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Welcome To The Freeware version of Newton's Cradle.
These pages contain a demo of the cradle and instructions for installing the cradle on your own homepage. If you can't see an animated image immediately above these words, it means that you don't have the necessary plugin to view shockwave. Don't
panic! You can download it from http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave (this link opens a new browser). If you're running Internet Explorer, you might have already been asked to confirm an automatic download. (Say "Yes").
A real-life Newton's Cradle consists of five steel balls suspended from a frame such that the balls are horizontally aligned with each other. By droping any given number of balls, you get an effect similar to that illustrated in the cradle.dcr shockwave movie. The advantage of cradle.dcr is that it allows you to click on the balls and load other webpages. A "real" Newton's Cradle can't do this. Honestly. On the other hand, a real Newton's Cradle is probably a bit more honest about demonstrating the conservation of momentum than the simulation. And so it goes.
The reason I created this rather, ah, electic, method of defining hyperlinks probably has more to do with having too much time on my hands than anything else. But , it was fun, and improved my basic physics no end.
Anyway, this Newton's Cradle is a streaming shockwave movie. It is called "cradle.dcr". It models the motion of a real Newton's Cradle. Additionally, it allows the webmaster to specify between 5 and 10 hyperlinks, define short and long descriptions for them, specify the background colour, and the colour of the balls. It also allows the webmaster to specify the level of help available to his website visitors.
Amazing, eh? If that's not enough, I've also included a couple of tools that will help you get the best out of the cradle.
Oh, as regards bug reports: these are welcome to me, Therion Ware, at <tware@geocities.com> . I regret that because cradle.dcr is freeware, I cannot guarantee to fix any problems you may find immediately, or at all, but "you never know," and I might be able to suggest a workaround.
So, I hope you enjoy the cradle, and remember: if you want a custom version of the cradle (your own graphics, logos, and so on) you can have one for a mere USD 10.00 . Click For Details.
NOTE: The term "leftswing" is used to indicate a ball moving from right to left, while the term "rightswing" is used to indicate a ball moving from left to right.
The following parameters are available, and allow the following customisations:
swFrame
specifies the target frame of all hyperlinks.
If you're not using frames set to "_SELF" (case sensitive)
Example: swFrame = "my_main_frame" or swFrame = "_SELF"
swText
Authors copyright notice
The text between the quotes must be exactly as shown, or the cradle will not work.
Example: swText = "author:tware@geocities.com"
sw1
specifies the link destination associated with ball 1 on a leftswing, and the link destination associated with ball 1 on a rightswing. Link values are separated by a space.
Note the numbering of the links
Example: sw1 = "link1.html link6.html"
sw2
specifies the link destination associated with ball 2 on a leftswing, and the link destination associated with ball 2 on a rightswing. Link values are separated by a space.
Example: sw2 = "link2.html link7.html"
sw3
specifies the link destination associated with ball 3 on a leftswing, and the link destination associated with ball 3 on a rightswing. Link values are separated by a space.
Example: sw3 = "link3.html link8.html"
sw4
specifies the link destination associated with ball 4 on a leftswing, and the link destination associated with ball 4 on a rightswing. Link values are separated by a space.
Example: sw4 = "link4.html link9.html"
sw5
specifies the link destination associated with ball 5 on a leftswing, and the link destination associated with ball 5 on a rightswing. Link values are separated by a space.
Example: sw5 = "link5.html linkA.html"
sw6
Link Short Description. 10 words, one word per link. Do not exceed 8 characters.
Text Description Position In Parameter
Associated Ball Number left to Right
Text appears when ball is moving in This Swing Direction
There's a little more to it than that... As you will understand, some balls don't move in some configurations. This means that some of their associated links never appear. In order to get around this. I've programmed the cradle such that when the balls stop, the two links associated with a particular ball appear on alternate stops.
sw7
Specifies background colour, ball 1 colour ... ball 5 colour. 6 decimal numbers in the range 0 - 255.
The color numbers refer to colour positions in the windows 95 palate. Use The Shockwave program below to determine what numbers are associated with what colours, or follow the help guide in cradle.dcr itself.
Specifies background colour, ball 1 colour ... ball 5 colour. 6 decimal numbers in the range 0 - 255.
The color numbers refer to colour positions in the windows 95 palate. Use The Shockwave program below to determine what numbers are associated with what colours, or follow the help guide in cradle.dcr itself.
10 long descriptions of the link destinations separated by a "|" character. Do not exceed 255 characters in total.
Example: sw8 = "Link 1 Long Description|Link 2 Long Description|Link 3 Long Description|Link 4 Long Description|Link 5 Long Description|Link 6 Long Description|Link 7 Long Description|Link 8 Long Description|Link 9 Long Description|Link 10 Long Description"
sw9
Two numbers space seperated, both in the range 0..1.The first number controls user access to the colour picker help screen, and the second determines if sound is active at startup.
A value of 1 means "yes" and a value of "0" means "no".
Use the Shockwave program below, or the one in the helpfile contained in cradle.dcr (make sure parameter sw9 is set to "1").. The numbers represent colours in the native windows 95 palate.
The same way that you would upload any other file. Some browsers allow you to upload. If using an ftp program, do not forget to set the file type to binary, and not text, or as we say technically: "it wont work".
When using shockwave, it's as well to realise that not everyone has the plugin. This means that some people will
not be able to view the cradle. What can we do about this?
Well, frankly, not much. Basically there are three options:
We can use javascript to detect if the visitor has the shockwave plugin, and take appropriate action by either directing them to where they can get the shockwave plugin, or substituting something else for the shockwave presentation. This assumes that the user has a javascript enabled browser: not everyone does.
We can say somewhere on the webpage "If you see nothing here, you haven't got the shockwave plugin. You can get it here".
We can ask the visitor to if they have the shockwave plugin, and ask them to choose an appropriate link based on that choice.
I have tried to combine all of the above options into an, ah, elegant, solution. It should be noted that some of the more modern web browsers with partially automate the plugin download procedure.
While cradle.dcr is a copyrighted program, it's also free. This means that you can do what you like with it, except that
you musn't sell it (assuming you could find a buyer...).
If you want a custom version, containing your own logos, or designs in place of the balls, and a background picture, I can do that for you. All it takes is for you to send me USD 10. There are two ways you can do this. They are, in descending order of desirability:
Pay USD 10 into my American Express Account.
Send me USD 10 cash.
I cannot accept cheques, money orders and similar instruments, mainly because at the moment, I'm working in Malaysia and the cost of clearing them with a bank in another continent is far more that their face value.
How you intend to pay (cash or crediting my Amex account)
I prefer a payment to my Amex account because it's tracable, and will not get lost. This protects both of us.
Please attach the following files to your mail:
The five images you want to use in place of the balls (these do not have to be circular, but should not be bigger than 64 pixels by 64pixels).
The background image you require.
Any other details you want me to take into account.
I will get back to you within 2 or 3 days, holidays, death, and so on excepted.
In the unlikely even that anyone wants the source code, I'm not too keen on parting with it, so it's USD 250.00 .Apart from that, I work as a contract Network Administrator (Novell & NT), Webmaster, I.T. Manager, and specialise in third world countries, that is: "IT under difficult conditions". If you have a contract, or interesting permanent, position available, I'm always interested. Mail me Today!