I believe I have resolved my problem with formatting text in IE. After typing the text, with the a/A (upper left tool bar) on the whited selection, or not blued, highlight the text and, in my case, select the font, then highlight the text and the font language at either extreme and select size (4), and finally highlight all, including formatting language, and select the color.
Now if I can remeber this for myself in the future, I will be a happy camper. God bless you all for helping, that means you too, Ugly...