I first began making these applet images at the end of 1998. My site was hosted by xoom.com but after they decided to put frames on pages containing their advertisements I decided to move my site to redrival.com.

I went through the usual web design lessons, plain white pages, frames, over-the-top backgrounds and then explored tables. These looked mighty in IE but Netscape handled them poorly. The current look is designed around tables which hopefully Netscape handles better.

Java applets are designed to be run in the modern browsers, from 4.0 up and involve the programming language Java, setting the image effects. Although the major browsers still handle this in subtle ways... they are getting more closely aligned. However, web tv is unable to view java applets :(

The graphic program I use is Jasc's Paint Shop Pro and I have found this ideal for the transparencies that are required for the applet overlays. This program is available as a trial for 30 days and is well worth buying for any graphics work. I have tried Photo Shop but it is too expensive for me to buy. However, those who can afford it, it is a top end graphic program and can produce stunning graphics.

Along my travels in this form of computer art many others have helped me, and in particular, I am indebted to Uncle Gus who responds with an e-mail to guide me over the trouble spots.

The later half of 2000 has seen the tutorials finished, tested and up loaded. There were many requests for an overlay tutorial and those that have made these know how frustrating they can be to line up the overlay correctly. I put off making this tutorial because of the problems of covering all possibilities. However, the horizon parameter in David Griffiths latest applet enables the overlays to be placed more precisely.

Over the Xmas break, I organised these pages into folders and included SSI for the navigation. This will make it easier to update the additions. I have also explored Flash and the Terragen programme. Web pages are a long learning curve. *smile*

2001 has seen me join the Battle of the Ancients and this has cummulated in winning the Rule the World title. This involved many hours visiting sites, signing guestbooks and voting. I have also joined the BOTA staff as a Guardian and as the Team Leader of Pharoah's. I have made many netfriends and so glad I joined.

2001: This site won the Champions of Champions at Battle of the Ancients. This is a competition between all the sites that won the Champion of the World title. I competed with 3 very fine sites over a two week period.

This site has now been moved to a paid host, rivalpro.com, and I continue tweaking as I discover new things.

2002: This site won the Champions of the World on April 5th 2002.

I dabbled with overlays that have bits coming out of the applet - want to explore this some more.