By popular demand I brushed up the RSS viewer applet of
column 7 and released it under the GNU Public License (GPL).
I have added some more user-friendly features to the news applet,
like mouseovers and styles. It is now fully customizable to fit your
Web site's look and feel. I'll be updating and optimizing
this applet in future columns so keep those suggestions coming.
At the end of column 7 I listed some feature wishes for a full-fledged RSS applet.
In this installment I deliver on the first three items concerning the user
interface. Now there are loads of applet
parameters for a sophisticated configuration and customization of the applet's
appearance:
Name
Type
Description
src
String
URL of RSS file
box.foreground
int
box foreground color
box.background
int
box background color
box.border
int
box border width
box.scroll
boolean
box scrolling
box.scroll.horizontal
boolean
horizontal/vertical scrolling
box.scroll.reverse
boolean
forward/backward scrolling
title.foreground
int
title foreground color
title.background
int
title background color
title.foreground.mouseover
int
title foreground color on mouse-over
title.background.mouseover
int
title background color on mouse-over
title.font.family
String
title font family
title.font.size
int
title font size
title.font.style
String
title font style
item.foreground
int
item foreground color
item.background
int
item background color
item.foreground.mouseover
int
item foreground color on mouse-over
item.background.mouseover
int
item background color on mouse-over
item.font.family
String
item font family
item.font.size
int
item font size
item.font.style
String
item font style
item.margin
int
item margin
item.separator
String
item separator
Scrolling is not yet implemented, so the respective parameters including the item
separator are not currently used. All the other properties concerning the applet's
appearance are functional, though, to ensure a smooth integration into your Web site's
look and feel.
In order to parameterize the visual appearance of the applet a model is needed
which breaks down the drawing logic into several components with color
and font attributes that can then be customized: The Rendering Model