BEFORE YOU BEGIN
2 Use HTML Tags
6 About Proper HTML Coding
130 Write the Title and Description
131 Format Your Description with eBay's HTML Editor
SEE ALSO
156 About Writing Effective Ad Copy
159 About Including HTML on eBay Auction Pages
Use HTML as the best way to make your headlines and text stand out and help draw attention to your auction. It's true that you can use eBay's built-in HTML Editor to do this, as outlined in 131 Format Your Description with eBay's HTML Editor , but using the eBay Editor limits what you can do. HTML offers a world beyond what's offered with the eBay Editor.
KEY TERM
HTML Short for Hypertext Markup Language, HTML is the language of the Web. In short, it instructs browsers how to display web pages.
HTML is the language that tells web browsers how to display web pages. Fancy fonts, big headlines, graphicsall of that and more is possible with HTML. When you go to a web page, your browser looks at the HTML code "behind" the text you actually see and then displays the text following the HTML instructions embedded in the web page.
In this section, you learn the basics of HTML and find out how to jazz up your text and headlines with HTML commands.
157. Jazz Up Text and Headlines with HTML
1. | Use HTML Tags HTML works by using tags that tell a browser how to display a page. Each tag has an instruction to do a particular thing, such as displaying text at a certain size , displaying it as bold or italic, or displaying a graphic. KEY TERM Tags HTML instructions that tell a browser how to display text, graphics, or other items. Tags usually come in pairs: a starting tag to tell the browser how to display the item and an ending tag that tells the browser to no longer use the tag information. For example, to make an item boldface, you surround it with the tags <b> and </b> .WEB RESOURCE http://www.willcam.com/cmat/html/ crossref .html#list http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/ HTML uses many tags; visit these websites to find a list of common tags and how to use them. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
2. | Format the Headline Size To format headings, you use the <H> and </H> tags and include a number that determines how large the heading should be. You can use numbers from 1 to 6 , with 1 being the largest and 6 being the smallest. Here's how you use the tag: <H1>Velvet Elvis -- The King Lives!</H1> Note that the number used by the closing tag has to match the number used by the opening tagin other words, if you use H1 in the opening tag, you must use H1 in the closing tag. All headings are automatically put in boldface. NOTE Heading sizes work differently from the rest of HTML. In headings, smaller numbers produce large headings and vice versa. In other words, using 1 produces a large heading and using 6 produces a small heading. In the rest of HTML, though, the reverse holds true. When using the font tag, for example, the smaller the number, the smaller the text.
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3. | Change Text Attributes Many times you'll need to format text in your description for emphasis or special displayfor example, to italicize or boldface text. Several tags affect the attributes of the text, and they all work the same way. Let's take the tag for making text bold. As explained earlier, to make text boldfaced, use the <B> and </B> tags, like this: <B>I'm bold text.</B> To make text italic, use the <I> and </I> tags. Note that you can nest text-formatting tags, like this: <B><I>I'm bold italic text.</I></B> NOTE You should always turn off tags in the reverse order that you turned them on. (Use <B><I> and </I></B> rather than <B><I> and </B></I> , for example.) In many cases, how you turn them off won't matter, but occasionally it can make a difference, so get into the habit of turning them off in this way. HTML Text Formatting Tags and What They Do
Keep in mind that browsers sometimes display HTML pages differently from one anotherthe fonts might display at slightly different sizes, for example. If you want, you can preview your page in several browsers. However, the vast majority of people use Internet Explorer, so if you use that browser to view your HTML, you can ensure that you are reaching the largest potential audience. NOTE Be very careful when using underlined text on your auction pageas a general rule, you should avoid that formatting option. Normally, when text appears underlined, it means that it is a link. Therefore, people can be confused by underlined text and think it's a link, and they'll click it to no avail. <H1>The <I>Best</I> Electric Gadgets</H1> Remember that the <H> tag automatically makes text bold, so don't use the <B> tag along with it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
4. | Align Your Text You can use HTML to align your headlines and text on the page. There's good news and bad news about aligning text using HTML. Here's the good news: It's very easy to do. Here's the bad news: It's very easy to do because you have so little control over how text aligns. In fact, you really have only these choices:
NOTE When you don't use any HTML alignment commands in your text, it automatically is displayed as left aligned, ragged right in a browser. <P ALIGN="center"> <P ALIGN="justify"> <P ALIGN="left"> <P ALIGN="right"> Doing that aligns all subsequent paragraphs in the manner you've chosen . To stop the alignment, use the closing </P> tag. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
5. | Create an Unordered List Lists are a great way to present information in auctions. You can use them to draw attention to highlights of the goods you're selling. With an unordered list, each item on the list is preceded by a bullet. To create an unordered list, use the <UL> and </UL> tags around the entire list of items. Then precede each item in the list with the <LI> (list item) tag. The <LI> tag doesn't use a closing tag. Here's how to create an unordered list: <UL> <LI>Electric fork <LI>Electric spoon <LI>Electric tooth flosser <LI>Electric slippers </UL> The default bullet is a filled-in circle. If you want, you can change the bullets to either hollow circles or hollow squares. To change the bullet character to a hollow circle, type this: <UL TYPE="circle"> To change the bullet to a hollow square, type this: <UL TYPE="square"> Use the UL TYPE= tag at the beginning of the list, in place of the plain <UL> tag. When you end the list with the </UL> tag, you reset the bullet type to the default filled-in circle. TIP Remember that you can combine tags. For example, you can boldface each entry in your list or make bold just a few words in each entry in your list. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
6. | Create an Ordered List You can create another type of listan ordered list. An ordered list is one in which each item is numbered or lettered sequentially. HTML does all the work for youyou don't actually have to insert the numbers or letters. Space is automatically inserted between the number or letter and each item on the list to make the list more legible. If you reorder the list or add or take away items from it, HTML automatically adjusts the letters or numbers for you. To create an ordered list, use the <OL> and </OL> tags around the list, along with the list item tag ( <LI> ), like this: <OL> <LI>Take off battery cover. <LI>Insert batteries. <LI>Close cover. <LI>Press the electric fork's start button. <LI>Dig in! </OL> The preceding instructions create a numbered list. But you can also create lists using letters and have even more controlyou can use uppercase or lowercase letters or uppercase or lowercase Roman numerals instead. To do it, use the <OL> tag with the TYPE attribute, which tells the browser how to display the list. For example, if you wanted to display the list alphabetically in uppercase letters, you'd use this tag: <OL TYPE=A> To display the list alphabetically in lowercase letters, use this tag: <OL TYPE=a> To display the list in uppercase Roman numerals, use this tag: <OL TYPE=I> To display the list in lowercase Roman numerals, use this tag: <OL TYPE=i> |