It sort of does what I want it to, but it doesn't work yet.

I like the star field effects I have on my web page, and wanted one that puts my avatar in the middle of a star field...

It's puzzling, but not frustrating just yet.

And at a certain point I have to find a way to get rid of an annoying "Nag Message" that's built into it. Free scripts and applets shouldn't pester you to register them...

 

I wish I had anything relevant to add to this post, but it is written in a language I do not understand.. Java used to be an island in the eastern Indian Ocean..

Theo

 

Hmm. "JAVA" is a way of getting interactive effects to happen on a web page. A JAVA applet is like a small program that is pasted in an area of a page.

They can make rippling water effects on an image, create navigation buttons, or even run small video games on a web page.

I used to have a terrific one that was a version of the old "Asteroids" game, but I can't load sound bytes onto FTE - the files take up too much space.

There is a limit to what animated pictures can do, JAVA scripts and applets go further with them.

Once you figure out how to make them run right...

One of my pet projects has been to convert all the navigation links on my FTE pages to a JAVA toy that:

1) Displays the clickable buttons in a uniform size.
2) Is color coordinated with the rest of the page (that was a tuffy!)
3) Changes appearance when a button is clicked on, without what is called a swap-image. Most buttons are at least two images that change when they are clicked - that's what seems to make them move.
4) (Not real important) Places a star-field behind the buttons similar to the windows "Flying Through Space" screen saver.

What I like the most is now that the hardest part is done, they are so easy to edit it's amazing.

 

I have been playing with java script for the last couple of days. I found a place with it explained, and examples to try. I did so and was amazed by the amount that could be done by so little script. Am I right in assuming that java commands modules that are already present, to do things, or is that way off.

Theo

 

When a J-Applet is in play, it is necessary to tell it what to do, and what to do it to. This is true of the "LAKE" applet, it puts a shimmer effect on an image, mirroring it like it would appear as if it was a reflection of a body of water. But it needs to be told some things:

Where to download the applet from

What picture to do it to.

What size the whole thing should be.

- And of course the image will be twice the original size, you have to plan for that and know what the image size is.

Other "Applets" are the same, you have to know what you are asking it to do.

JAVA SCRIPT is a different animal - instead of loading a small program up, and telling the browser where to find it, and what to do after it is activated - a J-SCRIPT will act directly as soon as the browser see's it. They are based on common JAVA that is already presumed to have been loaded into your computer, so it's already present.

The difference is in having to refer the browser to a sub-program or not. For J-Script, the program is already aboard. Applets call for telling the browser to download the sub-program (JAVA CLASS) that it needs in order to do what comes next.