MySpace Tricks
Now that we've talked about color design and glitter graphics, we can get into some more advanced topics like Myspace tricks. You want your page to be an interesting, even an exciting place to visit, and that's what Myspace tricks are for. They catch people's eyes, and get them to come visit your page to see what's up and what's new. The main features included in Myspace tricks are cursors, clocks and games. Let's start with cursors.A cursor is the little blinking thing that tells you where you are on a given web page (or word document, for that matter). Generally speaking, it's just a little flashing line. One of the basic Myspace tricks is to paste funky cursors on your web page that will grab people's interest and attention. There are animal cursors, cartoon cursors, ice cream cursors – choose whichever you like! If you really want to make it interesting, you can change your cursor on a regular basis, which might get people to click by your page just to see what this week's cursor is. One word of caution, though; make sure that the cursor you choose is in a color that will stand out on your page. In other words, if the background color on your Myspace page is pink, don't choose a strawberry ice cream colored cursor. You get the picture. Next on the list of Myspace tricks are clocks. These are just what they say they are: different clocks that you can paste on your page. They come in all kinds of types and designs - digital, Roman numeral, modern, classic, with/without the date. Feel free to play around with various clocks; you might even want to put more than one on your page. For example, if you come from Australia but are attending university in Boston, you might put two clocks on your page - one on Australian time, the other on US Eastern. There are only two rules you need to follow with the clocks: 1) Same as with the cursors - make sure that the clock's color will coordinate with your page's background color. 2) Make sure that the clock doesn't interfere with your page's text. Now we've gotten to my personal favorite: games.
In my personal opinion, this is tops in Myspace tricks. You can paste video games on your Myspace page for your friends to play. The games range from classics like PacMan and Mario Brothers to golf, asteroids and Simon Says. If you're not familiar with a particular game, you can play it yourself on the preview before deciding if you want it on your page. And by changing the game, say, once a week, you'll ensure that your Myspace page will see lots of traffic. Again, just be sure not to block any text. Cursors, clocks and (especially) games are lots of fun, and they add so much to a ho-hum web page - but don't forget that the most important part of your page is what you've written about YOU!!