You can use HTML anywhere on Multiply: comments, posts (click on 'Edit HTML' first if it's a blog post) and even in your Page Title. Here are the basic commands, be sure to check the links for more info.

If you don't like to use the codes but you want to use HTML somewhere, you can do this: create a blog entry and change the fonts, colors, etc, then click on 'Edit HTML' to reveal the code so you can copy it and paste wherever you want.

The Very Basic Basics

What You Type	What You Get
<B>Men</B>	Men
<I>Are</I>	Are
<U>from</U>	from
<S>Men are from Mars</S>	Men are from Mars
You can even combine tags (just remember to next each pair of tags)
<B><I><U>Mars Needs Women</U></I></B>	Mars Needs Women
And That’s Not All
<CENTER></CENTER>	Centers text or image.
<A HREF="URL HERE"></a>	Makes whatever text/image it surrounds into a link.
<IMG SRC="IMAGE URL HERE" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="100" />	Add an image, using optional WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes to control the sizing. Note: IMG code is stand-alone (no separate close tag necessary).
<FONT FACE="verdana" SIZE="6" COLOR="green">Little Green Men</font>	Alter the size, style, and color of text.

Additional HTML Resources

• Hot-linking Images Inside Multiply
• JavaScript Isn't Allowed
  
• W3C
• Webmonkey
• Web Design Group

Even more tips and tutorials about HTML/CSS can be found in the group Multiply.Design. Click on the logo to join the group now!


Source: Friendster.com help page.
(info in public domain).

Most people just want a theme with personalized colors and a background. It's very easy to get it using the Custom theme:

1. Click on the Customize My Site link found in your main page or go to settings -> My Site
2. Click on Choose a Theme in the top yellow bar (Image A)
3. Pick Custom Theme (Image B)
4. Choose your background picture using Browse (Image C-1)
5. Pick a color scheme or make your own using the options below (Image C-2)
6. You can Preview or Save it when it's done (Image C-3)

PS1: In the step 4 you must choose a picture in your computer (HardDisk). It will be tiled, so small images won't look good. The recommended image size in general is something around 1024x768 pixels.
PS2: A HTML color table can be found here or here.
PS3: If you later change your Custom CSS, your background pic will be gone. But you can add it back again using the proper code in the body section of your Custom CSS: before you change your Custom CSS, look at your page source code and copy the background tag with the image link, then add it to the body section when you edit the CSS code.


Update1:
After the recent changes, now you can choose the base theme used for customizing the colors: Clean (the new default theme) or Andros (the previous default theme). Also, there are checkboxes to add transparency (no background) to some sections of your page.

JavaScript (they have the script tag in the code) and iframe codes aren't allowed in Multiply for security reasons. Any other code that is simple HTML or Flash, like the ones that use the EMBED or OBJECT command, should work fine. Usually the site give you options for the code: look for the one in simple HTML (no script tags) or one that uses Flash.


As a side note, sometimes when you try to copy and paste excerpts from other web pages to yours, usually blog entries, you may get the message that 'JavaScrit/CSS isn't allowed', and you can't save your post. It happens because some of the page code was also copied and also pasted with the text. To avoid this, first paste the excerpt in a plain-text editor, like Notepad on Win or Smultron on a Mac, and then copy it again and paste on your page. You will get only the text and should be able to save your entry.


PS: JavaScript isn't the same as Java. Java widgets should work too, as they usually use the EMBED and/or OBJECT tag.


Update1:
EMBED codes that have allowscriptaccess won't work anymore (they will be disabled when added to Multiply pages) due to security reasons too. Quote from a Multiply staff member:

For those who are new to HTML before you feel overwhelmed lets learn a couple basics and try to disprove the thought "Only compter programers can learn HTML". Lets think of it this way. If you go into this thinking it is unlearnable or that you may be untechable, throw those thoughts away and remove the biggest barrier to learning....... what I call the "I can't do that" thoughts. We all have the ability to be the little train that could but before that we must believe we can. So here is a easy to learn HTML that you can add to comments to dress them up a bit. If you learn HTMl gradually you will find the more you try it the better you get, and the more you will remember/retain.

i just ran across this and thought it might be useful for those of you who aren't familiar with html.