Don't worry, we will get to the story. There is just something I want off my chest.
I have seen a lot of stories on the world wide web. People put a lot of effort in them, then they put them up on their own site or on somebody elses, and then they get to look like this ...
`You mean like what ...'
`Well, grey, for instance. White would cost the same, and looks much better. Even better than a background bitmap.'
`You mean those that are so dark that you wonder if there is any text on it at all?'
`Right. Or those that make you go seasick because you can see the letters, but can't read them - the background is imaginative, very avant garde and all dots and little scribbles.'
`So people better not mess with backgrounds?'
`Not if they don't know what they are doing. And there is one other thing.'
`Which is.'
`Everytime someone says something, a new paragraph starts. The words get floating all over the place. Look at any novel and tell me, do they do that in books?'
`Right. E.g. Try using shift-enter in Netscape, if you want to get a linebreak instead of a paragraph break.
And forget about using this, which makes the text drop of the page and looks very corny indeed.'
`I hate Courier anyway. Can we get on now?
Yes. I just wanted to ask: do those stories on the web have to look
SO BLOODY AWFUL?
The next story/fantasy/bit of experimental prose may not be very good, but I tried to make it look good. Enjoy.