backgrounds and borders Bits & Pieces

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Q. How do you keep a jpg from tiling? I found a very pretty nature scene that I was going to try using as a background on a practice page. It's dimensions are 128 x 96. When I viewed it in the browser, it was tiled, so how do you get it to just be one big happy picture?

A. Any image that you put into the attribute BACKGROUND= is going to tile on your web page -- that's what that attribute is for!

Using an image that is large enough "not" to tile in the background will be so large (too many bytes) that your page will take forever to load!

Q. I would like to know how I can make my background two colors. You see I want half of the page to be black and the other half to be brown. Is this possible to do in html or do I have to learn javascript.

A. It is possible. I'm not sure exactly what effect you are wanting, but when we get to the tables lesson, I think that may be a way to do what you want. Tables will be covered in next week's lesson.
A. I agree with Dowie's comments on using tables, although this will only allow the table background to be colored, 1/2 and 1/2, for a complete page background to be done, you will have to create an image, 1/2 and 1/2 colored. Problem arises in screen sizes, various people set their screens at various settings, thereby making it difficult to make a complete graphics that will work at those settings. You might want to say on your site, best viewed at yyy x yyy settings. You will need a graphics program to help you create the image. If that is the way you want to go. Create it height at 50, and you will need to determine the width, (no less then 600).

You might also want to create, possibly a multi-colored image, of both black and brown that will span the entire background then when we get to tables, set your cell backgrounds to separate colors.

A. If you are looking for a 'vertical' color change -- you might try making a border background. Although, as mentioned by others on the team -- the outcome will depend on the visitors monitor size and resolution used when viewing your page.

Q: How do I change the color of the border and where do I put that tag.

A: <TABLE WIDTH="75%" BORDER="1" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FF0033" BORDERCOLORDARK="#3333FF" BORDERCOLOR="#00FF00">
not sure but I think that dark and light are IE specific and that NS still doesn't support them
you can all so do just a cell
<TD BORDERCOLOR="#000000"> </TD>

Q. I went to one of the recommended sites and found a background that I want and I saved it to my desktop now how do I put it in my html?

A.
The easiest way is to move the background file from your desktop to the folder where you have your HTML files. Then adjust your body tag to include the filename of the background image:

For example: <BODY BGCOLOR="WHITE" BACKGROUND="yourfilenamehere.jpg"(or .gif)> Be sure you use the exact filename and type (.jpg or .gif) in order for it to work properly.

Q. Does anyone know of a way to copy the backgrounds that are present in in the windows98 display file and is that legal? I know there are many free sites for backgrounds on the internet but these are all ready in your computer.

A. The desktop backgrounds in Windows are in .bmp format and won't work on a web site unless converted to a .gif or .jpg in a graphics program.
Also, they are licensed to Microsoft and my guess is that Microsoft would rather "not" have you use them!!!!
...suggest surfing some of the 'free' graphic resources for a background or making your own.

Q. Border Graphic - I want to learn to do the backgrounds with a border graphic down the left side of the page. How is that set up,

A. To do a background border, you create a graphic that is X pix by about 1280 pix (at least that's the size I do.). The X would be whatever height your graphic is. ... whatever you want as the border part goes on the far left of the graphic and the rest would be white or whatever color you want your page background to be. Then you use that in the BACKGROUND="whatever.gif" in your body tag.
Once you make your background image ... use Otter's tutorial on how to use border backgrounds so that text will not bump into the border.
http://vuweb.net/htmlzone/otter/borders.html

Q: Can't get the color to change in my "notebook".
A: Your line must read exactly as follows: <BODY BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF">

If you copied the opening four tags exactly as they were listed, you should now have:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>your title here</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF">
body text here
</BODY>
</HTML>
Colors info http://websitetips.com/color/
This is something a little different about color and should be real helpfull. http://www.valcasey.com/webdesign/color.html

A: Be sure that your bgcolor and text colors are different.
<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#FFFFFF">
Be sure that you saved the changes in your notepad.
Be sure that you refresh/reload your browser to see the changes.

Q: I put a border on my page that is a border across the top. Now my title and such are in the middle of the border. Is there any way to move the lettering down or should I pick a different border?

A: I would suggest a simple fix might be to add a few
s before your text. I don't know if it would have the same effect in all browsers, but it's worth a try.

Q: I made a border that tiles nicely on my page, but now I can't figure out how to get my backgound for the rest of the page.
This is what I have.
<TITLE>MEMORY LANE</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BACKGROUND="flowerbrd6.jpg"
TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#FF9473"
ALINK="#FF6342"
VLINK="#FF3118">

<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER="1" IMG SRC="flowerbrd6.jpg">
<TR><TD VALIGN="bottom" ALIGN="center">
<IMG SRC="pixel89a.gif" WIDTH="165" HEIGHT="1"
BORDER="1">
</TD> The rest of my background is another jpg file. Can anyone tell me how I get it in there.

A: You're on the right track though....you need to make your border and background on 1 .jpg file at a width of 1024 pixels at least if not wider.

A: You can only use "one" image for your background in the <BODY> tag. Border backgrounds are created to tile differently than regular backgrounds. Please read this tutorial on "HOW BACKGROUND AND BORDER GRAPHICS TILE" to better understand how backgrounds work:

http://vuweb.net/htmlzone/otter/bckgrnds.html

It will also link to a tutorial on how to "use" border backgrounds at:
http://vuweb.net/htmlzone/otter/borders.html

Q: I have a page with a side border. In Internet Explorer, all looks normal...I am really at a loss as to why there is a strange line at the bottom of the border side. If I change the <VALIGN="BOTTOM"> to top or center, the line moves accordingly. I can only see it if I am online - not if I check it just on the computer.

Q: I added a new background to one of my pages. When I click on that file on the server, the new bkgd shows, but when I view my page with IE, it's still the old background
Both backgrounds are in the same "image" folder. And, the new background was successfully uploaded -- or at least shows up correctly when I click on "view" at geocities.

A: Did your new background have to include a folder name as part of the URL? I looked at your page source: your "sandbag" background didn't have a folder name...maybe the old and new are in different locations???

Q: I have a piece of wrapping paper that I would like to scan and use for a background. Can it be done and how do I save it?..ie.what size etc.

A: Play with it an save as .gif or .jpg Remember that most backgrounds will tile on the page so you also want to take that into consideration.

Q. I just finished lesson 1 part 2 yesterday and was wondering how to find the code for background and text colors. The example color was Aqua and the code was something like ccfff. Where do I find the code for the color I want to use?

A. The HTMLib 3 comes with a color wizard just perfect for that task

A. Here is another one. BrowserSafeColors