The following answers summarize a tutorial called "The Whys And The Hows Of Textures In Web Design".
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/03/whys-hows-textures-web-design/
Q: Why have the benefits of texture sometimes been overlooked?A: Texture is overlooked because it is misused and overused too often. People also look at it and think it's too dirty or grungy, when it can actually help bring a website together when used properly.
Q: What is the usual difference between a texture and a pattern?
A: Patterns are typically small repeating elements, such as circles or squares, whereas texture is often bigger and is not repeated.
Q: What are 2 ways to focus peoples’ attention using texture?
A: You can have either a textured logo against a clean background, or a clean logo against a textured background.
Q: How can texture enhance the structure of your information?
A: If you want something to be more attention getting than something else, you can add more texture to it, or vice versa.
Q: How does texture enhance the identity or atmosphere of a site?
A: You can use texture to make your website unique; you can add something special so when people see that, they think of your site.
Q: Describe in your own words what is meant by the following tips:
• Maintain Legibility - Make sure your designs are legible. Even if the design is cool, you don't need to keep it if you can't read what it is you're trying to say.
• Don’t Beat a Dead Horse - Don't overdo texture. If you have too much and it looks bad, get rid of it.
• Practice Means Improvement - Try new things! Branch out and do something you've never done before... You'd be surprised at the things you could improve on.
• If It Serves No Purpose, Take it Out - Everything you have in a website needs to serve a purpose; every design that you have needs to have a reason for why it's there. If it doesn't have a reason for it being there, get rid of it.
• Consider the Effect You Are Trying to Achieve - Don't get carried away with your texture. Make sure you keep in mind the goal and try to achieve that; no more no less.
• Collect Resources so you Don’t Have to Search Later - In other words, STAY ORGANIZED. Find everything you'll need and keep it in a folder or somewhere you'll be able to find it easily. This makes it a lot less frustrating.
• Learn Masks - Learning masks is a great tool that will help you with your design. Make sure you know cool shortcuts and techniques so your website will look more professional and can be finished in a reasonable time period.
• Don’t Sacrifice Quality for Loading Time - One thing you have to consider when designing websites is how long it will take for the page to load. However, if you think you should add something to a site, but decide to take it out because it will make the loading time longer, put it back in. With the advancements in technology, loading time is getting significantly faster, so you don't need to worry about something as irrelevant as loading time.
• Choose Textures Logically - Make sure you pay attention to your textures and make them relevant to your website. If you're designing a website for a country store, don't use grunge textures or robot designs; make it look country. And vice versa; don't use log or wood background for a metal band.
Q: What are 3 different ways you can come up with your own original texture images?
A: You can take your own pictures, scan stuff on a printer, or combine different textures.
Here are four websites that demonstrate these practices.
http://www.crackerbarrel.com/
http://www.989therock.com/
http://www.rock-fest.com/
http://www.riseagainst.com/
