What determines the appearance of a Web page, from the layout to the fonts used in text, is a special kind of coding called HTML (hypertext markup language).  If you already know basic HTML, you may stop reading now; if you don't, the following may be useful.

HTML consists of tags and codes that, among other things, alter fonts (e.g.,  size, whether or not the text is bold) or provide links to other Web pages or sites.  This little entry covers only the font codes that the typical user is likely to need and the basic codes for links.  These are the coded commands that you use, for example, to underline, italicize, or make bold words or phrases on the message boards or to enable a reader to "jump" from your message to another Web page or site.

First, understand that not all Web pages facilitate HTML.  The message boards on The Grammar Curmudgeon do permit HTML, but some forums on other sites may not.  You should also be aware that a few sites use a different kind of coding, much like HTML but different enough that you will need to make some adjustments; that is not the case here.

Fonts:  Bold, Italics, Underlines

If you are familiar with Word, a Word-based editor, or any other word-processing program, you know that you can create boldface, italics, or underlines by using keyboard commands (Ctrl + B, for example) or, in many cases, by clicking on B, I, or U in a toolbar.  When you want to stop typing boldface or italics, or to stop underlining, you repeat the keyboard comand or click the appropriate letter on the toolbar to "turn off" the feature.  You are, without actually seeing it displayed, entering an opening code or tag and a closing code or tag. 

When you are writing in HTML within an HTML-facilitated medium, these keyboard commands won't work and no toolbar is available (unless you are working in an editing program that has these shortcuts built-in).  Therefore, you must manually insert the codes or tags from the keyboard.

The opening tag is <>; the closing tage is </>.  Don't forget the slash on the closing tag.  You identify what you want to start doing by typing the appropriate code between < and > in the opening tag.  You stop doing it by typing the appropriate code after the slash in the closing tag.  Do not insert any spaces.

The code for bold is B; the code for italics is I; the code for underline is U.  Whether you use a capital or lowercase letter usually doesn't matter.  If you want to make the following text bold, place a B inside <>.  When you want to stop typind in boldface, place a B inside </>, after the slash.  Do the same with I and U, for italics and underlines, respectively.

To illustrate:  This text is already bold; a bold code was inserted before I began to type, and it has been on ever since.  On an HTML-enabled page, if I wanted to turn off the bold, I would enter a code of </> with a B after the slash mark – like that. If I wanted to return to bold, I would need to enter a B between the <> opening tag – like that.  If I wanted to switch to italics (while still in boldface), I would enter an I between the sideways karats of an opening tag - like that - and close it after the word "that" by putting an I after the slash in the closing tag </>.  In the same manner, I use U to underline.  (The closing tag came before the period, so the period is not underlined.)

In summary:
B within <> starts bold; B after the slash within </> stops it.
I within <> starts italicizing; I after the slash within </> stops it.
U within <> starts undereling; U after the slash within </> ends underlining.

Links (Hyperlinks)

Everyone who uses the Internet is familiar with links - things that you click on to transport you magically to another page or site.  What happens when you do this is that your Web browser takes you to a new address on the Internet, also known as a URL (short for "Uniform Resource Locator").  If you could do this in the real world, you could press your finger on the address for girlfriend Mary at 22 Parkway Avenue and instantly find yourself standing in front of her house.

You can't do that, of course, but, through the magic of hypertext links (using codes and tags), you can send anyone to any place on the Internet for which you have the correct URL.  You must have the exact URL, or you may send the poor soul to some unoccupied void in cyberspace.  Here's how you get people to go where you want them to go:

1.  The opening code is <a.
2.  After the opening code, type a space.  This will be the only space in the string.
3.  After the space, type href=
4.  Now enter the URL in quotation marks.  I repeat that it is vitally important to give the URL perfectly.  Do not put a space between the = sign in href= and the opening quotation marks.  Most URLs begin with www.  Though it's not always necessary, when the URL begins with http://, you should probably use that too; I always do.  Don't forget to close the quotation marks.
5.  After the closing quotation mark (without any space), type >
6.  Immediately after that, type whatever you want to display on the page as the wording of the link.  If you want the URL to display, repeat the URL that you had in the quotation marks.  If you want something else to display, type that.  (This point is illustrated below.)
7.  Close the whole thing out by typing </a>

Let's say that you wanted to send someone to Google's home page.  Following the above instructions, you would insert Google's URL in quotes after href= and, if you repeated that URL without the quotes in between > and </a>, you would have a link that looks like this:  http://www.google.com.  If you didn't want the URL to display but just wanted the word Google, you would do the same thing, except that, instead of repeating the URL betwen > and </a>, you would type the word Google:  Google.  Or you might want to do something creative:  Look Here, Stupid!  Check it out.  All of these links take you to Google's home page.

Tip:  It's easy to make a mistake in entering a URL.  Google's is simple, but some URLs go on forever.  The best approach is to call up the page that you want to reference in your link, copy its address directly from the address box in your browser, and paste it into the appropriate space in your link.  There are several ways to do this, but here's a simple one:
1.  Call up the page and highlight its URL in the address bar.
2.  Hit Ctrl C simultaneously.  (This copies the address, invisibly, to your computer's clipboard.)
3. Close the page and go back to where you are typing the link.
4. When it's time to type in the URL after the opening quotation marks, hit Ctrl V simultaneously.  The URL will appear exactly as it did in the address bar.  Don't forget to add the closing quotation marks.

These insructions may sound complicated, but, with a little practice, you'll be doing basic HTML without thinking.  If you have questions, post them on the Message Board of this site.

A final note about HTML on the message boards:   When you work on a message on these boards (which are HTML-enabled) and you insert codes, you will not see the text changes until you have actually posted (sent) your message.  The encoded text (bold, italic, underlines, links) will appear in the posted message, however.  If you discover, upon viewing the message, that you made a mistake in the HTML, you can click the Edit button, make the correction, and then click Save.