Is there an "HMTL for Idiots" book or info source

[narosh]

somewhere? I would like to add my picture (ego) and some colored text
(blah blah) in the message body.

[xenofur]

you mean for this forum?
in real html it would be:
<img src="relative or absolute path" width="x" height="y" alt="description" title="mouse over description">
colour would be made like this:
<font colour="colourname">text</font> or <font colour="#RRGGBB">text</font>
what would prolly help you most is this tho: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/cover.html#minitoc

[kostika]

Images are disabled for signatures on this forum (thank the gods).

[nijht]

If you just want to spice up your posts take a look at:
http://www.ryzom.com/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode

To add an avatar pic or edit you signature, go to the User control panel. You can access it through the forum jump drop down on the lower right corner of the page.

Hope I didn't misunderstand the question