What a Signature Is
People often want to put their name at the end of e-mail
messages, and don't feel like typing it in for each one. Many
people also include a quotation, some ASCII art, their homepage
URL, a warning to spammers, an alternate e-mail address, etc.
With WebTV, since we can use HTML, it's also possible to include
graphics and music code in the signature, personalizing the mail
even more. With these codes in the signature, you can quickly
write a message as pure text, and still have the HTML code in the
signature provide you with some "style."
How to Set Up a Signature
If you haven't already made a signature for your e-mail messages,
here's how you do it, beginning at the main Current Messages
screen:
- Click on Setup on the sidebar
- Click on Signature
- Enter the HTML codes and text into the textentry box
- Click Done
- Click Done again
Hints for Making HTML Work Properly in a Signature
It's very important that you make sure that the very first
thing in the signature input is the tag
<html>. If you type in anything
else before that, even a single space or Return, the codes
won't operate, and you'll just see the codes displayed as regular
text. After all the other codes and text you want to use are
entered, put </html> at the very end,
with nothing following it in the signature entry box.
Why a Signature is a Good Place for Practicing HTML
When you're just learning HTML, if you send yourself an e-mail to
try something out, and it doesn't work, you can't just change
what you wrote because you can't edit the Returned Mail.
Practicing HTML in a sig, if it doesn't work, you just reenter
the sig setup area, alter the code in the textentry box, and send
yourself another message. In fact, you don't have to send a
message at all, you can just click on Write on the sidebar of
your main Current Messages screen, and the signature will be
displayed (although when you do this, you may have to Reload to
see the most recent changes).
What Sigs are Particularly Good For
Lots of people want a "signature" graphic, something that shows a
personal interest, links to their homepages, a marquee with a
favorite saying, etc. Background music is a really nice way to
give a "tone" to your correspondence as well, as long as it's not
really loud and annoying (unless your friends are into that).
Storing Signatures
There are two methods of keeping "spare" signatures around to use
any time you need them, click here to find out about it.
Have fun!
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