Use normal word processing formatting buttons if you want to underline or
italicise text as well as set a heading level, and centre any headings using
the alignment buttons. There is also a Text Colour button available and
Increase and Decrease Font Size buttons that allow you to change text size
in steps.
2. Background colour
For a more exciting page, apply a colour to the background. Open the Format
menu or right-click the page and select Page Properties. On the Background
tab, drop down and select a background colour and, if necessary, change the
text to show against this.
You will see that clickable text on the page has standardised colours,
depending on whether the text has been clicked or not, but you can change
these if you prefer.
If you have a picture you want as your background, click the Background
Image box and browse for the picture file. However, be careful your page
does not become too ‘busy’.
3. Horizontal lines
These can be added to divide up your page. Click where you want the line and
find this option from the Insert menu.
When it appears, change its appearance by right-clicking and selecting
Horizontal Line Properties. You can decide whether to have a solid line, how
thick it should be and what percentage of the page you want it to fill.
4. Pictures
Add a picture previously saved as a jpg or gif file to any part of the page.
Go to Insert – Image and browse for your picture. When it appears, it is
often far too large to work with. Right-click and select Image Properties –
Appearance. You can now reduce the size to 25% or 50% of the page by first
clicking in the Specify Size box and can then adjust the size manually by
dragging out a corner sizing box.
Add a border by increasing the measure in the border thickness box and
re-position the picture on the page from the Properties box or by using
normal toolbar buttons.
Saving Your Page
Clicking the Save toolbar button or going to File – Save will display the
normal Save As box. The page title is important as it will be displayed when
visitors view it on the web, so type a sensible entry. Now click the As File
button to save the page into a folder on your computer. It is a good idea to
create a new folder especially for your FrontPage Express files. As you will
be publishing the text, images, backgrounds etc. together onto the web
eventually, keep ALL related files in this folder so that none are left
behind.
If you want homework – why not create several pages and store them all in
your new folder. Next month, I will explain how to embed hyperlinks into a
web page and link several pages together
