Planet Tripod: Homepage Dilemma

Tripod's Homepage Dilemma gives you a chance to ask those late-night questions, get answers from other Tripod members, and to offer other homepage builders the benefit of your hard-earned knowledge.

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Member mkumar submitted this week's dilemma:
I would like to change the appearance of the text on my homepage, but I'm not sure how. For example, how do I change the size, color or formatting of text on my Web page? What are some tips for making the text of my page more exciting?

Rainbird: Actually, Microsoft has a pretty good section on using typography on the Web. The URL is: "http://www.microsoft.com/truetype/hottopic.htm"
Avicenna: Do you know the correct tags such etc.?
To make the text more exciting, try arranging the text like at the Tripod's first page. The colors match with the background.
savola: This one's so easy you're gonna be thrilled. The tag gives you lots of freedom to change the look and feel of your text. For instance, the container .. makes all text two "sizes" larger than the base font size (it's all relative, and not a measurement of any physical size. The SIZE attribute can also be used with numerical values from 1-7 to specify the specific size of the text regardless of the size of the rest of the text on the page (not relative, but still not related to any specific size measurement).
FONT also supports two other attributes you'll want to try:
 Insert your favorite color hex code (like #FFFFFF) or color name (like blue or red) where the periods are. This will change all text inside the FONT container to the color you specify.
 This lets you tell a browser to use a specific font face for the text in the container *if* the browser supports the feature, and if the font is installed on the machine (if it is not installed, the browser will use the default face). You can use a series of fonts to show your preference, i.e. "Arial, Courier, Times New Roman".
All of these attributes can be mixed and matched in the same document and even for the same text. A final tip -- if you want the text on your Web page to move, look into the MARQUEE tag that MS Internet Explorer supports. There are some very creative things you can do with active text!
LouisD: The following text entry should get you started. Then the best thing to do is practice color and size changes, then the true font type.
 
Place the text here

</center>

 is the line separator call
align=center places the entered text from the center towards each side
font size sets the size type
face= is the true font type
color= sets the color of the entered text
, </center>,& are used to isolate the commands, this allows you to enter different parameters on the next line if you wish.
1netboy1:

you go to "options"
you to "general preferences"in "options"
go to fonts if you want to do something with the fonts or color if you wand to do something with the color.

Karito: Using different font styles with the is fine but one thing you need to think about is whether the viewer has that font. If they don't, your page is just the same old boring default font you wanted to stay away from.
My advice is to use the and (where # is a number from 1 to 7, 1 being the largest).
angusmort: To change the text color you would put text="#" inside your body tag. After the # inside, the quotation marks put the color code of the color that you want to have on your page. This will make the text color for the whole page.This is what the code would look like if you wanted to make the text white:

<body text="#FFFFFF">
About the font size, a simple tag like this would work:


after the =, you can put any number between 1 and 7 . 7 is the largest.
liad: Well, the easiest way is to use an HTML Editor like HotDog or WebMania. These HTML Editors provide you to insert the and to choose the text color (the programs adds the hex code of the color)...

