var texts = new Array();

var bgcolor = "#ffffff"; // background color, must be valid browser hex color (not color names)
var fcolor = "#452c6b";  // foreground or font color
var steps = 50; // number of steps to fade
var show = 3000; // milliseconds to display message
var sleep = 30; // milliseconds to pause inbetween messages
var loop = true; // true = continue to display messages, false = stop at last message

// Do Not Edit Below This Line
var colors = new Array(steps);
getFadeColors(bgcolor,fcolor,colors);
var color = 0;
var text = 0;
var step = 1;

function start_fade( txt )
{
  if ( txt != "" )
  {
    texts[0] = "<font class='font_std' color='{COLOR}'>" + txt + "</font>";
  }
  fade();
}

// fade: magic fader function
function fade( txt )
{
  // insert fader color into message
  var text_out = texts[text].replace("{COLOR}", colors[color]);
  // texts should be defined in user script, e.g.: var texts = new Array("<font color='{COLOR}' sized='+3' face='Arial'>howdy</font>");

  // actually write message to document
  if (document.all) fader.innerHTML = text_out; // document.all = IE only
  if (document.layers) { document.fader.document.write(text_out); document.fader.document.close(); } // document.layers = Netscape only

  // select next fader color
  color += step; 

  // completely faded in?
  if (color >= colors.length-1)
  {
    step = -1; // traverse colors array backward to fade out

    // stop at last message if loop=false
    if (!loop && text >= texts.length-1) return; // loop should be defined in user script, e.g.: var loop=true;
  }

  // completely faded out?
  if (color == 0)
  {
    step = 1; // traverse colors array forward to fade in again

    // select next message
    text += 1;
    if (text == texts.length) text = 0; // loop back to first message
  }

  // subtle timing logic...
  setTimeout("fade()", (color == colors.length-2 && step == -1) ? show : ((color == 1 && step == 1) ? sleep : 50)); // sleep and show should be defined in user script, e.g.: var sleep=30; var show=500;
}

// getFadeColors: fills Colors (predefined Array)
// with color hex strings fading from ColorA to ColorB

// note: Colors.length equals the number of steps to fade
function getFadeColors(ColorA, ColorB, Colors)
{
  len = Colors.length; 

  // strip '#' signs if present 
  if (ColorA.charAt(0)=='#') ColorA = ColorA.substring(1);
  if (ColorB.charAt(0)=='#') ColorB = ColorB.substring(1);

  // substract rgb compents from hex string 
  var r = HexToInt(ColorA.substring(0,2));
  var g = HexToInt(ColorA.substring(2,4));
  var b = HexToInt(ColorA.substring(4,6));
  var r2 = HexToInt(ColorB.substring(0,2));
  var g2 = HexToInt(ColorB.substring(2,4));
  var b2 = HexToInt(ColorB.substring(4,6));

  // calculate size of step for each color component
  var rStep = Math.round((r2 - r) / len);
  var gStep = Math.round((g2 - g) / len);
  var bStep = Math.round((b2 - b) / len);

  // fill Colors array with fader colors
  for (i = 0; i < len-1; i++)
  {
    Colors[i] = "#" + IntToHex(r) + IntToHex(g) + IntToHex(b);
    r += rStep;
    g += gStep;
    b += bStep;
  }
  Colors[len-1] = ColorB; // make sure we finish exactly at ColorB
}

// IntToHex: converts integers between 0-255 into a two digit hex string.
function IntToHex(n)
{
  var result = n.toString(16);
  if (result.length==1) result = "0"+result;
  return result;
}

// HexToInt: converts two digit hex strings into integer.
function HexToInt(hex)
{
  return parseInt(hex, 16);
}