Clarissa Johal: Thoughtful Thursday-HTML Coding for the Challenged

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Thoughtful Thursday-HTML Coding for the Challenged

Lately, I've been having fun creating polls for my blog using Pollcode.com
The site is super-simple to use, and you have the option to customize the poll before the HTML code is generated for your blog. I wish all sites were this easy! In the past, I've learned to customize things myself on Blogger; templates and blog hop codes being only a few. Therefore, I thought I would share a little info on changing basic HTML coding.

What is HTML coding, you ask? HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web and...blah, blah, blah. Basically, it changes the way things look in your blog or webpage

Now, you computer people will probably roll your eyes after reading this post. You may even figure out that I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. You'd be right about that. I write books, I don't do computer programming. But if I help one person delve into the world of HTML or fix something in their blog, then my job is done.

So, let's play a little. We'll fiddle with the HTML code from PollCode, since their site is easy to use. Go to Pollcode.com and create a poll. Keep it simple, one or two answers to your poll question will do. See that little box on the side where you can customize your poll? Ignore it. We're going to play with the HTML ourselves. Once you've pressed the big blue button that says, "get Poll Code!" it will take you to a box with the HTML code to be pasted into your blog.
Cut and paste all that "stuff" into your blog post. Make sure you've selected the HTML tab when you post the code. For Blogger, it's right next to the Compose tab on the top left side.
Now, here's where we get to have fun.

It's easy to change the layout, color, font and text size of your poll. And yes, I know it looks like a cat yakked all over your screen, or at the very least, an algebraic nightmare, but trust me.
Here we go:

To change layout: look for the word width= in the first line. You will see a number after that. In this case it says "175" Try replacing that with "200" or "300" and use your Preview button to see how that changes the width of the poll box.

To change color: look for the word bgcolor= in the second line. There will be letters after that. In this case, it's EEEEEE which changes the background color of the actual poll box. Experiment. Different HTML color codes can be found on the HTML Color Picker.

To change font: look for the word font-family: or font face= After that, will be the word Verdana. You can change the font to whatever you'd like; Georgia, Arial, Times, etc.

To change font size: look for the word font-size: which is followed in this case by x-small or xx-small. Try changing that to small, medium or large.

Experiment and have fun!

Is HTML Coding Easy?
  
pollcode.com free polls 


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