With so many rich and dynamic elements that one can incorporate onto their “Spaces” site I have decided to try and help some of you understand one of the more simple codes that can be used throughout “Spaces” and it is called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).
NOTE: To use this coding language whether you use “Live Writer” or are merely using the “Add A Blog” feature directly from your site it is important to know that you can only use this code while in HTML or Source items that appear in either one of them.
Let’s take a look at some of the basic things you can do to add some highlights to a particular word, string of text or adding special graphics and other features that might rely upon HTML coding.
Codes for bold and Italics
Here is an example of the little codes you can use for making either a word or whole sentence bold or italicized. First, in front of the word or phrase you are wanting to make bold you will need to put this in front <b> of the word or phrase you want to start your bold feature at. At the end of the word or phrase you will need to put </b>. This will make a particular word of phrase stand out.
To make a particular word or phrase Italicized put <i> in front of the word of phrase and then </i> at the end of the word!
NOTE: If you are using “Live Writer” these features to change to formatting of text are already built in!
Creating Text Links
Here are some useful codes that can be used for creating a variety of “Text Links”. Ok, are you wanting to make a link for someone to click on to e-mail you? This is one of the simplest ones to use. It look like this……<a href=”mailto:yourname@yourisp.com”>E-Mail Me</a>
You can change the words e-mail me to whatever you would like for the text to show! Give it a whirl and see for yourself. Here again for those who are using “Live Writer” you can accomplish the same thing by highlighting the text to want to link up to being able to send you a mail directly and where it says http:// change that to mailto:yourname@yourisp.com along with the text you want to show up for that link! Here is a working example of it Click Here to mail me.
Here is example of a text link that will direct you to a different site. <a href=”http://questionsinlife.spaces.live.com”>Visit Me Here</a> Keep in mind that you must make sure the URL is where you want your visitor’s to be directed to when they click on the link….the URL is the portion of the code above that starts with http:// keep in mind that the entire code must appear between the beginning “ and the ending “ or it will not function properly!
So, with these simple little demonstration’s of various codes you can now begin to manipulate your site into a true spectacle and hide big and bulky things that are taking up to much space on your site and create a sort of “Road Map" to your site. You can see an illustration of this by visiting my site and looking where it say's "My Site's Navigation" then look where it says "My Sites Linking Tree". What I have done is provide my visitor's with simple "Text Link's" that will do the same thing as if you had the whole module visible to people, thereby creating more room for the things I want to make highly visible without then having to spend too much time scrolling down my page to find what they are looking for!
By making your site easy to navigate and locate the things your "Visitor's" are looking for will keep them coming back time and time again! Remember that part of they key to growing your community is the ease of navigation and overall content. Start now and let your true creativeness start to emerge from you and develop the "Site" you have always dreamed of having!
Happy Blogging & Spaces Development
Greg A. Hyatt
