Word Magnets

This applet creates a space within which the user may shift around the words the webpage designer has listed (mouse click and drag a word to move it) as if the words were on little magnet pieces. Furthermore, the user may modify an existing 'magnet' by SHIFT-clicking on it. Alternately, new magnets may be created by SHIFT-clicking in vacant area of the applet (then type what new letters you want on the magnet piece).

Please note that this applet is in no way associated with the company Magnetic Poetry.

Downloading

The applet may be downloaded for free by clicking on the TAR-file link below (read the FAQ if you're not sure what to do with a TAR file). The FAQ also has step by step instructions on how to embed an applet into your own webpage.

WordMagnets2.tar

Once unTARed, you should find the following classes (plus a '.jar' file if you want to use the archive= attribute in the <applet> tag):

Parameters

Below are descriptions of all the parameters you may use to customize the applets to your webpages. Be sure to enclose any parameters that contain white space in double-quotation marks. Most parameters have default values in case you do not specify your own values, but the first two parameters (AUTHOR and COPYRIGHT) are necessary. If you are not sure how to incorporate an applet into a webpage (with its parameter names and values), looks at the source of this webpage and the applet embedded for an example, or read the FAQ page.

  • AUTHOR: This parameter must appear exactly as follows: 
    <param name=AUTHOR value="Eric Harshbarger, http://www.ericharshbarger.org">

  • COPYRIGHT: This parameter must appear exactly as follows: 
    <param name=COPYRIGHT value="WordMagnets applet, Copyright 1998, Eric Harshbarger">

  • BGCOLOR: This parameter indicates the background color of the applet. Consult the FAQ page if you are unsure what format to use for the parameter's value.

  • FGCOLOR: This parameter indicates the foreground color of the applet. Consult the FAQ page if you are unsure what format to use for the parameter's value.

  • MAGNET.COLOR: This color value determines the color of the magnet pieces themselves (whereas BGCOLOR is the background color of the whole applet and FGCOLOR is the color of the text on the magnet pieces).

  • FONTNAME: This value indicates the fontface used by the applet. Java1.0.2 has the following values from which to choose (must be spelled exactly): TimesRoman, Dialog, Courier, Helvetica, DialogInput, Symbol.

  • FONTSIZE: This value indicates the size of the font used by the applet.

  • FONTSTYLE: This value indicates the style of the font used by the applet. The value should be one of the following: plain, bold, italic, bolditalic.

  • WORDFILE: This parameter points to a text file that lists the words that are to appear in the applet. The basic format of the file is simple: one word per line. Also, each word in a line may be followed by whitespace and then a pair of comma separated coordinates that force the starting position of the upper left corner of that particular magnet. The WORDFILE for the example applet above is available to see.
    APPLET DEPOT: INTRO - NEWS - APPLETS - DEMOS - CUSTOM - FAQ - EMAIL
    The Applet Depot and all associated applets, text, scripts, and images, Copyright © 1998-2002 by Eric Harshbarger unless otherwise noted. 'Java' is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems Incorporated.