Active Desktop Tutorial

[Luna64]

I am having trouble getting a script to work

It's a fade script that causes links to fade when you hover over them, but I am having a hard time getting it to run inside my AD.


I have downloaded the script into my Windows folder, and I insert this code into the HTML file

<script language="JavaScript" src="fade.js"></script>

Except I added c:/windows into the src line.


I am really new to all this so could someone help me out a bit

 

[Lighter]

Originally posted by Luna64

Ah, don't hate me because I am stuipd. I am new to this AD thing and I find it really cool.

Ain't it cool? I'd like to test out my potato gun on Madmatt for creating the tutorial --I've spent waaaaay too many hours playing with this (the AD, not the potato gun).:happy:

Try <script src="fade.js"></script> instead

 

[Luna64]

That did not work either.

Maybe I have not set this up right :-/

 

[Lighter]

Wait, you put the .js file into c:/windows? No need for that, put it in whichever folder your html files are in. PM me tomorrow with your source code; I'll tinker around with it at work.

 

[Luna64]

Funny thing is I had the same idea while in the shower 10 min ago.

I'll send you the info tomorrow.

 

[luminosity]

luna, you got the right idea, there is simply no need to have the script reside in the windows dir, just place it in the same dir as your html and link to it using fade.js. If you however did want it in windows you have to use double / instead of single for it to work. For example C:\\Windows\\fade.js

 

[luminosity]

I just made a quick html generator that accepts your file names and generates a html page with the ShellExJ javascript and all of the links specified. It should help speed up the process of making 'launch menus' for active desktops and perhaps allow those less experienced to get in on the action.

This is a bit of an older image but it'll do :blink:

The page generated is fairly basic, but can be easily edited or incorporated using text or WYSIWYG editors. Enjoy and could you please forward any bug reports or suggestions to me either through pm or the email mentioned in the program - it shouldn't be too buggy and has been tested quite a bit but nothings perfect so let me know.

Note: This was written in VisualBasic.net so you will need, if you haven't got it already, the .NET framework in order to run it. Its easily available from Windows Update.

Hopefully someone else will find this useful
http://users.bigpond.net.au/lummo/ADLaunchGen.zip

 

[XP Abuser]

luminosity this is really kinda sweet nice work ive been playing about with active desktop today so im all for it

 

[Luna64]

That is a wonderfull idea

I bet I could put that prog to good use when I get home.

Should save me loads of time as I am making my first good AD. Lots of links and I don't want to do them all by hand :-D

 

[Lighter]

Ok, my AD was working fine until today... All of the sudden I'm getting script warnings again from NAV.

All of my vbs scripts are being cautioned as explore.exe. doh! My code is correct, so's the path and so are the registry values.

Tried reseting MyComputer permissions in IE, resetting reg values and rebooting. Any ideas?

 

[Luna64]

Can anyone help me with some HTML code ?


I use different HTML files for each box on my AD.

What I want to do is have those box's tranparent so that you can see the background behind it. I am going to put a frame around the box, but I don't remember the code for a transparent background.

Plus, is there any way to get rid of that little tab that pops up every time you move your mouse over the links in one of these box's ? I guess locking everything down would get rid of that...

 

[thebear]

I don't think it is possible to make it transparent so you can see your wallpaper behind it if you are using different html files for each box. But if it is possible this would be nice for my desktop aswell

 

[Luna64]

Hm, well I just had an Idea.

Not sure how well it would work but, take your background (in a photo editing program) and cut the parts of your background that the boxs cover.

Save these as their own image files, and the use use each file as a background with the box that covers that part of the picture.


So if you have a box covering the top left corner of your screen, you would copy that section in Photoshop, save it as a new file, and then use it as the background. If you line it up right it should make it look like a transparent background...


I would think




I tried to do all this in a single HTML file, but I cant figure out how to get it all to work

 

[thebear]

that would work, but it would be a ***** to work with.
For example if you need to bumb the box over a character or two, you would have to go through the process and get the exact pixels into the background for your box...in the end it is more work than needed.

 

[Luna64]

Yea, but I have a very blank background so this might work out well.

I can't figure out how to get it all to work in a single HTML file so that would be my best option.

But at the moment I have them using a default grey Windows gave me and they blend in perfectly with my background.

for now atleast

 

[sting457]

It's actually not as hard as you might think to get transparent boxes. Try using this template. Play around with it. I'm pretty new to this, but im pretty sure the transparency has something to do with the '+col+' in the html files.

 

[albybum]

Yep, the only way you can achieve the "transparent" effect is to make the background of the html document = the section of your wallpaper that you want.

Thats the only real downside to using html documents in your AD. I try to keep simple sections in my wallpapers to allow me to place my AD html documents.

Yes, The only way to rid yourself of those pop up control tabs is to lock the items to the desktop.

And, Luna, what exactly is not working for you? What are you not able to put together into one html document?

 

[Geffy]

possibly you could put a whit background with 1% opacity, as I am not sure if you can just save transparency in an image in Photoshop

 

[blinkyraaa]

i believe a background image on a html page is merely laid over the background colour, therefore using a transparent image as the background wont help.

 

[Luna64]

But this would all work if the HTML was in one file correct ?


Has anyone been able to do this ?


I tried, but I cant figure out the code to get seperate boxs and a background into a single AD HTML file.