Lake Applets by Sterntaler

Enter and View Lake Applets

My Lake Applets and all other Java Applets here are designed
to animate within 10 seconds (average) on a Pentium 500+.
This average includes data transfer with a 56 kbps modem.
The transfer of data to Your browser's internet cache
will usually consume about 90% of this time.

Sun`s Java Plug-in recommended for best results.
Some sort of installed Java Plug-in indispensable.

The animation speed especially of the lake-applets has been set to a
compromise with obsolete, slow browsers such as
MS Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape 4.78 (as far as possible).

As time allows, new Java animations will be added to the menu.

This Website has been designed for 1024 x 768 pixel screens.
Use with 800 x 640 resolution possible
( full screen recommended at this resolution ).

Most of this site has been designed utilizing XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0



and this site can be viewed with



that is compliant to these web standards.

But my Java applets pages and the applets are best viewed
with a modern browser based on the Netscape Gecko engine.

A kind, wise Webmaster once wrote:
"Not all browsers are created equal."

Frankly: Not all combinations of browser,
Java and hardware will render all applets.

Music? Netscape plug-in type: supported.
Microsoft Media Player Version 6.X: supported.




The code calling music plugins contains browser specific elements and
Java script but still may not work on all systems and for all browser variants.

Activated JavaScript recommended.

Contact: Send a Mail to Sterntaler

News and Links

New Janim lake applet available for free download.

Further information and download link at Credits/Thanks section
about Janim combined Lake, Rain, Snow and Fireworks Applets.

K-Meleon 0.9 web browser available for free download.

K-Meleon's official release based on the Netscape Mozilla 1.7.5 Gecko HTML Rendering Engine.

K-Meleon is one of the fastest and least resource hungry Windows browsers and can be faster (30% and more) than more than 90% of all traditionally used browsers.

K-Meleon 0.9 will render lake applets and other visual applet pages even on slightly aged Pentium 500 and slower systems. Like all K-Meleon's the 0.9 will also go strong on the fastest and most modern systems.

Operation Systems: MS Windows 32 back to Windows 95 supported!

K-Meleon 0.9 is rich in out of the box features and in this aspect only surpassed by a Firefox with dozens of extensions.

Languages: English, French, German, Simplified Chinese ...

Links to unofficial variants of K-Meleon.

K-Meleon users that have time and reason often heavily customize their browser. This K-Meleon Wiki page is maintained by Al from Australia and links to some special K-Meleons; Among the listed customizations are unofficial updates of K-Meleon's Gecko Layout Engine, browsers adapted for internet re-search, themed skins or even privately compiled variants of this freeware browser. Al creates great themes and K-Meleon browser skins himself but does not issue them teamed with exes :o( .

"Wechselbalg" a private K-Meleon 0.8.2+ a "static" build is the oldest browser (from August 2004) currently listed at Al's Page. It is still one of the fastest K-Meleon variants and available for download at
"Lontronics", its Dutch home page.
Languages: Dutch, English, French, German and Simplified Chinese.

Lake Applets Page by Eyes-Only.

His site contains K-Meleon Themes, Outlook Express stationary, Indian heritage links, Information about Chat and alternative Windows shell programs and....

...my friend Eyes-Only created prints until a few years ago. His site features animating lake applets based on his own art works. We first met in K-M Browser forum and found that we had more in common than a favorite browser.



He was the first person that I met and who knew that these prints are still made and how it can be done with readily available means. We had a lot of fun creating an applet section for his home page.

"Save the Internet" is a German information and help page about the plight of German web masters that have to obey obsolete laws about internet.

The 2 owners of the page canvas for more freedom of information.

Rondras Hallen

die Seite einer kleinen örtlichen DSA Rollenspielgruppe, beherbergt Borrosch meinen liebsten Zwerg. Sie spielen meist einmal im Monat in Lindwedel - und ich habe dann das Seitenupdate mit Geschichten über die Abenteuer der Das Schwarze Auge Fantasie Helden in Aventurien zum Lesen : O ))
Rondras Hallen is the home of my favorite Dwarf. Borrosch resides on this charming little fantasy role playing page.


The page is in German, updates about once a month.
The adventures of a small local role playing group.
They are obviously having a good time
- and so have I reading their stories.

Credits/Thanks

Many resources used here are free, to the best of my knowledge. And though I have taken considerable care to collect the available information about copyright holders.
- I am human - so I may have failed. The same is valid for the information I have gathered and used, for that information was also compiled by humans.

Should you see anything here which is copyrighted to You, please email me and I'll remove it or give proper credit, whichever is preferred.

Send a Mail to Sterntaler

The applets and most other content on this home-page have been made to learn how it is done. When I decided to have my own home page I chose impressions of the earliest "voyage" I ever made (to a cheap second hand book shop downtown).

Resources used:

This page would not exist without the prior work of many people explicitly or implicitly mentioned! All these people gave something for a free internet.
Links to their pages (if they are known to me) are provided and will open in a new browser window (these are the only "pop ups" and "adverts" here.).

English

Thanks go to Montana where "Zeronero" helped with this text.

Lake Applets

The Lake.class Applet was created by David Griffiths, formerly of spigots.com.
I used mainly his 4th lake.class. This lake applet variant supports horizon and speed parameters plus animated gifs.

Janim Lake Applets

Lake Applets with moving and animated Overlays

Janim lake applets support a wide variety of interesting parameters that include integrated snow, rain, fireworks, slide show... effects.

At the moment Janim applets are the state of the art and choice
lake applets for most uses.

These not yet widely known lake applets have been developed by
Roger Dillon of Lake Cards.

