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Changing Text Color, Face & Size

So they tell me you want to add more life to your pages. The good news is you are just a few short HTML commands away from this goal. The bad news is you gotta deal with more of those pesky hexidecimals.

Changing Font Size

To change the size of the font you are using, you first need to establish a base font size; this is size 3. To do this, type <basefont size="#"> where # is an integer between one and seven. Once this is done, you can change the font size of later text by adding <font size="+#"> or <font size="-#"> again with # representing an integer between one and seven. When you reach the end of the text that you wish to change the size of, simply type </font> to revert to the base font size. Alternately, you can forego creating a base font size, and simply type <font size="#"> and </font> around any text you wish to modify.

Size One is 8-Point Type

Size Two is 10-Point Type

Size Three is 12-Point Type

Size Four is 14-Point Type

Size Five is 18-Point Type

Size Six is 24-Point Type

Size Seven is 36-Point Type

Changing Font Color

To modify the color, you need to modify the tag above to <font color="#xxxxxx"> where "#xxxxxx" is a hexidecimal color code as described on the colors page. Again, end the statement with </font>.

Changing Font Face

The last attribute in this section is, in my completely biased opinion, one of the coolest. By typing <font face="Font Name"> (where "Font Name" is the filename of a font) you can change the font the viewer sees. There is only one limiting factor to this attribute; in order for the viewer to see the font you want them to, they must have that font installed on their system. This is the reason you often see things like: "Download my fonts!! Click Here!!". Because of this limitation, I reccomend using fairly common fonts like Arial, Helvetica, Courrier New, Geneva, Times New Roman, and so on.

You can also specify more that one font in the same attribute by separating them with commas. This is a good idea if you are using less common fonts as it increases the chances of a viewer having a usable font on their system. A browser will check the fonts in the order they are typed until it finds a match. If no matching font is found, then it will revert to the default for that browser.

A quick note for Netscape Communicator: I have found that New versions of Communicator (4.7 in particular) don't like some fonts. Often they will ignore <font face="Font Name"> all together, but I have encountered a few places where the page stops loading when Netscape finds a font it doesn't like. This is unfortunate at best. Fonts I know of that Netscape seems to hate are: Adine Kirnberg Regular, Old English, and Marriage.

Closing Thought

Note that you can change more than one attribute in the same tag (i.e. <font size="#" face="Font Name" color="#xxxxxx">).Some browsers can put multiple separate commands together, but just as many cannot, so not only is it easier, it is also a good idea.