This is a non-profit-making site which provides free software and information on a variety of subjects. All content is copyright, © Susan Foord, unless stated otherwise. You may view, copy and use anything you find here free of charge. However, you may not claim ownership of or sell any part of it. For example:
Some files have been zipped. You will need to unzip them after downloading to your computer (eg with WinZip, PKUNZIP or LHARC). None of the software requires further installation. Just create your own program group item or desktop shortcut.
Origami is the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. However, other countries have also had similar ideas. It is simpler to use the one term to cover all such designs. Some origami model instructions are available in HTML format using GIFs for diagrams.
The most universal form of art is pattern not pictures. Patterns are used all over the world on floors, walls, pottery, fabrics and now computers! The most beautiful usually involve repetition of a motif. The motif often has some symmetry, eg a reflection axis.
There are only 17 possible types of repeating patterns in a plane. Of course there are infinite variations within each type. Repeating patterns of simple shapes are called tessellations. Most people know how to tessellate squares or hexagons. Other grids are less well known (except in islamic art).
I have written a program that allows you to play with patterns. It consists of a small executable, some instructions and a lot of data! The version here is for PC with Windows (tested with 3.1, 95, 98, NT4 and 2000). As well as planar patterns it can generate circular and linear ones. You will need to download the executable, HTML help file and some data. If you can't unzip files then at least the sample data file will get you started. The 3 zipfiles contain collections of data files and each of these has many motifs. The final HTML file is for anyone wishing to know more.
The late bronze age and early iron age saw a new art movement in northern europe. Stones and jewelry were decorated with patterns of spirals, woven knots, animal and plant forms. The style reappears in religious decoration of the middle-ages (eg The Book Of Kells) and secular decoration of the Victorian era (Art Nouveau).
I have created a set of GIF files that can be used in HTML tables to create celtic knotwork. They can build borders around text, linear dividers or central features. There are other sites that offer celtic artwork, but probably none that let you build your own pattern.
See also the celtic knotwork patterns as bitmaps and in the pattern software.
Apple Macintosh invented icons to identify programs and files visually.
Microsoft ripped off the idea for Windows ICO files.
Now Internet Explorer 5 looks for a favicon.ico to store and display with any page you download from the web.
The file is supposed to be a 16 x 16 pixel picture in 16 colours (plus transparency and inversion).
Actually 32 x 32 pixels also works.
Also the file doesn't have to be called favicon.ico or be in the same directory as the page or the root directory.
To specify an icon put a line like
<LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="mydir/myicon.ico">
in the HTML header.
See the source to this page for example.
Note that IE5 doesn't show icons for pages from your local disk :-(
I have created a set of icons that you can use with your web pages. There is a reasonable selection already, but email me for anything else you'd like.
Microsoft bitmaps (BMP files) are used as desktop wallpaper in Windows. You have to wonder about people who think wallpaper goes on a desktop and windows go over that! Originally bitmaps tended to use 16 colours. Very soon 256 colours was common and then 16 million colours.
I have created some bitmaps you can use, but have mostly stuck to the original 16 colours for safety.