Janim Lake Applets are often improved with new features
and they are supported by an active help forum.

A free test version is available at the Download Page at lakecards.com.

And at this site a free Janim Template Generator & Help & Tutorial(?)
is available for online use and for download.

Lake Applet with Text

For a lake applet with text a vmaxwave.class applet by
Virtual_Max of http://come.to/vmax) was used.
Both lake applets by Virtual Max support an interesting parameter that permits to set the color of the reflecting water.

Nature Applets

The Nature.class applet is best used for rain applets. Nature.class was created by Michael Chancey Jr., formerly at bellatlantic.net. The applet animates both rain and snow scenes, but some Microsoft browser variants do not render when the param winter is used.

Ripple Applets

The RippleApplet.class Applet based on Ripple.class was created by
Modern Minds of http://www.modernminds.com/.
I used it chiefly to animate fast moving water such as rivers and streams.

Snow Applets

Snow applets with and without overlay were based on the
anfisnow.class applet created by
Fabio Ciucci of www.anfyteam.com.

Weather Applets

The Weather applets, rain applets, thunderstorm applets, lightning applets, fog applets are based on the versatile
weather.class applet created by
Fabio Ciucci of www.anfyteam.com,

Java Script and HTML:

The code reused on this site comes mainly fron two Sites.
Both offer free resources and examples for creating internet pages.

Pre-prepared Java Script code:

Rainbow Links Script created by TAKANASHI Mizuki and
Autumn leaves Script created by Kurt Grigg
found at / distributed by http://www.dynamicdrive.com.

HTML and Java Script code

Most of the code on this site is based on examples from
http://de.selfhtml.org/.

Music and Lake Applets Slide Show

The midi files came from http://unclgus.com,
"Unclgus" offers free resources (e. g.: HTML code, Java class files, music) and English tutorials that help to create lake applets pages.

G. Hallgren's lake applets slide show code was altered for this page with the help of original lake applets Java scripting code by D. Griffiths
and with additional information from http://de.selfhtml.org/.

Hanga

Japanese Woodblock Prints are one of Japans contributions to our Worlds cultural heritage. To the best of my knowledge, the copyright of any image (Hanga) used on my page has become public domain several years ago. All other graphics I've used on my page were created, prepared or adapted by myself, unless otherwise stated on the actual page.

I tried to find out some more about illustrations in an old book about Japan. I got the book way back in the early 60s of the last century - just after I had learned reading and to navigate the way to the city center on my own. Downtown I bought a second hand book about early European travelers in Japan; it was to help me to while away the lonely days of a holiday - all friends had gone traveling, "how boring of them"!

Actually "early travelers in Japan" was a misname - the book seemed a big fraud at the beginning. These travelers lived locked away in the Dutch trading post. "Possibly because they were too young to travel alone?" was my first assumption then. Once a year some of them were allowed out to go to the Shogun's court. On that journey they were accompanied by samurai and translators to guide them through Japanese society - which seemed to prove the initial assumption. The Shogun seamed to be a headmaster or some other school official?. He decreed that every Daimio should visit him regularly. For this reason Japanese travel a lot, one of the so called travelers remarked. This traveler's impressions of Japan consisted mainly on what he had seen on the prints bought from the Japanese, he admitted. The prints were sent home to Europe, where they fetched good prices. The trade in prints increased after Japan had opened to visitors that could travel.

The book gave me comfort and a first glimpse to a world outside my own. The introduction of the book informed me that the "travelers" stayed in the trading post until the second half of the 19th century. "Several hundred years seemed longer than the summer holiday's? - even then. The book had been a bargain. It took me 6 weeks to read and it contained many illustrations. "This proved: It was a good book - after all."

To make this a totally happy ending story - Since that time I have taken care to go traveling each and every summer!
How boring of me ; )

Hanga in the Internet

Until 2002 Hanga remained a far off museum thing, with photos or postcards the cherished reward of traveling far. Then internet got me.

Well, there are still people that can create new Hanga, some are after all much less expensive than I thought and some of the houses trading in them are veritable online museums in their own right: e. g. www.Artelino.com and www.hanga.com. I even found one of the old trade houses that helped to save the art - well their home page, anyway. The house of Watanabe had been mentioned in my book because Fritz Cappelari and some other European travelers had made Hanga designs for them. Currently there are also European and American "Japanese Woodblock Print" artists. It is partly due to the efforts of the book's so called travelers and their trade that production of prints continued in times when many Japanese considered these prints old fashioned. Because of this trade the prints were distributed to many countries. There Japans hazards of nature such as earthquakes could not reach them. Today some of the finest collections of these prints are outside of Japan. They had always been rarities outside Japan, with collectors and museums taking care of them, fashion or not. In Japan where they had once been mass produced many were lost due to social change and natural disaster. Especially fires that follow the earthquakes in timber built towns took their toll both in prints and in woodblocks for reprinting.

Even if You have seen only a few Hanga - You get the idea they were somehow connected with seasons and festivities. To the best of my knowledge they had a traditional use. The best description I can think of: a mixture between a calendar and a seasonal decoration - reused again and again like our X-mass decorations. We continue to use old family heirlooms on x-mass and eastern, as well. Eventually they will wear out.

Trade Marks

All mentioned Trade Marks are copyright of their respective owners.

Yours sincerely "Sterntaler"

Why Sterntaler's Applets?

I wanted a lucky nick from a fairy tale, such as other people had;
Or even a nick full of real magic to help on my page? But all I have:

"Sterntaler": the name of an e-mail account that stayed free of spam.
If this counts for magic nowadays, this site is magically enhanced?