Backgrounds, Buttons, Sounds, and More

Links to pages of  web resources for adding  those extra "bells and whistles" to your web pages.

Choosing Backgrounds and Text Colors

  1. Open the page you want to work on.
  2. Go to Format menu > Background  (or right click > Page Properties > Background)
  3. Click the down arrow next to Background field
  4. Click the square for the color you want (You can choose More Colors for a wider selection)
  5. Check to be sure the colored squares in the Text field and also the three Hyperlink fields will show up and work well with your background color.
  6. Use drop down arrow and list boxes to change colors if necessary
  7. Click OK to apply the colors.

If you need to override the default colors for any text, select the text and click the Font Color button on the formatting toolbar.

Using a Picture for your Background

  1. Open the page you want to work on.
  2. Open Format menu and click Background. 
  3. Click to put a check in the Background Picture checkbox.
  4. Click the Browse button to locate the picture you want for your background. (Picture backgrounds will override color backgrounds.)
  5. The "Select Background Picture" dialog box opens. Find the folder containing the picture you want.
  6. Click the image file to select it. Click Open button. 
  7. Click OK to apply the background image.

Pictures can be big files and can slow down how fast your page loads. Also, busy background pictures can make it difficult to read text.

You can use small background image files that are designed so that they will tile and create a seamless texture. Go online, or look in the Clip Art Gallery > Web Backgrounds.

Adding a Border to Pictures

  1. Place mouse on picture and Click to select it.
  2. Open Format menu > Properties. (The Picture Properties dialog box opens)
  3. In the Border thickness field click the up or down arrow to set the thickness of the border.
  4. Click OK to apply the border

Adding a Bevel to a Picture (gives a 3D appearance and makes it look like a button)

  1. Right click picture > Show Pictures Toolbar
  2. Click Bevel button to apply bevel

Defining Sections of your Page with Horizontal Lines

  1. Click where you want to put the line.
  2. Open Insert menu > Horizontal Line.
  3. Voila, the line is inserted

You can add fancy, even animated, horizontal lines to your page. These are not actually horizontal lines. They are pictures that are used as lines. You add them the same way you add pictures. Look in the Clip Gallery > Web Dividers section. Or, you can go online to find what you want.

Changing How Horizontal Lines Look

  1. Double click the line. This opened the Horizontal Line Properties box.
  2. Change the value for Width to make the line longer or shorter.
  3. Change the value for Height to change the thickness of the line
  4. Choose Alignment and Color 
  5. Click OK to apply the changes

If you don't want the 3D effect, click the Solid Line check box to deselect it.

Graphical Bullets 

  1. Type items for your list as ordinary paragraphs and press enter after each item. (DON'T click the Bullets button.)
  2. Then click just to the left of each item.
  3. Insert the picture file you want for your bullet (browse to find the file or use the Clip Gallery)
  4. Format the picture to the desired size, etc.
  5. To repeat the bullet for other items in the list, select it > Edit > Copy and paste it in front of each item.

If you want animated bullets, use animated GIFs.

If you want to increase the space between the bullet and text:

  1. Right click picture > Choose Image Properties > Appearance tab
  2. Increase the number in Horizontal Spacing
  3. Click OK

How to indent the Bulleted List

  1. Finish list and add bullets
  2. Click to the left of the bullet on the first item.
  3. Drag down to select the whole list (including all the bullets)
  4. Click Increase Indent button

Background Sound

Before you do this, think about how it will sound on all the computers in a lab full of kids!

  1. Open the page to which you want to add sound
  2. Choose Format menu > Background
  3. In the Page Properties dialog box click General tab
  4. Click Browse to locate the sound clip you want
  5. Click to select the file and click Open
  6. Click the Forever box to have the sound play while the visitor keeps the page open. The other option is to type the number of times to play the sound in the Loop field.
  7. Click OK to apply 

Note: You will have to preview the page to hear the sounds.

You can also record your own sound clips. Connect a microphone (or other audio source) to the sound card on your PC. Click Start>Accessories>Entertainment>Sound Recorder.

Inserting Video

  1. Click on the page where you want the clip to appear.
  2. Open the Insert menu > Picture > Video
  3. Locate the AVI file you want and click Open
  4. A image denoting video is inserted.
  5. Right-click the image. Choose Picture Properties.
  6. Choose Forever or how many times you want it to play in the Loop box.
  7. You can also choose to have the video play when the page appears - On file open -- or, on mouse over
  8. Click OK to apply

Note: You will have to preview the page to see the movie.