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Sue Pyle wrote:
>
> I've been using FrontPage 98, and wondered if anyone could give me some =
> tips. Where could I find some nice background .gifs that would be =
> appropriate for an online audience's user guide?
First, you don't want to use .gif files in any commercial or for-sale
product. To be legal, you'd have to pay a royalty and it's more trouble
than its worth. Use .jpg (JPEG) files.
The best way to find a background pattern that you like is to surf the
Net and check out other people's websites. When you find one you like,
just copy the background pattern to your disk. With most browsers, you
just right-click somewhere in the background and select the menu option
to save the image to disk.
I always send a note to the site's webmaster asking if it's okay to use
their background pattern. Nobody has ever said 'no'.
A caution about backgrounds: since users can also change the default
font, what looks readable to you on your system may be a real eyesore on
someone else's. Many backgrounds just make the text harder to read.
That's why you don't find patterned backgrounds much any more except on
amateur sites. Most commercial sites have gone to using blocks of solid
color to add variety.
> Also, is there any code that I can use to manipulate the =
> color of the links? When I use the default colors, they change when I =
> run the HTML file under different platforms (going from Windows NT to =
> 95).
It's generally not a good idea to change the link colors. The reason
you're getting different colors is because the browsers' default
settings are different. It's best to let users set their own preferences
for link colors in their browsers.
However, if you insist on doing this, you can use the LINK, ALINK, and
VLINK attributes on the BODY tag. Or you can do it with style sheets,
but many browsers don't yet support them.
L.
--
Linda K. Sherman <linsherm -at- gte -dot- net>
Freelance Writer -- Technical - Business - Government
Dysgwch Gymraeg! Learn Welsh! -- http://www.dalati.com
