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The purpose of this Guide is to acquaint the reader with the more commonly used features of the AP graphics/Text box. Hereafter called the 'Text Box'
The default alignment is 'Left'. 'Centred' is the only other choice, outside of the text box
The Text Box extends this control (and includes 'Right Aligned') to the individual elements of the page.
This is the Text Box toolbar:
Note You will still get the 'Select Background' and 'Select Font Colours' routine when you finally post the piece but this will not affect anything that has been pre-formatted using the Text Box facilities.
Handy Hints
1 Place all of your text on the page first, then save the page and re-open it to edit.
2 Save the page frequently whilst editing. Refresh rates and lost connections may cause you to lose some of your work if you neglect this.
3 If you make a mistake, (NB if you do the wrong thing all your pictures will disappear) use any of the links on the page to go to another page without saving the page you are working on. Then come back to the page and open it in edit mode. That way your mistake will not take effect. You'll lose some work, but that's the price you pay.
4 Worry about formatting AFTER you place the text and graphics.
ie Get it right first, then worry about prettying it up.
5 Input the text, then highlight the text, then use the formatting buttons. Make sure there is a character after the bit you are highlighting. That way when you pick a font or size etc you can see what it looks like before commiting and can change it 'on the fly' and the page retains the default font, colour etc.
6 Highlighting a graphic will bring out the handling boxes at the corners. Use these to resize the graphic to fit your layout or to move it around the page. (more on that later)
7 Before placing a graphic inbetween text blocks, put in at least three empty lines and use the middle one to put in your graphic. This gives you the flexibility to add something else in the gap or delete the spare lines later.
The Tools
These are the Fonts and Font Sizes available to you at 
These are the Text formatting icons. Standard tools on any reasonable Word Processor.
Bold, Italics and Underline
These are the Scripting icons.
Most often used as annotation tools. Superscript enables formula entry such as X3. Strikethrough can sometimes be an effective tool in humorous pieces.
These are the Justification icons. They are in the logical order of left, centre and right.
These are the List and Indent icons
From left to right they are:
Ordered List
Bulleted List
Decrease Indent
Increase Indent
The best way to learn about these is to play with them. Again, I will stress that the best way to handle these tools is to input the information, then highlight and use the tools.
This is the Font Color icon.
Highlight the text you want to colour then press this icon to bring up the colour selection box:
Select your colour and the box will disappear and your text will appear as the colour you chose.
NB If you pick a colour without highlighting, the text from then on will default to that colour. This facility does not have an 'undo' option. You must change the text manually. This will impact the most when you have to go through the 'Select background' and 'select Font colour' routine when you save it.
This is the Background Color icon.
The Font Background Colour icon and is used to provide a contrasting backdrop to your font. Select the text/area whose background you wish to colour then press this icon. The same Colour Box as with the Text Colour will appear. Select your background colour and your text will be contrasted!
This is the 'Line' icon.
Lines are easy-peasy, as you will learn, and can provide a nice divider for your work. They are particularly useful to form a divider between areas of differing justification.
Press the Line icon and a neutral looking line will appear on the page:
Hover your mouse over the line until the arrows appear:
Then left click. This will highlight the line and cause the 'handling' boxes to appear:
Hover your mouse over one of the boxes until the arrows appear (all three types are shown here). These boxes enable the line to be manipulated. The 'crossed' arrows 
(hover over the line) enable you to move the whole line up and down the page.
Decide what you want to do with your line You will find that the 'white boxes' will be visible outside the confines of the text box when the line goes off screen to the left or right.
The left and right 'white boxes' allow the line to be shortened or lengthened.
The top (middle) and bottom (middle) 'white boxes' allow the line to be thickened or made thinner.
The corner 'white boxes' allow the line to be made both the above at the same time.
The Font Colour icon can be pressed, when the line is highlighted, to add colour to the line. A short fat red line:
TIP: If you insert a graphic, highlight it and press the 'center' justification button all of the text in that section will become centered too. Putting a line in before AND after a graphic (or section) enables you to center the graphic without centering
all the rest.
TIP: If you make a mistake with a line, highlight it so that the white boxes appear and press your delete button, or right click and select 'delete'. Then start again...older and wiser 
TIP: The 'white' handling boxes also appear around graphics, use them in the same way to resize your pictures!
This is the 'Insert Web Link' icon.
To use this, highlight the graphic, text or indeed line that you want to be a web link. Click the button and this box will appear:
Type or paste the URL or Web address into the bottom slot and press OK. A graphic will not show any difference but a group of text will change colour.
This is the 'Insert Image' icon. see allpoetry.com/Column/1208897 for details.
Note: This is a pasted in web address, not an implanted Web address. Pasted in URL's are usually underlined automatically. Implanted (using the 'Insert Web Link' icon are not.
This is the 'Insert Table' icon. Tables are useful if you have a lot of information to format or want to position graphics evenly across a page. See allpoetry.com/Column/770650 for examples.
Tables are very tricky to get right. I am not covering them here. Try it and persist.
This is the 'View HTML Source' icon. Pressing this button will show all the HTML code in the text box along with the text you have input. HTML is a subject by itself and is not covered here. If you don't know what you are doing ignore it!
This is the 'Enlarge Editor' icon.
This is a mis-nomer. What it actually does is open a new window that you can re-size and make bigger. This enables you to see more of the text box and get a better feel for your arrangement.
Note You may notice that the original window appears to flash. This is normal and is the 'real' page refreshing rapidly to keep up with the new window.
When you have finished making your changes, close this new box and press the 'EDIT Column/Poem' button to save your work. Particularly paranoid users (us older ones lol) may wish to press the 'EDIT Column/Poem' before we close the box, either method works!
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