<p>I am a C++/C# developer and never spent time working on web pages.  I would like to put text (randomly and diagonally perhaps) in large letters across the background of some pages.  I want to be able to read the foreground text and also be able to read the "watermark".  I understand that is probably more of a function of color selection.  </p>

<p>I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to do what I want.  I would imagine this to be very simple for someone with the web design tools or html knowledge.  </p>

You could make an image with the watermark and then set the image as the background via css.
For example:
```
```
<style type="text/css">
.watermark{background:url(urltoimage.png);}
</style>
<div class="watermark">
<p>this is some text with the watermark as the background.</p>
</div>
```
```
That should work.