This was written as a general guild to HTML chat. There may be some items that do not apply to every HTML chat server.

        There are a few items that can be done within the HTML chat type generally that are a bit more flexable than JAVA or other programs that require Virtual Basic or other language operation.
First off, it is HTML, so that means in most cases calls to other web addresses (URLs) are allowed, if one uses HTML coding to display them. Since we are speaking in general terms here it will depend largely upon the server in use for the chat, and the settings allowed for within the program that operates on that site.
For example, if one wished to post an image from a webpage address, you could do so using a call somewhat like this one.
<img src="http://www.angelcities.com/members/easy2confuse/stress.gif">
What the above line would do in most HTML based chat is post this image because it is available on this server at the above address.


To post a link to another site one would do something like this.
<a /easy_2_confuse_gt">http://www.geocities.com/easy_2_confuse_gt</a>

To make that link open in a new browser window in most cases you would type this line.

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/easy_2_confuse_gt" arget="_blank">http://www.geocities.com/easy_2_confuse_gt</a>

That line would only show the second part of the webpage address listed, and it would be underlined and shown as a hyperlink in the text from the server in most cases. It is important to note at this point these must be exact calls, otherwise they will not work. Most are case sensitive as well, so if there are upper case letters in a given address they must be also upper case in any link or call for a file at that address. Otherwise in most cases you will get a page not able to be displayed screen from the browser or page not found from the site.

Font and text can also be altered somewhat in the chat. The commands in most cases are the same as any other HTML command. So if one wished to use say comic sans MS font in say a red color, you would need only type this at the start of the line of text you wished to send to the room.

<font face="comic sans MS" color="#cc0033">

The above would produce a red text in comic sans MS font on most machines, provided they had a color display and also had comic sans MS font on their machine. Both are generally a given however since they are both pretty common items for anyone online. However it is something to be noted that non-standard fonts generally do tend not to display the same for others. Also often you will find HTML sites frequented by those using older machines with Win3.1 which does not support JAVA, and does not generally have the 30 or so installed fonts, or 110 or so installed fonts that Windows 95 and Windows 98 do. Most have color monitors operating at a high enough resolution to be acceptable for most chat use however.
It is also possible to increase the font size with the simular command strings. Here is an example.

<font face="comic sans MS" color="#cc0033" size="+2">

The above line would add two point sizes to the default font setting on most browsers when it was displayed.

To close a font type one needs to use a closing tag too, </font> and you may have to use serveral depending on how many different font commands you have open. 3 different calls ( type, color and size) would mean three closing tags, </font></font></font> would be required.

Other tags that can be used would be one such as Bold which are <b> for opening and </b> for closing.

<hr width="95%" align=center> would produce a header line across the page that would span 95% of the width of the page.

A <br> is the same as a line feed, or return being added to the text.

<i> and </i> are italics for both opening and closing tags.

<b> and </b> are bold open and closing tags or you could use strong and /strong the same in most cases.

Changing or adding an image to the screen where it provides for it at sign in is generally a question most often asked. This is not hard to do if you have a source on the internet to call up the picture from. These can be any URL that allows for a call to a single file on a webpage, or a photo album like are offered on many search engine accounts.
Generally the call for a picture on the sing in is almost the same as it is when it is made in the room. You can generally however omit the HTML page of the process.

http://www.geocities.com/easy_2_confuse_gt/stress.gif
would show the gif file mentioned at the end of this address.
Since it is almost limitless as to all the possible examples, it is impossible for me to go over each one here at this point in time. Here however are the general rules.
Start with http:// then add the rest of the URL for the site or image you are trying to display.
However here is a possible way. Go to a site like Yahoo or Go.com and make an account. Then attempt to set up a photo album. Upload the picture you wish to use to it. Sign out and then go back to view the photo album. Make sure you have made the picture you wish to use one that is publically available. Click on the picture and then it should show up in your browser window. Click on the address in the address bar on your browser and then right click on copy. Then open notepad and right click on paste. This should print the URL for that picture out on notepad. You can then save it and use it the next time you wish to sign into the HTML chat sight by using the copy and paste command to place that URL into the area to display the picture. It should be mentioned here that you have to use some common sence here too. Uploading huge image files of 1mb to a chat site is not going to win you many friends. See the AVATAR section under the Cheetachat stuff for how to edit an image file with freeware programs available. Then try to resize an image to one that is about the same or only slightly larger than the what is provided for on the screen for that site. Generally 10 to 20 k in a JPG format is best for this purpose and files larger than that are slower to download. If you make images too large it will slow down or time out and not display anyway. It is also generally annoying to others in a room if the screen comes to a hault waiting for a 100k picture to download. Not everyone has high speed connections so files of this size may take 30 seconds on longer to download from a server to some slower links.

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