OSXFAQ Mac OS X Design Tip-of-the-Day  

Just about everyone has a different-sized monitor for their computer, and just about everyone sees your Web page in a different-sized browser window. (Some have it fill their entire screen, but most leave it set at the default size the browser manufacturer specified.) The point is that some people have a 21" monitor and some have a 15", and to make sure you never see a huge blank spot, browsers automatically tile (repeat vertically and horizontally) whatever size image you use as a background. They tile like tiles on your kitchen floor (you do have tile, don't you? That carpet-in-the-kitchen thing gets really messy). Because we know the browser is going to tile our background, filling every inch of visible space, we don't need to create huge backgrounds in Photoshop. Instead, we can create tiny little backgrounds that appear seamless when displayed on a page. This helps the file size stay small and helps the page load faster.

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