borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 OK, it's really late here (4:25 AM) and I'm almost falling asleep so I'll just paste the readme file so you guys can know what I've been up to. Keep in mind that I'm posting this screenshot just to give a little taste of my wallpaper. You have to download the .ZIP file and use it on your desktop to be able to view the animations, change stuff, etc... This is a screenshot of my Desktop. It was 1024x768 but I resized it to 800x600 so it would weigh a little less. Here's the link for the ZIP file with all the goodies: http://borfast.com/tchwallpaper.zip And my website, where I have the link to TCH: http://borfast.com - I just copy/pasted the HTML code from the "Links to Us" page. Good luck eveyone! Oh, by the way, there's a bug in the "control panel" - the first time you go to the "Options" tab, the image will appear stretched. It will be fine after you select another image from the drop down list. I couldn't find a way to correct it but if I do, I'll post an update (if I'm still on time Head Bash) There's also another "bug", which I know what it is but didn't have the time to fix it: when you click the tabs, the bubbles will be reset. They all disappear and new ones start appearing again from the bottom. EDIT: The image attatchment was gone. This is probably because of the move to the new server. Anyway, I posted it again. -=[ readme.txt included in the ZIP file ]=- Wallpaper for the TotalChoice Hosting "Xbox / Treo90 Giveaway" contest by Raul Pedro Santos http://borfast.com This wallpaper is a bit different from the usual ones. This is not just an image, this is an HTML file with some images, lots of JavaScript and Flash animation. ------------------ * 0 - Download If you're reading this, you probably have already downloaded the .ZIP file. If not, get it at http://borfast.com/tchwallpaper.zip * 1 - Requirements I've tested this wallpaper on Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to other versions of Win/IE but as far as I know, this should work without any problems with any Windows version newer than 98 and any IE version above 5.0. You also need Macromedia Flash Player 6, which can be obtained for free at: http://macromedia.com/shockwave/download/d...=ShockwaveFlash At last, you need to enable JavaScript and cookies. * 2 - Instalation Unzip the "tchwallpaper.zip" file into a directory where you want to keep it. Just go to "Display Settings" as you'd do to set up a regular wallpaper. Click the "Browse..." button and navigate to the folder where you have these files and select background.html". * 3 - How it works On the right side of your screen, there's a flash animation. You'll see some bubbles going up to the top of the screen. On the top left corner, you'll see a little round button with an arrow inside. If you click it, it will open a "control panel" with 3 tabs. The first one, "TCH", will show you some information about TotalChoice Hosting. The second one, "Links", will present you with quick links (they work, you can click them) to some of the most important areas of TCH's website. The third one, "Options", let's you change the background image for the left side of your desktop. The list of background images is stored in an XML file, "backgrounds.xml". Don't worry, XML is a lot more simple than it's name might lead you to believe The file already has 4 background images (prepared for 1024x768 resolution), so if you take a look at it, you'll understand immediately how it works. Basically, each image to go into the list is represented here by a line with this format: ><background file="FILENAME">DESCRIPTION</background> So if you want to add a background image to the list, you just have to copy the file to the same directory as the rest of the wallpaper files and add a corresponding line to the "backgrounds.xml" file. Please note that these lines should always go between the ><backgrounds> and </backgrounds> tags, otherwise the background image will not appear as an option. When you change the background image, a cookie will be stored in your browser so that when you refresh the desktop (which reloads "backgrounds.html") or restart your computer, the background you chose is still there. When creating images to use as a background, you should also be aware that the image will not occupy the whole desktop, since it already has a vertical bar on the right side, which takes up 250 pixels. This means that if your desktop is at a resolution of 1024x768 pixels, your background image should be 774x768 pixels to compensate -> 1024-250 = 774 You can use an image of any size, though. But keep in mind that if it's smaller than the area you have available, it will be stretched and will probably look strange. On the other hand, if the image is too big, it will also look strange because unfortunately browsers are not very good at resizing images on-the-fly, but you'll also be wasting memory and slowing down your computer unnecessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 I just remembered that the rules say we must upload the file as an attachment... Well, the "real" file for my entry is the .ZIP file I mentioned above but just in case, I'll post it here too. tchwallpaper.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Raul, That is very cool! Thumbs Up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 Thanks Have you tried it on your computer? I'd like to have some feedback from someone who tries it. I'm curious as to how it will work on other combinations of Windows/IE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 (edited) Yes, 98se, works fine. I like it! Who! I just clicked the tabs, I did not realize the links worked, more cool! I like the blue with circle option! Edited June 21, 2003 by turtle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 I've put some underlines on the links. Maybe like this it will be easier to understand they're links. Thanks for the idea, turtle By the way, I also like the blue one with the semi-circle. I intended to replace the others with better ones but I didn't have the time Well, we're approaching the deadline, anyway. Good luck, everyone! May the best wallpaper win! (I still can't believe I spent most of the night awake because of this contest... Rock Sign ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicVPp Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 It worked for me. I'm on Win98se also. -Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Don Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 (edited) Good luck, I just saved the local version as a fav. Thumbs Up Edited June 21, 2003 by turtle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorriedt Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Man....us Mac people don't get to see??? Dang. It sounds cool though, good job! -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 Dave, I'm a ferocious defender of cross platform compatibility, believe me. But this time the objective was to make a wallpaper for windows only. What: Original design of desktop wallpaper for Windows based pc's. I knew my wallpaper would not work on any operating systems other than windows but since it was not supposed to anyway, I decided to take advantage of the "Active Desktop" feature (or whatever it's called). It's funny, I think the idea is really cool and I really started to like it... except for the fact that I won't see it much, since my main operating system is Linux... ) and the background of the flash animation is not transparent, it's a yucky solid green (which is also strange, because with Mozilla 1.3 on Windows it was working OK). I guess I'll try to fix these problems later, just for fun. I know the wallpaper can't be used as one on any other OS but at least people can open it in a browser and see how it would look. Maybe I'll even throw in the rest of the ideas I had, like having an MP3 player, an option to check if your site is up (maybe pinging it? configurable, of course) and an RSS news feed reader (also configurable, so you'd chose which news feeds to have available). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorriedt Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 Sounds good to me man! I'll have to put it up on my work computer when I go in Monday! -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leezard Posted June 21, 2003 Share Posted June 21, 2003 works great on win2K/IE 6 and isnt to much of a resource hog. I really like this desktop, i my have to start messing around with active desktop to see what i can come up with, i really like the toolbar just wish i could add more links to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borfast Posted June 21, 2003 Author Share Posted June 21, 2003 just wish i could add more links to it I forgot to mention that one, it was also on my initial idea list but I didn't have the time to do them all. Studying for final exames and making up wallpapers all at the same time is a little tricky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lianna Posted June 22, 2003 Share Posted June 22, 2003 Winner! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorriedt Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 Hey this IS great! Just gave it a try at work! -Dave dave@davegorrie.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zethilone Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 jk man! Can't wait for next one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singer Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Congrats! I like it. It works on my W2K system also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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