First, allow me to state the obvious, we have all been a "newbie" at some point. We have all had to go through the process of learning things from the ground up. Some of us spend more time than others learning how to do certain things.

If you are wanting to learn how to put backgrounds,graphics, and/or sounds on your e-mail, there are numerous places that give the basic instructions on how to do this. (You will find these listed in the links below.)

I am not going to give you instructions on how to do these things. I am a "newbie" and am just learning the basics, myself. I am going to share what I have learned, in the hope that you will understand that working with HTML can be fun and rewarding.

Lesson one: Never-I repeat-Never have food or drink wthin a twenty foot radius of your keyboard. There is a special magnetic field that pulls crumbs and minute drops of liquid into, under, around, and through the keys. This causes the keys to stick, and usually happens right at the moment you try to scroll down to the save button. Not only can you not save the things you have worked so hard to create, but none of the keys on the keyboard will work, and you will look up to see the bouncing webtv logo screen saver where your page was. (Believe me, not even the power button would work!)

Lesson two: Once you have totally disregarded lesson one-because you just know that won't ever happen to you--Do Not take your keyboard apart to try to fix it. As my mother once said, "there are people who have paid good money to go to school to learn how to do these things, let them do their job". (Note: this applies to numerous other areas around the house.)

Lesson three: Having disregarded lessons one and two, Do not use sharp objects to pry the keys off of the keyboard. (For the sake of clarification, fingernail files, toothpicks, and butter knives ARE considered sharp objects. In fact, never, under any circumstance take any of the keys off. (They are slick little devils that make no sound when they hit the carpet, and I suspect they slide right down the cats throat with ease-but this has not yet been proven)

Lesson four: After you bring your new keyboard home, immediately get rid of the old one. Do not give it to the kids to play with. (This seemed harmless enough--gave them a nice quiet toy--until I discovered they were both playing, in the mud, with a keyboard!! Kids two, grandma none!)

Lesson five: Do become acquainted with a discussion group that deals with the particular area you are interested in. This helps keep you centered on what you are trying to accomplish. It gives you a place to go to ask questions and get answers. It will also help bring you back down to earth. (Sometimes you may not like the advice that is given, but it is usually given to help you not to "flame" you.)

Lesson six: Take a break from the LBB (Little Black Box) every now and then. If you have asked the people in your house to wear name tags so that you can remember them, there is a good chance you have been spending too much time on it.

Lesson seven: If you are building webpages, remember that they are just that--pages. They don't pay your bills, cook your meals, or clean your house. Hopefully you are building them for your personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of others. Don't let yourself become a slave to them. (You know you are a slave to them when you wake up in the middle of the night trying to find the arrow down button so you can click on the "save page" )

Lesson eight: If your e-mail signature takes more than five minutes to load, you might want to consider "scaling" it down just a little. (If you haven't already signed up for a webpage, this might be the time to do it--and put some of your graphics there.)

Lesson nine: Find and learn how to use the "Search" key on your keyboard. (And not just for graphics and backgrounds.) I have spent so many pleasurable hours wandering around some fantastic sites. (Yes, I know--Lesson Six) All you have to do is type in a word and hit "return" and you will find more information than you ever thought possible.

Lesson ten: (And this is the most important lesson) Have fun with this "Little Black Box". You have so much information right at your fingertips. Use it to open up areas that you know very little about.

Hint one: Always keep paper, pen, stapler handy. (a printer was the best investment I ever made) When you are on a quest for the perfect background you will find some really super backgrounds. When you find them you will also find some reason why you don't think they will work for you. Two weeks later you will decide they can be used and you will never find them again. (Copy down the address of the site where you found them)

Hint two: Keep your notes in some sort of order. (A pile on your desk is not "some sort of order") I once had several weeks of beginner tips destroyed by one popsicle left unattended for "just a few seconds".

Hint three: Never smoke around the keybboard or your orderly stack of notes. Not only does small bits of ash get under the keys, but I once spent over two hours trying to get a background entered into my signature box. I took it out, I put it back-over and over again-nothing. Picked up the paper that had the address of the background on it and a piece of ash fell off the paper--discovered that there was not a period in the address-worked fine after that.