How to perfect timeline Facebook profile cover

After the timeline in Facebook is activated there's no going back. Although a lot of people like it, there are still many, including myself that like the old interface better. Why? It is simplier and easier to follow. It is also easier to see and search for what you're looking for. But timeline is here to stay, so we just need to live with it.

The profile cover is something new. Seems like so easy to set up but is not really easy to perfect. Sometimes the part you want others to see in the picture is not the one shown. Specially when you use the photos in your FB album without editing first.

Like the one above, I am sure the owner wants to show something else. Or maybe she really loves the trees, or nature! But looking at the original photo gives the clue, that she might have wanted to show their pretty smiles rather that the tree tops.

Although we can drag the photo when setting the profile cover, sometimes we just can't. Like the one profile cover below. Only a part of the face is showing, like peeking through a window. I am certain the owner wants to move the photo a bit higher but can not! 

The solution is to customize the photo you want to use into a banner format. You can crop a part of your photo using any built in photo editing software, a rectangular shape of 1:3 or 4 ratio. I use paint  (click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Paint)  usually to crop things. Then resample or resize it into a specific dimension. Then edit it or upload it straight away.

Below are the simple steps that can guide you into making your  perfect FB cover.


Choose a photo

You can choose any photo you want and crop it into a rectangular dimension using  paint program or irfanview  (click for free download) or any photo editing program that is available on your computer. If you want a photo in your FB profile, you can screen capture it or download it into your computer then do the editing. In this example I used a screen capture of my site.

Resample/resize

Then open up the cropped image using  irfanview or any other photo editing software that can resample or resize a photo. To resize using irfanview, click Image, Resize/Resample, tick Set New Size, choose Pixels as Units, then type the dimensions width = 850, height = 320

Upload

The image at this point can now be uploaded to your profile cover with almost accurate dimension. You can edit it into your liking and upload it later. Just make sure you have the dimensions 850 X 320 pixels at the end.

The resulting edited profile cover is below, with all the captions and elements I wanted to show.