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<BODY BACKGROUND="filename"> is all you need.. It's
nice to also add an ending </BODY> at the end of the
file, as well.
<BODY BGCOLOR="#RRGGBB"> allows you to set the color
of the background to something specific.
<BODY TEXT="#RRGGBB"> sets the color of all normal
text within the document.
<BODY LINK="#RRGGBB" VLINK="#RRGGBB" ALINK="#RRGGBB">
sets the color of all other text in the document. LINK is just a regular,
never before visited link, VLINK is a previously viewed link, and ALINK is
an active link ("The color when you click on it"). Any or all of these
three options can be omitted, of course.
RR, GG, and BB are two-digit hex numbers (00-FF) representing the amount of red, green, and blue in a particular color. Since it would be too difficult to have a good defined list of color names, hex numbers are used as well, so you get to invent your own colors. "#FFFFFF" represents white and "#000000" is black.
Can't get background colors working?
If you can't get the background color working, make sure you're following
"The Background Rule." This rule states that your page must have
the following format or backgrounds may not work:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>My Title</TITLE>
Any other heading information goes here
</HEAD>
<BODY (and background/bgcolor info if you wish)>
The document body goes here...
</BODY>
</HTML>
Interlaced GIFs are graphics which improve in quality as they are loaded, rather than loading from top to bottom. Check out Discovery Online's web page. They use interlaced GIFs for most of their larger graphics.
When making a GIF file transparent, all you have to do is select a background color. That background color is then given a special "background color" tag within the file, and when Netscape sees it, it makes all occurances of that color transparent. As far as I know, you can only have one transparent color in a GIF.
<FONT> tag is very powerful. With it, you can change
the size or color of the font at any time.
<FONT SIZE=(+ or - size)> will increase or
decrease the size of the current font. For this page, I use all caps for
headers, but increase the size of the first letter of every word by 2:
<H3><FONT SIZE=+2>M</FONT>AKE
<FONT SIZE=+2>T</FONT>HE
<FONT SIZE=+2>M</FONT>OST
<FONT SIZE=+2>O</FONT>F
<FONT SIZE=+2>F</FONT>ONTS</H3>
Personally, I think an all caps/big first letters style makes any titles
look great. Experiment with the <FONT> tag and see what happens.
Take a look at Compass Records for another
good example.
The <TT> tag changes the font to Courier (if you haven't altered
your browser settings otherwise). C|Net Online often uses
<TT> with <H1> to
give it a nice typewriter look.
The <TT> tag will work with almost every web browser. If you want to try something
that is much cooler, but specific to Netscape 3.0b5+ and Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0+, try the <FONT FACE>
tag. With the FACE attribute, you can specify a list of desired fonts for viewing text. For example:
<FONT FACE="Arial, Geneva">This will be displayed
in Arial or Geneva</FONT>
If Arial isn't available on your system, Geneva will be used instead! I think this one of the best new features of Netscape and Internet Explorer.
Note: Remember that your
audience is using a variety of computer systems. A combination like "Arial, Geneva" for the
<FONT FACE> tag is good since Arial is generally available on PCs, while Geneva is a Macintosh font.
Want to change the color of certain words? The <FONT>
tag has an option for COLOR. The colors work the same
as colors on the <BODY> tag. Here are some
examples:
<FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Red</FONT>Green
<FONT COLOR="#00FF00"></FONT>Blue
<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"></FONT>
You can also give a color name! Things like this work fine:
<FONT COLOR="Yellow">Yellow</FONT>Purple
<FONT COLOR="Purple"></FONT>
Check with your system administrator about the availability of a local counter for your page. If you're lucky, there's a counter program set up for you to use, and your sysadmin can tell you how to set your page up for it.
Method 2: www.digits.com!
If you don't have a web counter on your system already, wwww.digits.com is the place to go. They provide good, free web counters to anyone. I've heard only good comments about their reliability, too.
Method 3: STEAL IT!
You can make a new counter for yourself using someone elses counter program. This way, you don't have to install a program on your system, just bum someone elses!
If I could give you a list of counters to steal, I would.. but in order to give all counters an equal chance at being stolen, you'll have to find your own. It's easy, though:
1. Find a web page with a counter
2. Do a View->Source
3. Find out the URL for the counter, and see where the unique identifier is
(it should be somewhere after a "?" or a "/", and it might contain some
part of the persons/pages name)
4. Replace the unique identifier with your name/last name/whatever and stick
it at the bottom of your web page.
5. Cross your fingers, load up your page, and have a look!
Although stealing a counter is easier than setting one up yourself, a stolen counter might not work tomorrow.
Method 4: Install a counter program.
Installing a counter program is probably the best solution if your access provider doesn't have one already. You'll need the ability to install a CGI script on your server, or use a server-side include, depending on which counter program you want to use. Below is a list of some of the counter programs out there.
