Tips & FAQ

 Here are just a few simple tips to help you get your page working the way you intended. If there is something about my graphics & their layout that you would like explained here & think it would be beneficial for others as well, please e-mail me & let me know. I will get it added as soon as possible. I have listed some of the most common questions I have received.

How do I use your themes?
This is a VERY common question.  The 1st step would be to extract the zip file you downloaded into your site folder (if you don't have a program to extract the files, you can go to WinZip & download the free version of their program).
If the theme has a simple side border background, then you just use the graphics like you would any other graphics.
If the theme has a table layout that has specific settings, I will include a ".txt" file.  Simply open this file with notepad, select all, copy & paste it into the HTML of your own page.  This will insert all the settings for the page as you see it on my site, you just need to edit the content & title of your page.

How do I use your themes in the Geocities Page Builder?
If you are using one of these free hosting page builders, like Geocities or Angelfire,  please refer to them for specific instructions on how to use the program.  I have never used any of these programs & therefore cannot tell you how to use them.  I only use FrontPage to create my themes & the HTML editor for the pages that are located at Geocities.  

Why aren't the graphics showing up after I copy & paste the HTML?
Most of the themes are set up using a separate folder called "images".  If you extract all the graphics from the zip file into your site & have added the HTML code from the ".txt" file & still cannot see the graphics, simply create a new folder called "images" & move all the graphics into that folder.
OR
You can edit the HTML that you pasted into your page & delete anything that says "images/" before the name of the graphic.

Why can't I find the FrontPage theme extension file in the zip file?
That would be because my themes are NOT FrontPage themes.  I use FrontPage 2000 to create my pages but I do not make FrontPage Themes.  I didn't want to limit the graphics to only FrontPage users.

How do I get rid of the name of the graphic that appears when I mouse over pictures on my site?
To eliminate or change the text that appears when you move your mouse over pictures you have to edit your HTML for the page. Look for the code for the picture/graphic in question & locate the alt="nameofpicture0001.jpg" & delete it to remove it altogether, or you can edit what it says. Just make sure if you are going to edit it that your leave in the quotation marks ("") or it won't work. Here's a few examples:

How do I get rid of the outline that appears when I link my graphics?
This is another one that will need to be edited from your HTML. Locate the name of the graphic & add border="0" to the code, usally right before the width & height details. This is in the same area as the alt code. Here's an example:

How do I get my links to open in a new window?
Again, some HTML editing to be done here. Find the link you have made on your page & at the end of the address insert target="_blank". Make sure it is inside the brackets for your URL. This will cause the link to open a new browser window & your visitors will not leave your site to browse your links. This method can be used for both text links & graphic links. Example:

Click here or the graphics below for a new window

"ssp-shim.gif"? What is it & what does it do?
One of the most frequently asked questions I have received is about the "ssp-shim.gif" graphic that is in most of my new sets. This graphics is very important as it helps keeps the tables aligned. It is a clear graphic & won't be seen, so just make sure that you include it with the other graphics for the theme you chose for your site. If you do not use this graphic, some things will not line up properly & you will end up with strange gaps in the graphics.
If you are missing this file you can save it here:   (right click in the box & save)

How do I align vertical graphics without gaps between them?
This is very simple. Instead of hitting the ENTER button after the 1st graphic, hit SHIFT & ENTER at the same time. This will eliminate the gap. This is how most of the guestbook graphics have been aligned.

Here are a couple of ways to get your side border background pages lined up properly. This will prevent your text & graphics from overlapping the pictures on the side of the page & keep everything in it's proper place.

This 1st method works well with an 800x600 page layout but not for 1024x768. For a page with these settings, there is a large gap between the border and the page content.

1) To use a side border design on your web pages so that your text and other graphics are aligned properly for Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers, place this code in your HTML document just after the body background and text color tags:

You will have to adjust the percentage, depending on the background you use, but this is the average for my backgrounds.

At the very end of your page make sure the table is closed.
It should have this tag (below) just before the closing body & html tags:

I have included the percentage for you on any of the pages that use this method.

2)  The 2nd method for aligning the page properly is to use a table that covers the whole page divided into 2 columns.  In the 1st column a simple "clear" or "blank" image is used to keep the column the same width as the side border you are using.  You will have to adjust the size of the graphic to approximately the same size as the side border you are using.  The other great feature of using this method is that you can place your buttons in the 1st column instead of in the page (if the side border is not a picture, you wouldn't want to cover that up).

Right click on the box below & SAVE AS to your hard drive to get the "Clear.gif" graphic.

Here's the coding you will need for your page with the "clear.gif" image in the border:

   As you can see, adjusting the size of the "clear.gif" image is easy.  It is located between the & tags.  Just change the size of the width to match the size of the border.  

   Once you have that figured out, you can add buttons to the border.  Just insert them under the "clear.gif" and they will appear on the side of your page.  Here's an example:

   Now all you have to do it enter your page content between the & tags like on a regular page and everything will be aligned properly for both resolutions.

Click here to see an example page set up in the manner.

   It may seem like a lot more work, but once you get the hang of it, it will be very easy and it really is worth the extra work to know that no matter who is viewing your page, they will see it the way YOU intended.

How do I alter &/or add new buttons to my site using the mouseovers.

   I have had quite a few questions about how to alter the HTML code to include other buttons.  Here's how: 

   If you are just going to replace one or more of the existing buttons with the new ones that you or I have created, simply change the coding that is marked in red below.

   If you need to add more buttons & the coding to go along with it, then you will need to do the following: 

   In the header section of your page HTML, you will need to add the following (things in blue will need to be changed accordingly & you will also have to change the things in red as stated above):

A1=new Image();
A2=new Image();
A1.src="images/NAMEOFGRAPHIC_ON.jpg";
A2.src="images/NAMEOFGRAPHIC.jpg";

   You will need to change the “A”s to the next letter (ex. The last letter in the current list is “K” on my page, the next would be “L”, and so on). 

   In the body section of the HTML, you will need to add the following:

     <A onMouseOver="document.A.src = A1.src" onMouseOut="document.A.src = A2.src"  href="*** YOUR LINK HERE ***"  target="_parent">
<IMG name="A" src="images/NAMEOFGRAPHIC.jpg" border=0 ALT="" width="148" height="50"></A><br>

    You will change the letters and the names of the graphics to match the new buttons.

    This will need to be done for each new button that you add.

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