Background Color in html can be set using the css property background-color.
It accepts values in two formats
a) Color name
b) #xxyyz where xx,yy,zz points to hexadecimal values of red,green,blue
c) Transparent background can also be set in css.
Examples
Example 1:
<font style="background-color: green;"> color name </font>
Result:
color name
Example 2:
<font style="background-color: #888888;"> html text background using css</font>
Result:
html text background using css
Example 3:
<font style="background-color: transparent; color:green;"> transparent backgrounds can also be given using css</font>
Result:
transparent backgrounds can also be given using css
A Note
CSS - Cascading Style Sheets can be used along with html tags as explained in this site.
This simple CSS will help you to create much elegant and neat html web pages.
This does not need any additional softwares or codings.
All web browser are capable of handing CSS codes.
Note 2: If required you can using <span> instead of <div> tags.
div tag will start and end on new lines. span will not exceed the tag area.