left, and rightdetermine the size of a box above and beyond its normal size. Most often, you use margins to set the "printable" area of the entire page, but individual text elements like paragraphs can also have margins. For example, you can design your paragraphs to have shorter margins than those of the page, which gives your text an offset appearance. In Figure 6-9, the paragraphs on the page have a left margin of 30 pixels more than the page's left margin and a right margin of 60 pixels less than the page's right margin. Figure 6-9. Offsetting text by adjusting the left and right margins   TECHTALK Padding is the amount of space between the margins of a box and the edge of the content inside it.     6.2.3.4. Looking at padding The padding attribute controls the amount of whitespace between the margin of the box and the edge of the content inside it. Like margins, padding also comes in four flavors: top, bottom, left, and right. In Figure 6-10, the top paragraph has no padding, while the bottom paragraph has 10 pixels of padding on all four sides. Use padding to position content inside its box. Because the areas of your design sit tightly against each other, padding is an essential attribute for helping your design to breathe. For example, if you have a side-nav design with a banner across the top of your page, your main content area probably sits in the lower right of the layout. Some tasteful padding along the top and down the left side of the main content area gives you a nice cushion of space, which helps to separate the content from the interface-type elements in your design. Figure 6-10. The effect of padding on paragraphs     6.2.4. Considering Colors and Borders To give your text that extra graphical appeal, you can apply color to both it and its box, and you can set its box in various types of borders. 6.2.4.1. Looking at text color Use any one of your computer's 16 million distinct shades to color your text. Applying color to the text element's box creates an opaque rectangle on the page with the text inside it, as shown in Figure 6-11. You can also color the text itself independently of the box's color (or lack of one). Figure 6-11. This paragraph has white text against a black background   But just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. While coloring the box of a text element is appropriate whenever you need this effect, coloring the text itself can cause problems, particularly if you single out individual words here or there for the color treatment. Text of one color in the middle of text of another color looks suspiciously like a hyperlink to your visitors, who will no doubt try to click it. When nothing happens, they become frustratednot a good thing. TIP Remember that your text has to be readable as well as skimmable. Whatever color scheme you choose for your site, you want the main content area to have a sharp foreground/background contrast. Dark text against a light background works best. Light text against a dark background is passable, although it lends itself more readily to eyestrain, particularly at smaller type sizes. And above all, avoid glaring or gaudy contrast, like chartreuse against magenta. It's unlikely that