More HTML Hints...Any arrangement of links can be functional. Tables, indents, and lists add style and can increase functionality.
- Speed Matters...
- Not everyone has a PowerMac with 24 megs of RAM and a high speed Ethernet connection. I've used that statement before. Here are some more suggestions for increasing speed through wise formatting and linking.
- Linking through Text Anchors
- Text links look plain. Not much can be done about that. However, text links load fast, are easy to understand, and can be made attractive with a few hints:
- Use unordered lists with bullets.
- Item One
- Item Two
- Item Three
- Use ordered (numbered) lists.
- Item One
- Item Two
- Item Three
- Use unordered lists with bullets.
- Font Sizing
- In addition to bolding and italicizing text for emphasis, try increasing the font size.
- Increase Font by 1 Size
- Increase Font by 2 Sizes
- Increase Font by 3 Sizes
- Increase Font by 4 Sizes
- Linking through Image Anchors
- Images that have colored borders are active links. If the image is intuitive, making it an active link can be functional and attractive. If, however, you have to use text to explain the image, you might just want to use the text anchor.
- Text Wrapping
- Attractive arrangement of images on the page adds variety to your documents. View the source code on each of the following html pages to see the techniques for the following arrangements:
Align Left with text offset Align Right with text offset Align Top, Middle, Bottom - Patterened and Colored Backgrounds and Colored Text
- Patterened and colored backgrounds and colored text were implemented as enhancements in Netscape Navigator 1.1. Before using background and text enhancements, remember that the message (ie, the content of your page) should be the focus of your document, and the "extra" formatting should enhance and not compete with your message.
- Configuring Backgrounds on the Client Browser
- In configuring the Options/Preferences/Fonts and Colors in the Netscape client browser, the user can specify the background color, text colors, link colors, and can even specify a gif or jpeg file to load in the background. The user can allow his or her background choices to override those sent in the html document. The background on the attached image is a jpeg file obtained from the Kai's Power Tools site named bluestone.
- Specifying Background Patterns and Colors in the HTML Document
- Background colors and font colors are specified by a set of alpha-numeric characters at the head of the html document.
- The Netscape guide to controlling document backgrounds provides instructions for controlling background and foreground (text and link) colors. You can load your background directly from the Netscape server at http://www2.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/bg/backgrounds.html by writing the body background code as indicated. Alternatively, you may use the interactive Colour Selector, but beware, it takes some time to load.
- Check out the Aggie Horticulture homepage in alternate colour!
- Remember! Patterned backgrounds take time to load and may frustrate clients with slow connections!!!
- The Netscape guide to controlling document backgrounds provides instructions for controlling background and foreground (text and link) colors. You can load your background directly from the Netscape server at http://www2.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/bg/backgrounds.html by writing the body background code as indicated. Alternatively, you may use the interactive Colour Selector, but beware, it takes some time to load.
- Tables
- Table formatting is a recent addition to Netscape Navigator. It was implemented in version 1.1. View source the linked html documents to learn the codes for adding borders, setting widths, and aligning text.
Table with Border Table without Border
WebMasters was created and is taught by Dr. Dan Lineberger, WebMaster of Aggie Horticulture, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843.
| Topical Guide | WebMasters Home | Aggie Horticulture |