<%@ Language=JavaScript %> NET Clock

NET Clock 1.0

User's Guide (20 January 2003)

Table of contents:

What is NET Clock?
What makes the NET Clock so good?
How do I set NET Clock to run on my desktop?
How do I set NET Clock to run on my web page?
How do I configure the NET Clock?
How do I create my own skin for the NET Clock?
How can I get in touch with the creators of NET Clock?

 

 

 

What is NET Clock?

NET Clock is an implementation of New Earth Time concept. It is a new way of telling the time mostly targeted to Internet use. New Earth Time divides a day into 360 degrees and degree into 60 minutes. Time zones are no longer needed so the NET time is the same in each corner of the world. Even the net date may be different than your local time, since the NET day begins at 0 Greenwich Mean Time.

This is a great way of making an appointment in the Internet, since there is no way the parties can miscalculate the agreed time in their local time. Well, somebody still has to get up in the middle of a night but that is one thing that we cannot change, yet.

Read more about New Earth Time at: http://www.newearthtime.net

What makes the NET Clock so good?

Well, NET Clock offers a fresh new way of combining the NET and local time. As you can see from the picture below, the NET Clock has an outer ring that contains a view to the user's current local time as where the clock itself offers an analogue and digital representation of the NET time. Using NET Clock users can make appointments and still be aware of what the agreed time means in local time. And when the ring turns to the local time, it is a kind of a cool effect.

NET Clock can be run as a stand-alone program on your desktop or as an applet at your web page. NET Clock is highly customizable; user can create own skins where he/she can change all the graphics. Locations of hands, info button, digital display, digital display fonts, digital display behaviour and background colour are all customizable.

Last but not least, NET Clock is totally and 100% freeware. That is what makes NET Clock so good!

How do I set NET Clock to run on my desktop?

Before you start, make sure that your operation system has Java Runtime 1.4.1 or newer set up properly. In Windows you can do this by entering following command to command prompt: java -version. If set up properly you should get output that the current version is 1.4.1. If you get an error message telling that Windows cannot find java, then you should install the correct JRE version. You can get it for free from http://java.sun.com/jre/1.4.1/download.

If you are certain that you have 1.4.1 or newer JRE installed and still get the error message, do not panic. How to resolve this, is explained later on.

Download the NET Clock zip file from http://www.iki.fi/jtu/muut/NETClock/index.htm. Unzip the zip file you downloaded to some directory. You should get netclock_obf.jar, netclock.html, netclock.ico, netclock.bat, docs folder, containing this document, skins/default_skin folder with files default_skin.zip and default_skin.properties.

Now if your Java Runtime Environment is set up correctly, all you have to do is to start the netclock.bat and you are entering into a completely new time. If you are certain that you have JRE installed but got the error message mentioned earlier, then edit the netclock.bat to point directly into your javaw.exe e.g. c:\jre\bin\javaw.exe. Notepad can be used to edit the file.

Now you can create a shortcut to the netclock.bat into your desktop. Right click the netclock.bat and select Send > Desktop (create a shortcut). Locate the shortcut you just created and right click it. Select properties and Change icon... from shortcut tab. Browse to the netclock.ico and select it. Now you have a nice looking shortcut on your desktop.

Note: NET Clock will create ./NETClock folder under user's home directory. This folder will contain one property file which will store the last location of the NET Clock window on your desktop.

How do I set NET Clock to run on my web page?

Download the NET Clock zip file from http://www.iki.fi/jtu/muut/NETClock/index.htm. Unzip the zip file you downloaded to some directory. You should get netclock_obf.jar, netclock.html, netclock.ico, netclock.bat, docs folder, containing this document, skins/default_skin folder with files default_skin.zip and default_skin.properties.

Remember that in order to run the NET Clock on a web page, a browser with Java 2 support or browser with Java 2 plug-in is required. An example html file is provided which contains a html code that reacts when user does not have the right plug-in. In this case, the user is asked whether he/she wishes to install it or not. The code reacts only when the browser is either Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The netclock.html file contains an example how to set the NET Clock on your web page. Copy paste the code into your web page. Now upload the web page and all NET Clock files into a same directory structure as it was in the original zip file to your web server.

How do I configure the NET Clock?

With each skin, there must be a .properties file that describes how the skin will look and behave. You can see what skin is currently being used in NET Clock from the html code applet parameter skin.property.file.url. Or, if used as stand-alone, check the skin.property.file.url parameter from the netclock.bat file.

You can edit his file to make the NET Clock look different. Usually most users will probably change the background colour of the NET Clock in order to blend it to the web page but the file contains a lot of parameters, that can be edited. The .property file describes in detail what a particular parameter will do.

How do I create my own skin for the NET Clock?

Create custom graphics based on the default skin. Images does not need to be the same size than the originals. You can set the size and location parameters yourself. Before you start, please get to know the .property file in order to avoid any design flaws.

When the images are ready, you should zip or jar them into a single file and create your own .properties file with the same name as your zip file that contains images.

Now set the netclock.bat file's -classpath parameter to include your graphics file. Then change the application parameter default_skin.properties to point to your .properties file. Now the NET Clock should run with different skin.

Do the same to the web page. Change archive parameter to include your graphics file and set the skin.property.file.url to point to the .properties file.

Note: If you want to redistribute NET Clock, please make sure that all original files, including this user's guide and default skin are included.

How can I get in touch with the creators of NET Clock?

Niko Kortelainen (Coding) software_by_nikok@hotmail.com

Jouni Utriainen (Graphics) jtu@iki.fi

 

Niko Kortelainen