Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines
in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter
sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in
the majority of publications you come across.
The drop capital gives the page a nice finishing touch, and certainly adds
a more professional looking feel.
Online, the drop capital looks just as good on web pages as it does in
print. The only drawback is that you can easily get the whole effect
wrong, and end up with a less than appealing result.
The wrong way...
When most people attempt to create a drop capital effect on a web page,
they usually just enlarge the first letter by a few font sizes and make it
bold.
If you do this on your own web page, you will notice that instead of a
'drop' capital effect, you end up with an odd looking letter which sticks
up above the rest of the paragraph, and just looks out of place.
The right way...
There are essentially, two parts to creating the drop capital effect.
Step #1 -
You need to create a drop capital image using some graphic software.
You can use any standard piece of graphic software like Paint Shop Pro,
Fireworks, or Photoshop.
The drop capital image should ideally be big enough to drop down between
2-4 lines of text, depending on your preference.
You should ensure that the top of your drop capital image is level with
the top of the text next to it. The bottom of the image should also be
level with the bottom of the lowest text next to it.
This is really the hardest part of creating a drop capital effect. It can
be very easy to make the image just a bit too big, or a bit too small. You
may find that it will take a bit of trial and error to make it look just
right. However, the extra effort will pay off, as the end result will be
worth waiting for.
One thing to note: As with any image, a drop capital image can slow a web
page if the file size is too big. To help reduce the file size you should
save it as a '.gif' image. For even better results you should try to
optimize the '.gif' image as well by reducing the amount of colors being
used.
Step #2
This step is the easiest bit?
Once you have created the drop capital image, all you have to do now is to
insert it into your web page. You just add the image to the web page in
the same way that you would with any other image on your page.
When you place it at the beginning of the paragraph, make sure you
remember to delete the first letter of the normal text. Otherwise you
will end up starting the paragraph with two of the same letter.
Align the image to the left
Initially, you will notice that the drop capital image just sits on top of
the first line, instead of dropping down into it. Not for long!
All you have to do now, is align the image to the left, and you will see
it drop down instantly into the paragraph.
If you are using a web page editor to create your web pages like Microsoft
FrontPage or Macromedias Dreamweaver, aligning the image to the left is
pretty easy.
In FrontPage:
Select the drop capital image by left clicking it once. Then click on the
align to the left short cut icon in the top menu bar. Alternatively, you
can select Format, then Position from the top menu. In the pop up window,
select Align Left under Wrapping Style.
In Dreamweaver:
Select the drop capital image by left clicking it once. Then in the
properties window, click on the arrow in the drop down menu next to Align,
then select Left
If you are using a different web page editor, you should have a similar
align option in the menu area. Alternatively, you edit the HTML code
directly yourself. Just add the following command in between the brackets
of the image tag:
align="left"
Thats literally all there is to it!
If you have multiple pages on your website, youll probably going to need
to create a number of different drop capital images for each letter of the
alphabet. The extra effort will be worthwhile as you will end up with a
much more professional looking website.
Copyright © 2004 Jason Lewis
About the Author:
Jason Lewis provides ready-made professionally designed drop capital
images, as an instant solution for the busy website owner. Each design is
available for immediate download and can be added to a website within a
few minutes. To find out more:
http://www.dropcapitals.com/cmd.asp?ad=93481
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