TechStuff
[HOME] [VISIT ONLINE VIRTUAL PET ] [ONLINE CRITTERSHOPPE] [VIRTUAL PET]

. . . TECH SUBJECTS . . .

CritterStickers Set Home Page Cookies Wha's with AOL?
BUGs Technical Odds 'n Ends  

CritterStickers

www.cybercritters.comGet a CritterSticker for your Home Page...
Right Click on the image and Save Image As... or Save Picture As... to get Your CritterSticker:
HTML Code:
Copy (Ctl+C) and Paste (Ctl+V) the HTML Link Code to your page if you want your visitors to be able to Click thru to CyberCritters.Com:
HTML LINK

<a href="http://www.cybercritters.com">
<img src="owner.gif" border=0>www.cybercritters.com </a>

[TOP]


 

Make CyberCritters Your Browser Home Page

Setup Your Browser So CyberCritters comes up as your Home Page
Netscape
Click: Edit
Then: Preferences...
Under: Home Page, fill in Location: with http://www.cybercritters.com 		Internet Explorer
Click: View
Then: Internet Options...
Under: Home page, fill in Address: with http://www.cybercritters.com
It's easy... Now you can click on the Home icon to jump right to www.cybercritters.com

[TOP]


 

Cookies on This Site

www.cybercritters.com Uses cookies like this...When you visit the CritterShoppe to choose a critter to visit and name, www.cybercritters.com sends a request to the server to make a cookie. If your browser is set to warn about cookies, you will be told that the server wishes to send you a cookie. Netscape will actually tell you what is in the cookie. What's in your cookie is your critter type, its current "state" (happy, sad, sleeping, and so on), your name or handle you gave while in the shoppe, and the email address you gave and what visit number you are making to the critter.
TIP: If you haven't already figured it out, wherever you leave your critter, (by hitting the "BYE" button) the action tells the server to change your cookie so on your next visit your critter shows up just the way you left it... The server otherwise won't know what visit number you're making to your critter because it won't have a chance to update your cookie.
Nothing is more adorable than coming back for a visit to see your critter resting, or sleeping or happy (or even sad)... Try it... You'll see...
Don't forget to hit the BYE button when you leave your critter.

[TOP]


 

What's the wierd thing that happens with AOL???

Easiest FIX for AOL users...
Bring up AOL as usual... THEN bring up Netscape or Internet Explorer 4.x Now CyberCritters AND ALL OTHER WEBPAGES will work correctly!!!

This site was originally written using only JavaScript. To make the critters play, JavaScript features are used that are only operational in Netscape 3.x or later. That means the features don't allow the critters to operate in older browsers. Since Microsoft IE 3.x is equivalent to Netscape 2.plus a little, it cannot use the cybercritters' JavaScript features. Www.cybercritters.com releases 1 and 2 required IE 4.x or later and AOL's current software gives its users IE 3.x...
The fix shown above for AOL Users showed up in CyberCritters Release 3.0.

[TOP]


 

Bugs

CyberCritters is a computer program, like a word processor or something...

Not just an ordinary HTML page, cybercritters is actually a program which is written (Releases 1 and 2) in JavaScript. There are known bugs in here and we want to know if you find any other Wierd Things going on.

    Known Bugs in Rel 2.0
  1. Browser Burp
    • Sometimes the browser doesn't get everything loaded from the server and it causes an error in the script when you go visit your critter.
      The error is (often-not always): "document.critter has no properties"
      The fix is: "Refresh" your browser
  2. First Critter Ever, makes a boo-boo
    • With older browsers, the first time you get a critter you can get an error. Once your cookie is in place, things work OK.
      The error is (often-not always): NaN (One of the elements is Not a Number)
      The fix is: "Refresh" your browser
  3. Write a story in IE and you must refresh your browser
    • Not really a bug, it's an issue with Microsoft's interpretation of how the browser should operate
      When you finish a story and click Enter to submit: You go to your story button. When you click that, IE takes you to the very top of the story page because you have to refresh the page of stories to see your latest entry. Sorry. We'll find a fix... Maybe in Release 3???
      Netscape 4.x does this just right...
  4. Animations don't work right at first...
    • Not really a bug either, CritterMaster hasn't figured out a way to lock up your cursor clicks until all the images load into the page.
      When you get your critter (first time, or anytime you re-visit the critter shoppe) the first time you play with or feed your critter, you may get jerky or partial animations. The play button racks up tired and hungry points like crazy, but nothing happens to the critter.
      It's because all the images haven't loaded into your browser from the server yet and you already started playing.
      The fix is: "Refresh" your browser. Watch messages at the bottom of your browser, wait till the Document Done message appears. Everything will work great after that.
Discover something wierd or bizzarre? Report Bugs to CritterMaster


[TOP]


 

Miscellaneous

Tech Tricks for HTML "Hackers" from crittermaster@cybercritters.com

Not to be bragging or anything, but there are some neat "tricks on this site... In the spirit of Webmasters I'll point some out and you can go look at the code to try 'em on your home page if you like futzing around with HTML.

    LOADING MESSAGE
  • Look at the "LOADING" message in the top banner of the home page (noflash.html).

    When the page first loads, the table holding the banner (just a bgcolor statement using White as the font) brings in an image loading.gif. This lets the user know they have arrived at the page and the loading process is taking place. It shows up right away on the browser and that's important on dialup lines...

    Getting rid of the gif. In the JavaScript there is a function called quickMessage() which exists to replace the first gif with another called blank.gif which is the same size as the first gif, but is simply a solid color, the same color as the background of the table cell. In the body tag of the html, a JavaScript onLoad action calls quickMessage()and erases the LOADING message by replacing the gif... Also whenever someone mouses over any anchor onMouseOver calls quickMessage().

    Thermometer
  • The first critter site used only critter poses to tell you the critter's condition

    We weren't trying to make a new video game here, just making a new toy for people who want fun web experiences. We made the images as small as possible and always try to keep image sizes below 8K. Animation sequences are simply for effect and critter poses are designed to allow the critter to reflect what state it is in. The first site Alpha test showed that people liked to know what condition their critter was in and critter differences meant it was hard to see what the critter was saying with body language alone.

    Look at the code for critter.html you will find a function called showLevel(). It updates the text fields in a form named thermo with textfields named Xmeter. It's a pun on Thermometer. The other functions can call showLevel() and the critter's condition is displayed in the form at the bottom of the screen (it's in a table).

    Note the commented-out fields in showLevel(). You guessed it... Future versions of the site will give the critters more functions. Watch for that and more fun code on the site...



[TOP]


 

CyberCritters.com, The Early Days

www.cybercritters.com Is in its third revision... Dad's Imagination had to be backed up with some technology. Dad brought up the first critter site as Revision 1.0, then he fixed things, added some critters and made several changes to improve the site. The end result was the second revision of the site, which did a lot more, had features like critter stories, but wouldn't allow AOL users to play. Now Rev 3 is coming. Feb 2006 we started remodeling the website into Rev 3, which, adds flash. To celebrate - we are giving out DESKTOP VIRTUAL PETS. The key cybercritters can now sit on your desktop!
[TOP]



[HOME]
[PLAY]
[CRITTERSHOPPE]

© Copyright 1998, cybercritters, All rights reserved.