var fadeColours = new Array("#999999","#E7F0F7","#E7F0F7","#E7F0F7", "#E7F0F7");
var current_item;
var current_text;
var old_text;
var current_index;
var INC_SPEED = 40;
var LINE_DELAY = 2500;


function isNS4() {
	// checks if we're in netscape 4
	if((document.getElementById)||(document.all)) 
		return false
	else
		return true;
}

function startTicker() {
	current_item = 0;
	current_index = 0;
	current_text = textArray[0];

	writeToTicker("");
	window.setTimeout("incTicker()", INC_SPEED);
}


function ticker() {
	// returns the ticker element from the DOM
	if(document.getElementById) 
		return document.getElementById("ticker")
	else
		return document.all['ticker'];
}


function incTicker() {

	current_index++;
	if(isNS4()) {
		document.ticker.color = fadeColours[0];
	} else {
		ticker().style.color = fadeColours[0];
	}
	if(current_index <= current_text.length) {
		writeToTicker(current_text.substring(0, current_index));
		window.setTimeout("incTicker()", INC_SPEED);
	} else {
		old_text = current_text;
		current_index = 0;
		current_item++;
		if(current_item == textArray.length) current_item = 0;
		current_text = textArray[current_item];
		window.setTimeout("fadeTicker(0)", LINE_DELAY);
	}
}

function fadeTicker(point) {	
	if(point < fadeColours.length) {
		if(isNS4()) {
			writeToTickerNS(old_text, point);
		} else {
			ticker().style.color = fadeColours[point];
		}
		window.setTimeout("fadeTicker(" + (point+1) + ")", INC_SPEED);
	} else {
		window.setTimeout("incTicker()", 1000);
	}
}

function writeToTicker(str) {
	if(isNS4()) {
		writeToTickerNS(str,0);
	} else {
		ticker().innerHTML = str;
	}
}


function writeToTickerNS(str, point) {
	document.ticker.document.open();
	document.ticker.document.write("<span style='color:");
	document.ticker.document.write(fadeColours[point] + "; font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:12px'>");
	document.ticker.document.write(str);
	document.ticker.document.write("</span>");
	document.ticker.document.close();
}