May 28, 2000 - Implementing Moving Ads

May 28, 2000 Implementing Moving Ads Tips: May 2000 Yehuda Shiran, Ph.D. Doc JavaScript

function makeAd() {
  window.open("https://www.webreference.com/js/tutorial1/adpage.html", "ad", "width=468,innerWidth=468,height=80,innerHeight=80,left=0,top=0");
}

Here's the script in //www.webreference.com/js/tutorial1/adpage.html:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--
function startAd() {
  if (window.screen) {
    pos = 0;
    aw = screen.availWidth;
    window.moveTo(pos, 0);
    timerID = setInterval("moveAd()", 50);
  }
}
function moveAd() {
  if (pos <= 0) inc = 5;
  // 5 - so it does not pass the right edge
  // 10 - accounts for the window chrome
  if (pos + 468 + 10 + 5 > aw) inc = -5;
  pos += inc;
  window.moveTo(pos, 0);
}
window.onload = startAd;
// -->
</SCRIPT>

When adpage.html loads, the startAd() function is invoked. It only moves the window if the user's browser supports the window.screen object, which we need in order to calculate the width of the screen. The window slides at the top edge of the screen, from the upper-left corner (pos = 0) to the upper-right one.

We move the advertisement window 5 pixels every 50 milliseconds via the built-in setInterval() function. If you want to implement a "stop" button, it should run the following statement:

clearInterval(timerID);

Learn more on windows manipulation in Tutorial 1, Working with Windows.