Here are some counter programs out there that you can install on your system:
That's it! With those three tools, you'll be making graphics like the pros in no time. If you've got Photoshop and Kai's Power Tools, I highly recommend Kai's Power Tips and Tricks.
<MULTICOL> tags around the text you want to put in multiple columns.
You must pick the number of columns you want using the COLS attribute, and can optionally choose the spacing between
columns (in pixels) using the GUTTER attribute. For example, the following would yield two-column text with a 5 pixel gutter:
<MULTICOL COLS=2 GUTTER=5>
The COLS attribute is required, while the GUTTER defaults to 10 pixels.
I recently found a second hidden logo when I pulled up Robert Lundemo Aas' home page. I think he has to have a "/jwz/" in his URL, or the trick will not work.
Method 1: Client Pull
A client pull allows the server to tell the browser to load a certain document in a certain number of seconds. For example:
<HTML><META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT=1>
<HEAD><TITLE>Client Pull Example</TITLE>
<BODY>
<H1>Client Pull Example</H1>
This document will reload itself once every second.
</BODY></HTML>
The line <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT=1>
tells the browser to request the page again in 1 second. Some sites use
this type of client pull to refresh a document such as stock quotes or
a video camera pointed at a city street.
Client pulls can also load a different document in a predefined number of seconds. For example:
<HTML><META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="5; URL=http://www.nashville.net/~carl/index.html">
<HEAD><TITLE>Now Loading...</TITLE>
<BODY>
This example will send you to Carl's home page in 5 seconds.
</BODY></HTML>
Changing CONTENT=1 to CONTENT="5; URL=<my URL>"
makes it go somewhere else once the time has elapsed.
Method 2: Server Push
A server push is more difficult since it envolves keeping a constant connection open between the client and the server, and having the server "push" data to the client to display, such as an animation, as a series of .gif files.
Server push is a bit too complicated to breifly describe here, so I'll refer you to the many links listed below. I personally recommend Netscape's An Exploration of Dynamic Documents.
Dynamic Docmuent explanations:
Dynamic Document examples:
<HTML>
When people without Netscape come in, they'll click on "CLICK HERE" and get
the regular version of your page. When people with Netscape get to this
page, they are automatically advanced to the Netscape enhanced version.
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="3; URL=http://www.nashville.net/~carl/htmlguide/nindex.html">
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Detecting your browser...</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H2>We're detecting your browser now...</H2>
If you're using Netscape, the Netscape enhanced version of this page will
automatically load. If not, <A HREF="http://www.nashville.net/~carl/htmlguide/index.html">CLICK HERE</A>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="1; URL=mysound.wav">
1 second after the page itself has loaded, the sound will load and play. It doesn't have to be a WAV file..just remember that the sound you pick will be played back on a variety of computers, so it should be in a sound format that can be played back on most computers. Although this "background sound" method isn't used much (in fact, I've only seen it in use once before), it has definite potential.
A side note: How do you get sounds to play without any window coming or without having to hit the "play" button first? It all depends on what sound player you're using. Some sound players will play a sound immediately and not show any window at all..others give you control (play, stop, rewind, fast forward, etc) but require that you press "play" to start any sound.
Another side note: This is probably the trick I get the most e-mail about. A lot of people can't seem to get it working! In nine out of ten cases, though, the problem is on the client side. Make sure you have a working sound player set up as a helper application, and make sure your web browser supports client pulls. This trick does work.
Set-Cookie: NAME=VALUE; expires=DATE; path=PATH; domain=DOMAIN; secure
So, for the shopping basket, Netscape might send:
Set-Cookie: basket=128 426 234; expires=Wednesday, 09-Nov-99 23:12:40 GMT; path=/cgi-bin/basket_view; domain=merchant.netscape.com; secure
The variable "basket" is then set in your browser to equal "128 426 234," a list of item numbers you've requested; Whenever you go back to the basket viewer URL "http://merchant.netscape.com/cgi-bin/basket_view" before the expiration date, your browser sends this:
Cookie: basket=128 426 234
This lets the store know what items you're interested in so it can recreate your shopping basket.
HTTP Cookies are very powerful, but they require the use of CGI scripts. If you've got the guts to try it, take a look at the "Preliminary Specification" on Persistant Client-State HTTP Cookies. There's a lot more information on HTTP cookies there. Good luck, and let me know of any cool applications you've made with HTTP cookies!
A side note on frames: Even though I don't
have much here about frames, I do have the answer to the most commonly asked
frames question: How do you get frames to go away when linking to
the outside world? Here's the answer:
<BASE TARGET="_parent">. It's that easy. Just put
that tag near the top of your document. Want a more detailed explanation?
Read
Targeting Windows!
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© 1996 Carl Tashian {carl@tashian.com} Last Update: August 9, 1996 |
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