Interactive Color Specifier for Netscape 1.1 / HTML 3.0 Spec pages
Shareware, $5.00
Tim Howland
44 N Main
S Norwalk, CT 06854
thowland@aol.com
Requires: System 7, 2 mb ram, 14” monitor or larger, Color Mac (16-bit color recommended), Netscape 1.1
I got sick and tired of trying to guesstimate six-digit hexadecimal numbers to set colors for my Netscape documents. So I wrote the attached program to make my life easier. Just click on the text to bring up Apple's color picker, and you can change its color. When you are done, just click on save, and it will write a template file for you.
I also noticed a couple of tricks people are playing to create more dramatic openings for their pages. Since these tricks all take place at the head of the document, where the colors are determined, this looked like an opportune place to try them. They involve the kinds of repetitive text entry that computers were made for. The Marquee options scrolls text across the title bar as the page loads, and the Fade From Black (or white) creates a smooth transition from black (or white) to your background color.
Changes for version 2.0:
In this version I had to completely rewrite the user interface. The program now allows the user to interactively set the RGB values of each color in the set, while watching a sample update, and watching the little hexadecimal numbers move around. The only way I could add the necessary number of buttons seemed to be with rollovers. I'm working on a 68030, and it's bearable... on a slower machine (if there are any still out there...) you don't need to wait for the rollovers- the program will correctly interpret clicks to the right regions.
When selecting the RGB values, a mouse click moves you up 16 netscape levels (4117 Apple Levels), and a shift click brings you up one netscape level (257 Apple Levels).
In this version I also added in a "Fade From White" Option, scrolling from white to the background color.
Based on user feedback, I'm now leaving the main window up while calling the color picker. This means that you can see the other colors (with careful positioning) while choosing. You will need to move the main window for optimum results- I would have built that in, but I didn't want to have problems with small monitors.
Limitations:
These effects only work with the Netscape browser 1.1 or (presumably) later. Other browsers should not choke on the codes generated by this program, but I have to recommend vigorous testing. Also, there is a color resolution difference- the apple color picker can generate three values between 0 and 65,535. However, Netscape can only accept these values as numbers between 0 and 255. The color space has been divided up into increments of 257 levels- this means your text will be close to the colors you pick, but may be as much as 126 levels off in any channel. I haven't been able to see any difference, but I'm using a 16-bit monitor.
When setting the RGB values directly via my interface instead of the color picker, it is clearly best to be running in 16-bit (thousands) mode- otherwise, there just aren't enough colors in the system palette to display the variations. Symptoms of this include clicking on the RGB values repeatedly and seeing the number change without seeing the shading in the sample change. Honestly, you probably shouldn't be using an 8-bit monitor to do this kind of work, anyway- but if you must, try to stick to the color picker. You'll probably get better results.
This program is shareware- if you use it regularly to help design HTML pages, please send five dollars to: Tim Howland, 44 N Main Street, South Norwalk, CT 06854. If you have comments, problems, discover bugs, etc, please contact thowland@aol.com (I'd love to get your URL!). Enjoy!
