Because the "white" area is actually transparent, you can set a different color for the text background.

However, you must first place a spacer (graphshiv940x1c.gif) across the top to prevent your text covering the top border.

You must also place a spacer (graphshiv1cx1120.gif) aligned to the left margin to prevent your text covering the left border.  (It is actually 103 pixels wide to give a bit of space between the left border and the text or other contents. This particular shiv needs to be approximately 1140 pixels high, because it goes under the top spacer.   In fact, it tiles with anything less than 1120, which is used here.)

Transparent spacers ("shivs") available in subfile ../backgrounds/:
(all sizes are in pixels, width x height)
graphshiv12x12.gif
graphshiv12x24.gif
graphshiv1cx400.gif (100x400)
graphshiv1cx500.gif (100x500)
graphshiv1cx600.gif (100x600)
graphshiv1cx720.gif (100x720)
graphshiv1cx1120.gif (100x1120)
graphshiv1cx1134.gif (100x1134)
graphshiv1cx1240.gif (100x1240)
graphshiv24x12.gif
graphshiv6.gif (39x12)
graphshiv6x12.gif
graphshiv6x24.gif
graphshiv940x1c.gif (940x100)
graphshiv950x1c.gif (950x100)
graphshiv960x1c.gif (960x100)

The spacer, graphshiv1cx400.gif, was used aligned to the left of this list, but aligned to the right of the shiv spacer covering the left border, thus giving the impression of an indent.
(Between here and the next printed item, the shiv ends, thus ending the "indent.")

Graphic spacers have to be used with care--if they are too long, your indent carries beyond where you needed it; if too short, your indented material suddenly returns to the previous margin.  This is even more complicated by the fact that different size monitors and different resolutions on the monitors may have this paragraph indented--or the previous one not indented.  This was set up on a 17" inch monitor with 800x600 resolution.  If your monitor is set differently, you probably see the artificial indent end at a different point than the text indicates it should.

Send comments or inquiries to Steve R. Morris.

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