiring National Park, Feb 2008.