Hi there fellow new guy, and welcome to the site.
When you post a topic or make a reply you should see a screen like this...
You will notice below the subject line there are a bunch of buttons. These buttons will automatically insert the required code into your text. Also, when you mouse over one of these buttons you will see the line above the main textbox will show you how to use the code. For example...
So to use the url code you can use either method shown above. The (alt+w) on the side there is a shortcut you can use instead of pressing the button if you want to insert the code. You can also just type the code in if you want to.
As for font color, you can adjust both the color and the size of the font with the dropdowns here.
Although you can not see it in the picture. Once again if you mouse over these, the text will change to show you the proper way to use the code.
Hope that helped some!