Background Graphics vs. Colour
In the past couple of pages (and this one too) I've used a straight colour scheme for my page background. This is probably the safest way to go about things but it can get boring. We saw last week how we can use graphics to tile in the background for interesting effects. But there can be some drawbacks. A complicated background often makes the text on the screen hard to read. Can you imagine what a page with this background would look like? (click on the graphic to see a sample of the page and click on the BACK button to come back)
Something a little more subtle is needed. If you do want a textured background try something like this:
or this 
or this 
There are literally thousands of background graphics available on the web. Try YAHOO and type in "backgrounds".
If you remember I told you last week how to download a background you admire on the web.
If you see a background you like, click on the VIEW menu and choose "View Source". The script will be shown in NotePad. Look for the line in the script that says
and make note of the graphic's name (in this case "image.gif").
Then go up to the address bar and click after the address. (NOTE* This will take two clicks as the first one highlights the whole address). Using your backspace key erase the last part of the address back to the final slash"/", for example if you had an address www.jetstream.net/dharper/sample.html you would erase sample.html. Now type in the name of the graphic "image.gif" and hit the enter key. If you've done everything correctly, the graphic will come up on the screen. You can then right click on it with your mouse and save it to your hard drive.
If you plan on using a colour for your background you should use a "web safe" colour. This means it will be a true colour on any monitor in any resolution setting. Go to www.jetstream.net/dharper/color for a page that shows you a full table of "web safe" colours. If you haven't downloaded this page already, do so now.
To use this table, find the colour you want as your background, make note of the hex code (#ccff99 or something like that), go back to your script and type in the BODY tag
and the background of that page will be that colour. The hex code for the background colour of this page is #9999ff
Now on to LISTS