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Web Page Backgrounds - a quick tip

© Dianne Reuby

I admit it - when it comes to decorating my PC Desktop, I can be classified as Dull. So until I switched to XP, and started experimenting with themes, I didn't realise how my web pages were affected by the Desktop setup of people visiting them.

If I didn't want to use a coloured or decorated background on my page, I didn't always remember to set my background to white. I assumed that was the default - and until recently, for many people it was.

But with XP, changing your Desktop settings is no longer restricted to the colour of your title and status bars, and the wallpaper or screensaver. XP allows a totally custom theme for your whole Desktop and system - and this includes your browser.

I recently tried a theme which had a pale coloured background for the windows, and this included the pages in my word processor, and the backgrounds to open windows in my programs, including my browser. So when I visited web sites, my browser used that background colour in any places that the webmaster hadn't specified a colour - for example, the background of a web page.

So rather than the plain white background that the webmaster assumed I was seeing, I was getting blocks of colour where the "background" appeared (and defaulted to the colour my theme was using), alternated with blocks of another hue where the webmaster had set a colour - for example in tables.

It didn't look pretty! So to make sure your page appears as you want it to, always include the "background" in your BODY tag, even if you're simply setting it to white.

You can get a list of colour names and codes to use in your web pages in my free e-book, Make Your Site Sticky.