Eng/media/bells

Or in other words... all the fancy looking stuff you might want to include on your website.

Welcome to Bells and Whistles. Here we're going to give you some tips and ideas on putting some of the fancier looking stuff you might want on your website. We've also included some good practice ideas for keeping your website managable whilst you create it.

To start with, lets have a look at some of the things you might want to have on your site and how to put them there.

First of all, marquees.

Marquees are moving banners that go across your page from which ever direction you want i.e. right to left or left to right, like this one.

Bells and Whistles

To put a marquee on your page go to - Insert > Active Element > Marquee.

Simply insert your chosen text in the menu box. You can change the look of your marquee by altering the font sizes and colours, adjusting the speed or style and by changing the height and width of the text.

Marquees are good for either drawing particular attention to one part of your website or as the main title although if you are using a marquee for that reason remember to keep it fairly slow as it will tend to irritate potential visitors after a while.

Next we're going to look at text boxes.

Text boxes have a variety of uses but are most commonly used for additional information aside from the main text of your site. They come in two types - scrolling and one line.

To insert a scrolling text box go to Insert > FormField > Scrolling Text Box

Once you have inserted the text box you can adjust the size and shape of it by highlighting and dragging it.

Images.

You're bound to want images on your site. Images are eye-catching and add both colour and interest to your page. Before you can insert any image it needs to be first saved into your images folder in your Front Page Web. This is very important as images that are either saved elsewhere or copied and pasted won't actually show up when your pages are published on the web. The easiest way to do this is to use the import function in Front Page Explorer.

Once you have all your images saved, inserting them couldn't be easier. Make sure the cursor is where you want on the page.

Go to Insert > Image > Select the image you want by double clicking on it's icon.

This applies to both...


Animated images and...	Static images

Remember: You must have images saved into your Front Page Web before you can insert them.

Images can also be used as hyperlinks as you will discover very soon.

Text

As with all Microsoft applications you can adjust the font types sizes and colours etc in Front Page. You can add bullets, numbered lists and indentations etc. Text can also be animated but we would advise against over doing it as it tends to make pages look crowded and confused when they open.

However, should you wish to animate text, or even an image for that matter, simply highlight the text or image and go to Format > Animation and select your preference.

Backgrounds and Themes

You can choose a background colour or a theme by simply going to Format and selecting one. Front Page has only a limited number of colours available, however, there is an excellent link on the web design page for a html colour code web site, have a look.

Themes on the other hand are something that we would strongly advise against. The problem with themes is that they tend to change your text, banners, headings, bullets and more besides to the default setting for that theme. They might look nice in the menu but they can be a real pain to work with.

You can of course create your own background with an image but again this can be problematic.

Tables

Tables can be an extremely useful tool if you want to tidy things up. If, for example, you wanted to put an image next to some text you would need to use a table in order to make sure that the text doesn't get pushed around all over the place. Like this:

Blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah de blah

earth.gif (115399 bytes)

But the really good things about tables is that you can make the borders invisible so that you get something slick like this

earth.gif (115399 bytes)

So how do you do it? Well, inserting a table can be done in two ways. You can use the table icon to click and drag or you can go to: Table > Insert Table

To remove the border go to the html view and change the border width to "0".

You can also change individual cell colours by right clicking on them and selecting Cell Properties. Like this:

And of course while you are there you can change colour of the border and then the width in html... Like this:

Hyperlinks

Then of course there are good old fashioned Hyperlinks. But whatever you do, don't click on this one: Bells and Whistles

Hyperlinks are a navigational tool to help people find their way around your web site by linking pages together. They are so simple to do as well. Highlight the text or image that you wish to hyperlink from, then click on either the icon with the globe on the tool bar or go to Insert > Hyperlink and then type in the name of the file or web page that you want to link to. Hyperlinks can link not only your web pages but also one web site to another.

An important tip to remember is to make sure that you have provided a way for your readers to get back to the page that they have justed come from by means of a another hyperlink.

Likewise, Bookmarks are a handy thing to have around. They help you move quickly around lengthy pages like this one. They are staggeringly simple as well. Type in your text or insert an image, highlight it and then go to: Insert > Bookmark. Repeat this process with the text or image you want to link to and then hyperlink them. Remember to hyperlink both of them. Try this one out...

Go To Top Click on the picture of Bells and Whistles heading to return here.

Borders

You can add a border to your page by going to Format Borders and Shading Front Page has got several to choose from or you can find your own from the internet. It is also possible to design your own border.

Again, be cautious as a border could alter the whole layout and look of your page, particularly where tables are concerned.

Search Forms

To make life easier for your readers, why not have a Search Form to help them find what they are looking for. To add one of these go to Insert > Active Elements > Search Form

Dead easy. And you can change the text on the buttons by right clicking and selecting Front Page Component Properties.

Hit Counters

Finally, you may want to put in a hit counter. Useful to know how many people have viewed your site.

You may also want to add something along the lines of...

You are the Hit Counter visitor to this site

There are several to choose from. To do this, go to Insert > Component > Hit Counter

You will notice that when you preview your page you won't be able to see your hit counter. Do not worry. You need to peview it in browser for it to be seen and it will be seen when your web site is published on the intranet.

Have a go. And remember, you can always undo anything if you don't like it by clicking on the little curved arrow icon on the tool bar or going to Edit Undo

There are other things that you can do as well but this should get you up and running. Remember, a good website doesn't need too many bells and whistles.

Bye for now.

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