Need some Dusting help?

Here are some tips that I've learned from my dusting experiences. I hope they help you too.

#1

Always view the guestbook before you sign it. Some don't accept html and you'll have to dust with text only.

#2

While viewing the guestbook, take note of the background. If it is black or dark, you might need to change your font color. If it has a background image, you also may need to change the font color. You'll know when you see it.

#3

Make a text document of your dusting so you can copy and paste it into the guestbook. This will save lots of time and cut down on mistakes.

#4

Make a page on your server for your dusting samples. This allows you to see what it will look like before leaving it in a guestbook.

Now for a few basic HTML tags to get you started:

To leave an image in the guestbook, you'll need to link it back to where you keep it on your server. All HTML tags begin with < and end with >. No matter what goes inside those two "tags", they must be there or whatever you're trying to do will show up as text. The following tag is for a dustbag that I sometimes leave in guestbooks.

first I have <

then img src=

then my servers address enclosed in " and "

finally, I have closed it with >

<img src="//www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840/fairy/dustbag1.gif">

This will show up as the image below:

To link an image to your homepage you will follow some of the same steps, not forgetting your < and > tags.

first I'll put the <

then the code to tell the computer what to do a href=

next, my address enclosed in " and "

finally, the last >

<a href="http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840">

If you add this command to your image, you must change your image code. Inside the tags you'll add

border="0"

this keeps the blue line from showing up around your image. You can also add an alt tag like this:

alt="Visit Fairy Venus"

This tag tells them that there is a link and what it does. But is not necessary.

After you have added the <a href tag, you'll need to put an end tag after your image. Otherwise, all of the text and graphics following will be linked to this site. The closing tag is

</a>

All of the tags will look like:

<a href="http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840"><img src="//www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840/fairy/dustbag1.gif" border="0" alt="Visit Fairy Venus"></a>

and it will look like this in the guestbook:

Visit Fairy Venus

Now, to change the color and kind of text.

You will put your font commands into a < and > also. This command is :

<font face="comic sans ms" color="navy">

If you want a purple text:

<font face="comic sans ms" color="purple">

You can also change the ~face~ by putting the name of your font inside the " and " but keep in mind that everyone doesn't have the same fonts and if you use one that you have downloaded from somewhere, they may not have it. In this case, it could show up as a huge text! The browser chooses the first available font after the one you're attempting to use, it could be something you don't like! The most commonly used fonts are:

comic sans ms

arial

times new roman

Changing the size of your font. There are two ways to do this. You can type it into the font tag

<font face="comic sans ms" color="purple" size="4">

or you can add a new tag after the font tag

<h2>

Using the size in the font tag will help by not requiring an extra closing tag at the end of the dusting.

To close these tags use:

</font>

</h2>

When using text in a dusting, you may want to break a sentence or phrase up into separate lines. To do this use the break tag at the end of the word you want to be the last one on that line

<br>

Use it before and after an image tag too, to keep your dusting balanced.

Centering your Dusting in the book is very easy. One tag takes care of the whole thing.... but don't forget to end it or the entire book will be centered!

<center>

</center>

Using the tags in the correct order is important as well as using the correct tags! Remember to go in steps. First, center it. Next, choose the font (if you don't command a font, a default one is provided by the guestbook). Then close them in the opposite order that you opened them. Following is the entire html for a small dusting.

<center><font face="arial" color="purple"><h2>Roses are red<br>Violets are blue<br>I've come by <br>to tickle you!<br>

<a href="http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840"><img src="//www.oocities.org/Heartland/Cottage/9840/fairy/dustbag1.gif" border="0" alt="Visit Fairy Venus"></a></h2></font></center>

It will look like this:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I've come by
to tickle you!
Visit Fairy Venus

I hope that all of this has helped you. Please remember to always close your tags at the end of the dusting or you could make a mess of the entire guestbook! Believe me, this is very embarrassing ... I've done it!!! If it should happen to you, send a note to the person whose book you've just used and tell them what you've done. Chances are they can edit the book and either delete the entry or add the closing tags.

One more thing to watch for in your dusting is the spelling of your img src. If you should happen to mis-spell the name of the image, it won't show up. This is when practicing on a page of your own comes in very handy and helpful.

Go to the next page to use the guestbook for practice...

 

Here are some links at cottage row that may help you:

http://www.cottagegroup.com/cottagerow1/template.html

http://www.cottagegroup.com/cottagerow1/tips.html

http://www.cottagegroup.com/cottagerow1/images_tables.html

http://www.cottagegroup.com/cottagerow1/codes.html