Typewriter Applet Help File.
Copyright: Sirius Computer Consultants 1999. All rights reserved.
Author : Christopher O'Brien 20/8/99
Version: 1.0
General Description.
This applet is designed to give your web site an animated feel by cycling through an unlimited amount of messages with a typewriter effect. The parameters allow you to customise the text, fonts, colors and speeds of the effects.  The applet will automatically size itself to the available area given to it by the HTML form. (The WIDTH and HEIGHT of the APPLET tag.).

The following is the complete listing of the possible parameters that may be used to configure this applet. If any of the parameters are not present within the APPLET tag in your HTML form then the Applet will assume the default value, as indicated in the right hand column. The parameter names are case sensitive so where capital letters are used in the examples you must use capital letters in your own HTML documents.


It is recommended that you look at the example HTML files provided in conjunction with the following table in order to understand fully how to use each parameter.



Typewriter Applet Parameters.
Parameter Name Description Range of Values Typical Value Default Value

Using multiple messages, sound and linking to other websites. See examples 1 and 2 to get a better understanding of these 3 parameters.

Text The message that are displayed in the applet. The different messages must be separated with a | There is no limit, have as many messages as you want. "Welcome To Our Web Site|Click Here To Enter" "No messages have been put in the parameters"
Link (Only available in full version. Buy Full Version) A url where the viewer is taken when they click on the applet. If this parameter is not specified then the applet will not link to another web site. "http://anywebsite" "http://www.net800.co.uk/netstart/sirius" "none"
Sound This sound is played every time a letter is displayed. It must be an AU file(.au file extension) "anyfilename.au" "type.au" "none"

Customising Colors, Font and Special effects. See example 3 to get a better understanding of these parameters.

BgColor Defines the background color of the applet. Red Green Blue

"0-255,0-255,0-255"

"0,0,0" "255,255,255"
FontColor Defines the text color. Red Green Blue

"0-255,0-255,0-255"

"255,255,255" "0,0,0"
Font Defines the font of the text. See Defining fonts at the bottom of this page. "TimesRoman" "Helvetica"
FontSize A number which defines the font size "8" to "200" "22" "12"
FontBold Specifies if the font is bold or not. "Yes" or "No" "Yes" "No"
FontItalic Specifies if the font is italic or not. "Yes" of "No" "Yes" "No"
TextAlignment Specifies if the text should be aligned to the left, centre or right. "Left" "Centre" "Right" "Centre" "Left"
AfterEffect Defines what happens to the text after it has been typed. "FadeOut" "ScrollUp" "Shrink" "NoEffect" "FadeOut" "NoEffect"

Adjusting Speed and Timing. See example 4 to get a better understanding of these parameters.

AfterEffectSpeed Defines how fast the after effect is carried out. The lower this number the faster it is. "0" to "1000" "20" "30"
TypeSpeed Defines how fast the text is typed. The lower this number then the faster the text is typed. "0" to "1000" "100" "60"
TextHold Defines how long in milliseconds to display the text after it has been typed before it disappears. "0" to "1000000" "4000" "2000"
TypeWait Defines how long in milliseconds after the text has disappeared before typing the next line of text. "0" to "1000000" "2000" "0"
Example 5 shows you how to use the last 11 parameters so that you can specify different values for each line of text.



Defining Fonts
Font Types - The different Type faces generally available are,

Courier
Dialog
Helvetica
Symbol
TimesRoman

 

 

Some Common Color Definitions.
Color Red Green Blue
Black 000 000 000
White 255 255 255
Grey 128 128 128
Red 255 000 000
Orange 255 128 000
Yellow 255 255 000
Green 000 255 000
Blue 000 000 255
Purple 200 000 200
Brown 128 064 000