Spicing up your web page

You can find a lot of things just by looking around on the Internet, and taking them from pages you like. But if you're not sure where to start looking, try these places for:

A guide to colors: The Other RGB Color Chart

Colors definitely spice up a web page. For examples on the code for making the text and links of a web page a specific color, view the source on this document and look where it says
TEXT= #9400DW LINK= #006400 VLINK= #3CB371

right where you'd normally see BODY. These are the codes for setting the text color (TEXT), the color of unused links (LINK) and used links (VLINK). Color codes are six character codes (called the RGB codes), so make sure you use the right codes when you put them in your web page. I'd make sure that the # is in front of them as well. The codes might work without it, but it never hurts to be sure.

You can also use colors as the background for a web page. Type the line:

BODY BGCOLOR= #(RGB code) TEXT= #...
where you'd normally just type BODY. For an example of this type of background, view the source on my Laranisal University Web Page.

Backgrounds: Just Backgrounds

You've probably noticed that I chose a picture as the background for this particular page instead of a color. It's actually one small picture copied many times with the copies stuck next to each other like floor tiles. The command to do this is
BODY BACKGROUND= "imagefile.type"

where "imagefile.type" is the name of the background you choose. You could use a URL (web page address) in the quotes, but it's better if you save it to your own file.

Test your page by opening it as a file in Netscape. Don't forget to test all of the links to make sure they work. If they don't, go back into the file in Word (or another text editor) and figure out what's wrong. Make sure that everything is properly bracketed. If you still can't figure out what's going wrong, ask someone knowledgeable or take it to the CLU Computer Help Desk--phone number 493-3698.

Now you're ready to mount it on your robles account! The ISS staff has a page which gives explicit directions on how to do this.

For more advanced stuff, look at the many books on creating web pages out there. Or simply view the source on some of the web pages you like and substitute your own information in the parts between the codes.

HAPPY WEB PAGING!