Dont't forget to click here when you have some free time..
KeithA: A very easy to learn how to do different things with HTML is to go to a page you like, save it, and see how it's done. The tags to look for are all in < >. The font ones usually start with font or H.
tmcmahon: I recommend downloading HotDog Pro.I use it a lot along with Netscape Gold 3.0. And It has done wonders for me. Makes changing fonts and other text changes easier.
SonDance: Try to keep in mind that the options vary between browsers as well. For instance, MS Internet Explorer has options which Netscape 3.0 does not have.
Of major concern with you should be the practice of not overdoing fonts on your site. Keep a minimalistic approach and use a graphics package to turn your text into practical images which easily appear for your viewers. Don't clutter your site with too many fonts, which is the first sign of an amateur designer. Simplicity always wins with design. Oh, and fonts are fun. Remember that :).
WeedEater: well....i see almost everyone already said my answer bud...but u did ask bout color...now to do this...u do the same tag...but use a hex color the same as u did in the bosy tag to signify what color.. now...u put it WITH the tag! it looks somethin like this: (thats not a real color-i think) now..if u look on the tripod homepage i believe someone has a page that gives u all these codes..the only reason i didnt say like use hotdog err somethin, thats cuz i have no idea what yas use..the way i do it , and yes...everyone thinks i'm weird cuz of this, is i just use notepad... i do java, javascript,forms, tables, any and everything! i just like to do it by hand.... (its how i like it fer sum reason!)
well...thats my advice fer the color...now...i'll tell yas about "fun" err "kewl" well...make it exciting...u know..give me somethin to where they like it and get good info...have plenty of resources and links...but also give em somethin to look fer so they'll come back...and update a lot!! thats the main thing!! well...i'll talk to tripod soon if i at all possibly can bout giving them some cgi scripts...now i'll TRY to include a chat one..(no promises) so u can add it to yer page if ya want..and everyone can..but the alternative is to go to Earthweb at least i think thats it...
but its a VERY kewl java chat based proggie anyone can throw on their page.. just check it out... i'll try to post more...even though im VERRRRYYYY busy...i have lots to do...including trying to finish at least 100 pages in the next 2 months on a cramped sched! well this post is long enough!! l8er! and send me sum feedback! lol (if ya want send it to [email protected])
FawbushSa: Something I haven't seen here that I know I was looking for for a long time is the tag , wwhich starts a new line but doesn't put a blank space between the lines. Also, (text here) does italics, and (text here) is bold. I've seen somewhere that is underline, but I think the thing said it wasn't in use all over the place yet.
KuZack: To change the color of your text type same for size, only it's font size= and a number
sk8erdude: For changing sizes and font colors, 
DavidA: All those tags work, but here is a shorter one <h1> This tag makes the font bigger. It goes from h1 all the way to h6. It can only make it bigger or smaller though.
ErnieH: Along with the typical and tags, another tag that often gets overlooked (and looks really cool, IMHO) is the < tt> tag -- it's the same font as the one that Tripod uses when it asks to "send in your response to this dilemma," and if you don't have MS Internet Explorer, it's better than nothing.
As far as formatting is concerned, never underestimate the power of tables, for graphical browsers anyway. My real page is a fairly decent example, if I do say so myself.
lwmntv1: Besides the tags allowing you to alter the font there are also a number of tags, which other members have covered above, there also pairs of tags which allow you to alter the "style of the font" e.g.: < bold> </bold>, < italic> </italic>, < blink> </blink>, , < address> </address>. Try them out.
TheBanners: you could make your text blink by inserting <blink>YourText </blink> which looks like this.
philviger: Time has proven that technology (and the method of web page creations) will most surely change! I'm a believer of first 'learning' the basics of HTML (even with version 1.0 and 2.0) so that you truly 'understand' "HOW" things are done and not rely on someone just giving a 'quick fix' that may cost you more in the long run. Netscape and Microsoft have each developed their OWN standards which may not work when using the competion's other browser - BUT, both DO follow the basics of HTML which DOES work with all 'older' (Mosaic, Lynx etc) browsers still used!
As others have already advised, you can change font size by H1, H2, - H6 as well as its appearance bold along with italic (just use yourwords) and same for
paragraph or
break! There are MANY HTML design reference links on the net! As I say with the opening of my own LOOK AROUND site: http://pages.prodigy.com/lookaround take some time to really 'surf' the net: 'Explore, Discover, Conquer!' good luck
tannus1: Hehe! I am kinda late to answer this one, but I still have one piece of advice: Lister to there people! :) They've said pretty much everything! :)
mrmichaelb: Well, at least one other member covered a couple of the basics but here is a list:
 is for making text bold.
 is for italics.
 is for underlining.
 is for size 1-7.
 is for color
 ends a line like the return key.
 is for emphasis.
<blink> </blink> makes text blink.
<align=center> </align> centers text.
 creates a space between "paragraphs"

Good luck and feel free to forward more questions.

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