Take Control of Your Color SchemeThe first step in creating an excellent page is
picking out colors. You can define the background color
or pattern, text color, link color, and visited link
color. The HTML necessary to do this is a series of attributes added to the
BGCOLOR is the background color of the page. TEXT is the principal text color found on the page; always make sure that this color is visible on the background you choose. LINK is the color of any hypertext that has not been visited yet. VLINK is the color of visited hypertext; and ALINK is the color of an active link (Selected, but not followed). In place of "xxxxxx" enter
one of these hexidecimal codes: It should also be noted that one must be careful when typing in color commands. If spelled "colour", the attributes will not function, and will default to the browser's settings. This can be a mixed blessing at best... Lastly, you may notice through experimentation (or by accident, like myself) that color hexcodes will work without the pound (#) symbol, and sometimes even without the quotation marks. This is true, but a thousand time please leave them in there. Most older browsers require them to function properly. No one wants to deny his or her guests, even if they are using Netscape 2.0 or older. This applies to most any attribute value throughout HTML. Using Background ImagesIf you have a background image (wallpaper) you would rather
use instead of a flat color, enter: This will create a tiled background images behind all other items on the page. The background image will scroll with the text and other images on the page. At some point, you may wish to create a background image that does not move, but instead has text and other objects scroll over the top of it. This can be accomplished either with javascript, or by adding "bgproperties=fixed" to the <body> tag, like this: That's all there is to coloring your page. Easier than crayons, huh? | |
The really technical stuff:For those of you who want to know more (I know you're out there, don't be bashful), the hexidecimal codes above are codes your computer uses to recognize the red/green/blue pattern that makes up a particular color, much the way a color television does. An explanation of how hexidecimals function is extremely complicated, and requires a considerable knowledge of math. If you feel up to the challenge, the rewards for your page can be quite impressive. This information can be found by clicking here. | |
