Facebook Timeline Cover Template PSD for Photoshop

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 17, 2011 in design, Facebook | 34 comments

Facebook Timeline Template Design Sandbox Transparent .PNG

I love the opportunities for creativity within the design constraints of the new Facebook Timeline Cover. I created a Facebook Timeline Cover photoshop template you can download for free (right-click and choose Save File As). It’s a sandbox to play around with design ideas for your Facebook Timeline.

A Timeline Cover has two elements: Your profile photo is the same as before. It’s a 125 x 125 square. The Cover is the new edition and has a resolution of 851 × 315.

Facebook Profile Tips

I like to create Facebook Profile photos in photoshop because it’s easier to control exactly how that photo will look when it’s in that square box. Don’t upload a 125×125 image though. Make your profile photo square with a resolution of at least 800 x 800. Facebook will shrink it down, but when your friends and followers click on it, you want them to be able to see a full-sized photo in great resolution. Your profile photo is contained in a white frame that can be used as a design element that you play with in in relation to it’s place in front of your Timeline Cover photo.

Timeline Cover Tips

The size of Timeline Cover is 850 x 314. When you upload a cover image, you can adjust it up or down, but not left or right, so if you’re using a larger image keep in mind Facebook will use the full width of the photo, but only 314 pixels of it’s hight. I was playing with a Timeline Cover design for Geoff Smith‘s page where he has a very cool profile photo. I put a photo of his daughter holding his baby boy in the Cover space. One photo didn’t work because his daughter’s face was too far from his son’s face. It was an awesome photo, but it didn’t work within the constants of the Timeline Cover space. I found another photo that worked great.

The advantage of working out your design in a Photoshop sandbox is that you avoid uploading lots of Cover images to Facebook that you ultimately end up not liking.

Right-click to download the Facebook Timeline Cover Template PSD for Photoshop here (right-click and choose Save File As) or the Facebook Timeline Cover Template Transparent.png here. If you find it helpful or fun, please tweet a link to this post! Here’s a short link you can copy and past into Twitter:

http://neal.fm/rslHsf

Here are some of the coolest Timeline Cover designs I’ve found…

Facebook Timeline

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 15, 2011 in design, Facebook | 0 comments

Two Web companies have been crap at design since they launched: Google and Facebook.

After Larry Page met with Steve Jobs and started to simplify, Google started paying attention to design. Google+ was the first Google produced product that looks warm and inviting. It’s been great to see the Google+ design sensibility roll out throughout the Googlesphere, from YouTube to Gmail to Docs.

Today Facebook made Timeline available to everyone and it could be the beginning of the end of Facebook being so hospital ugly. Like a Facebook relationship status, it’s complicated. One of the things that made Facebook better than MySpace is that users were not able to over personalize to the point of crap. Facebook chose to look like a hospital. That design decision took the look of personal profiles off the table so that ALL value was placed on content users were posting. In Facebook, value was based on words, photos and video.

With the timeline cover (that cinematic image that appears behind the personal avatar) adds a beautiful design touch to the Facebook experience. It isn’t like MySpace where a user can make ANY bad choice they want. Facebook offers two choices: the avatar and the cover. Some people will do better things with that choice than others. Here are four great ideas I saw on Mashable:

I’m looking forward to seeing what people do with their Timelines. I’m not sure what to think about Timeline outing me as a huge Manilow fan, though.

How to Add Facebook Comments to WordPress Blog

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 10, 2011 in blogging, Facebook, tech culture | 1 comment

I’ve noticed a trend with this blog, and how I tend to connect with other blogs. I’ll see a link in Twitter, on Google+ or Facebook that I’m interested in reading. I’ll click through to read it and then move back to the social network where I saw the link to comment. People do that with this blog too.

I wanted to add Facebook commenting to NealCampbell.com to see if it makes commenting more popular. When a blog is just starting to grow, commenting is one of the ways bloggers get paid. It’s not money, but encouragement to continue writing that creates a happy blogger.

I tried a couple WordPress Plugins before finding the one I’m now using. I chose Simple Facebook Comments for WordPress by David Nelson. It is super simple to get working. Have three tabs or browser windows open, one for Facebook, one for your WordPress site and one for these ten easy steps:

1. Download it from David’s site, or even easier search for Simple Facebook Comments in the Plugins section of your WordPress Dashboard. Look for David’s name to make sure it the right one.
2. Install it. Activate it. Find it in your list of Active Plugins and click Settings.
3. Go to https://developers.facebook.com
4. Click Apps and then the button that says + Create New App
5. Don’t get scared! You’re not going to have to code anything!
6. A pop-up box will ask you to give your App an App Display Name. Pick anything and it will tell you if that name is available or not. It apparently doesn’t matter what you name it. I didn’t fill in the blank for App Namespace.
7. Add your contact email and that’s all you HAVE to do for it to work.
8. Go back to settings for the Add Facebook Comments to WordPress plugin in your WordPress Dashboard.
9. Enter your facebook user id, probably your name, and then the Facebook App ID that was generated when you created your App.
10. Answer the rest of the questions in the Add Facebook Comments to WordPress plugin settings, save it, and you’re done!

How to Un-Friend Someone on Facebook for iPhone or iPad

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 10, 2011 in Facebook, tech culture | 1 comment

Sometimes when analog friends ask a tech question, I want to ask if they’ve ever heard of Google. Mostly, though, I just feel useful and answer the question without being a smart-ass. Then I repurpose my answer as content for NealCampbell.com!

Last night a friend asked how to unfriend someone on Facebook using the the iPhone Facebook App.

Here’s what you do in three easy steps…

1. Tap Friends in the Facebook App to pull up the list.
2. Tap the name of the person you want to breakup with on Facebook.
3. Tap the icon you’d use to message them and you’ll see it right there! A big red Unfriend button.

Facebook will warn you that you and that person will no longer be friends on Facebook, but if you’ve searched for how to unfriend someone and read this blog post, I’m pretty sure you’re sure that Facebook relationship is no good for you. Time to move on and be happy!

Hidden Messages in Facebook

Posted by Neal Campbell on Dec 9, 2011 in Facebook, tech culture, technology | 0 comments

Oh my gosh! Mashable posted a video that every Facebook user needs to see!

There is a “feature” in Facebook Messages that hides messages Facebook tech decides may not be important to you. When you click Messages, a link to Others appears underneath. When I clicked that, I found I’d received a bunch of messages from people encouraging me as I went through the divorce.

Watch this and let me know if you also missed important Messages: