by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: April 06, 2007   Last Updated: May 15, 2007

Web design is becoming huge business, and even for users like me whose need for HTML text enhancements is limited, that knowledge of how to enhance presentation really does help you to make work online look professional, although if posting to a website, do take care to read what their regulations are for HTML enhancements, as many do not take the opportunity of giving users the option to enhance their text.

BRACKETS AND THEIR USE

For someone like me, it took a while to understand the significance of brackets, though when they were explained to me in a simple manner, my enjoyment of my online experience was enhanced. Placing brackets around instructions and using < > at the beginning of text and < /> at the end of text, surrounding your instructions, what happens is that the look of your typing becomes enhanced. On forums for example, what better way could you have to accentuate important instructions than to put them into capitals. Perhaps you want to add underlining, or simple enhancements like italic lettering.

Understanding that the brackets are used in the order shown above and using the correct beginning and ending bracket sequences, the enhancements you can make become simple.

ABREVIATIONS OR 'TAGS'

Tags meant nothing to me, although when explained in simple terms using the word abbreviation, I began to understand how the abbreviations work when placed in the brackets described above, at each end of whatever you want to change. That is all a tag is. It is language that determines what it is that you want to do.

CAPITALS

If you want to insert capital letters into text, you place the beginning brackets, i.e.< > , onto the page and enter in the middle of those brackets the letter 'b', which stands for BOLD. It will look like this Then you type the detail you want in bold lettering, followed by the finishing brackets which should be set out like this, < b/>. Notice the subtle difference ? The slant in the final brackets is a symbol which means the end of the particular enhancement.

UNDERLINING

This is performed in a similar fashion using the brackets in the same order as before, but inserting the letter 'u' in both sets of brackets, before and after the phrase that you want to enhance.

ADDING COLOR

Again using the < > at the beginning of the text, insert FONT COLOR= followed by the color you require your text to be. Then at the end of the text, use the < /> though this time just using the word FONT to close the enhancement and to be able to carry on typing as normal.

ITALICS

Italics can really enhance work. They stand out, and make the work look classic. The tag used for italics is an 'i'. Opening the phrase to be changed into italics with , you then type your phrase and finish it with < i/>

GENERALLY

These are simple enhancements that make work look more professional. Of course there are other tags that exist, although the paragraph and line break ones can be achieved without tags simply and efficiently by use of the return key on the keyboard, and I never use these. Since they do not add value to the text style, they are of little significance.

Using these keys gives you a better understanding of layout and remembering the simplicity of 'i' equals italics, 'b' equals bold, 'u' equals underlined, the presentation of your work can be enhanced beyond measure, changing color where appropriate with the font changes listed above. Do get accustomed to experimentation on forums where HTML tagging is permitted and see just how much that experience helps. Tagging is also used for images and quotations, and getting used to it just takes practice.

Good luck and do enjoy your experience.

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