Portal:AOL-Files/Articles/Profile Enhancement

(Originally by AOL-Files staff member Tau)

America Online does not have an option in the profile edit window that allows users to add color. When AOL added the "Add a link to my AOL Hometown Page in my Member Profile" people realized that there must be a way to add HTML. It was discovered and here we are now.

All of the code here must be typed, not copy and pasted, and must have the periods included. And do not forget, if you want any of this to take effect you must update your profile when finished!

Changing the font color

To change the font color you must first choose the color you want. To do this go to the HTML Color Code Chart and write down the six digit code at the top of the color you want. Next, open your profile and put type in the following code. Replace the xxxxxx with the six digit code you have chosen.

< font . color=#xxxxxx>

When you want to change the color just put the same tag with a different color.

Note: When you view your profile the part that says "Member Name:" will not be affected by any changes made to the font. This is because the changes only go into effect after the spot that you put them in your profile. Because of this, nothing before the font code will change color.

Changing the font size

To change the font size, use the following code:

< font . ptsize=#x>

Replace x with a number from 1 to 99. Here are a few examples of the results you will see with various numbers.

< font . ptsize=8>
< font . ptsize=10>
< font . ptsize=12>
< font . ptsize=16>
< font . ptsize=22>
< font . ptsize=40>

Changing the font face (the font itself)

To change the font face use the following code:

< font . face="font name">

Replace "font name" with the font you want to change the font to.

Note: If the person who is viewing your profile does not have the font you have chosen he or she will not be able to view your profile with the font you choose.

Changing the font backcolor

To change the font backcolor you first need to pick a color. Go to the HTML Color Code Chart to pick a color. Write down the six digit code at the top of the color you have chosen, then add the following code to your profile.

< font. back=#xxxxxx>

Replace the xxxxxx with the six digit code you chose.

Changing the background color

The body background color is the color of everything behind the text. Go to the HTML Color Code Chart and choose a color. Write down the six digit code at the top of the number. Now use the following code:

< body . bgcolor=#xxxxxx>

Replace the xxxxxx with the six digit code of your chosen color.

Note: You can put this tag anywhere in your profile and it will have the same effect.

Adding links

To add a link to your profile use the following code:

< a . href="url">site name< /a .>

Replace url with the url of the web site you want and replace site name with the name you want to appear in your profile.

For example, if you wanted link to AOL's web site you would put:

< a . href="http://www.aol.com">AOL's Website< /a .>

Changing the justification

Justification is the alignment of the text. To change it add the following code:

< p . align=left> Aligns the text to the left side of the profile.
< p . align=center> Aligns the text to the center of the profile.
< p . align=right> Aligns the text to the right of the profile.

Combining HTML tags

Lets say that you wanted to make the font of your profile Tahoma, the color to be red, and the size to be 12 So you might put:

< font . face="Tahoma">< font . color=#FF0000>< font . ptsize=12>

This would work but there is a better way to do it. When you need to combine two tags and they have the same element name (in this case it is "font") you can combine the attributes (face, color, and ptsize) by using a space. Now you can modify the previous code and put:

< font . face="Verdana" color=#FF0000 ptsize=12>

Category lengths

The only bad thing about profiles is the amount of space that AOL gives us:

Category	Length
Your Name	128
City, State, Country	255
Marital Status	32
Hobbies	255
Computers Used	128
Occupation	128
Personal Quote	255

Adding Categories

Here is an example of how to add the category "Movies" after the "Location" category with your favorite movie being Gladiator:

1. Move the cursor position so that it is right after the last thing you have in the "Location" category.
2. Hold Control and press Backspace. A square character will appear.
3. Type "Movies:" after the square character.
4. Now we will add the tab space to align everything. Send yourself an Instant Message. It doesn't matter what it says. Now highlight and copy the tab space. It is the space between the colon after your name and the first letter of the message you sent.
5. Go back to your profile and paste the tab character after the colon in "Movies:".
6. Now type "Gladiator" in after the tab character.