Copyright: Copyright Starfish Software   Fri Mar 08 11:06:16 1996


About EarthTime Plug-in
About EarthTime Lite 2.0

The EarthTime Lite plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0 brings you time information at a glance for cities around the world.

You specify eight cities, and EarthTime displays their clocks, with current time and date. Symbols identify your Home clock and the Local clock where you are currently located.  Another symbol lets you know when daylight saving time is in effect.  A colorful world map lets you see where the sun is rising and setting, and follow seasonal changes in daylight and darkness.

This special Lite edition includes a database of 55 cities to choose from.  In the full product, there are over 400 cities in the database, plus other features.

Here are some of the features of EarthTime Lite:

Essential facts about each of the cities in the EarthTime database, including useful information such as local language and currency, city and country telephone codes, and more.

Centering function lets you can center the map around a city of your choice, and display its name even if it is not included in the EarthTime database.

Time differences display shows a time comparison table for any two cities when you drag and drop one clock on another.

Clocks can be rearranged by dragging-and-dropping.


The EarthTime Full Product

The EarthTime full product includes features not found in this special Lite version:

Internet Time Synchronizer reads the exact time from Internet time servers and updates your computer's system clock.

Over 400 cities to choose from, each with information about language, currency, latitude and longitude, sunrise and sunset, and more.

A powerful conversion tool lets you convert among standard and scientific units of measure, in the English and metric (SI) systems.

For information about ordering the EarthTime full product, contact the Starfish Software WEB site.

 Click to go to the Starfish web site, or use this address: http://www.starfishsoftware.com.


EarthTime Settings

The Settings dialog box appears the first time you run EarthTime.

EarthTime displays clocks for eight different cities.  Choose the cities you want in this dialog box.  You can easily change your selections later. NOTE:  EarthTime will not run until you have completed these selections.

Dialog Box Options

Country

Normally set to All Countries, so all cities in the EarthTime database appear. To narrow down the city list, choose a country from the drop-down list. Only cities from that country will appear in the City list.

City

Click in the City field and type the first few characters of a city to find it. Then click the city name and click one of the right arrows to move it to the Local City, Home City, or Other Cities list.  If necessary, you can select a city in the Other Cities list and click the left arrow to make room in the list for a new city of your choice.

Local City (my current location)

The Local City is normally the same as your Home City. When you travel, you change the Local City to your current location. When you do, your computer's system time is reset to match the Local City time, and the Windows Time Zone dialog box opens so you can specify the Time Zone. A person icon [image] appears next to the Local City.

Home City (my home location)

The Home City is where you live.  A home icon [image] appears next to the Home City.

Six/Seven other cities of interest to me

Select the remaining cities whose clocks you want displayed in EarthTime. If your Home City and Local City are the same, you can choose seven others; if they are different, you can choose six additional cities.


Select a Different City

The Select a Different City command changes the city in the indicated time panel.  Right-click the panel you want to change, and choose Select a Different City from the menu.

Dialog Box Options

Country

Sets the country for which you want to see cities in the City list below.

City

Sets the city to display in the City panel.

Facts about the City

Shows the Facts about the City dialog box.


Facts about the City

The Facts about the City command displays information about the selected city.  Right-click the city panel, and choose Facts about the City from the menu.  The information includes:

City

Country

Country Phone Code

City Phone Code

Language

Currency

Population

Latitude and Longitude

Time zone

Sun, moon, and other almanac information.

You can change the Date setting to see the sunrise, moon, and other information for the current city for any date you select.  For example, if you want to know when daylight saving time starts in Sydney, Australia, in 1997, choose Sydney, open the Facts About dialog box and change the year in the Date field to 97.


Make (city) the Map Center

The Make (city) the Map Center command lets you shift the map to the left or right to center the current clock.  Right-click a city panel and choose Make (city) the Map Center.

Note	You can also center any location you point to on the map.  Move the mouse pointer to the location you want to center, and right-click. Click the Center Map Here choice. The pointer location is centered in the window.


Choose as Local Clock

The Choose as Local Clock command sets another city as your Local Clock city.  Right-click the city panel where you are currently located, and click Choose as Local Clock from the menu.

This option updates your computer's system clock to reflect the Local City time when you travel to another time zone. You can keep a different city set as your Home Clock city.

After you change the Local City, the Windows Date/Time dialog box opens so you set the time zone.  Click the Time Zone tab, and click on the map where your new Local City is located.  Note that some of the time zone bands on the map contain local variations; for example, clicking on Arizona on the map selects Arizona time, which is different from Mountain Standard Time in not recognizing daylight saving time.

A person icon [image] appears on the Local Clock. When daylight saving time is in effect for a city, a diamond [image] appears on its clock.


Choose as Home Clock

The Choose as Home Clock command sets another city as your Home Clock city. This city is set when you install. Changing this city changes the Home Clock city displayed in the Time Difference dialog box.

A home icon [image] appears on the Home Clock. When daylight saving time is in effect for a city, a diamond [image] appears on its clock.


Setup Clock
Clock Setup

The Clock Setup command displays a dialog box where you can set name, color, and time display options for the selected city.  Right-click a city panel and choose Clock Setup from the menu to use this feature.

Dialog Box Options

Naming

You can display the city/country name supplied by EarthTime, or type a different name that you want displayed.  This lets you display your city if it is not in the database.  Note: the Facts about the City will still refer to the city in the database, not the city whose name you type in the Alternate Name box.

Colors

Select the Text and Background color for the selected city panel. Once you choose the colors, you can click Apply Colors to All Clocks to use the colors for all clocks.

Display Seconds

Check the box if you want to see seconds for the selected city. Uncheck it to show only hour and minute.


Time Difference

The Time Difference command shows the time difference between two cities. Right-click a city and choose Time Difference to see the time difference between it and the Local Clock city.

Note	To see the Time Difference for any two of your eight displayed cities, drag from the clock numerals of one city to the clock numerals of the other.

Dialog Box Options

City 1

By default, shows the selected city. You can change this city by clicking the Browse Cities button. (Changing the city in this dialog box does not change the city displayed in EarthTime.)

City 2

By default, shows your Local Clock city. You can change this city by clicking the Browse Cities button. (Changing the city in this dialog box does not change the city designated as your Local Clock city in EarthTime.)

Difference

Displays the time difference between City 1 and City 2.

Comparison

Shows a graphical hour-by-hour comparison between the two cities of every hour of the day.

Switch Cities

Switches City 1 and City 2 in the Comparison.


Rearrange cities

You can change the order of cities in EarthTime using drag-and-drop.

To switch the position of two cities, drag the city name from one of the displayed cities to another.

Note	Dragging from one clock's time display (rather than the city name) to another opens the Time Difference dialog box, where you can view the time difference between the two cities.


Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions. Click the question to see the answer.

Question 1. What is EarthTime Lite?

Question 2. What is the Home City?

Question 3. What is the Local City?

Question 4. Can the Home City and Local City be the same?

Question 5. How many cities can I display simultaneously on the EarthTime world clock?

Question 6. How do I set the initial Home and Local cities?

Question 7. What if my city is not in the EarthTime city database?

Question 8. What are the three icons that I see on some of the clocks?

Question 9. When I change my Local City, why doesn't the Windows Time Zone setting change automatically?


Answer to Question 1

EarthTime Lite is a limited version of the EarthTime Plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0. This product requires Netscape Navigator 2.0, and Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 or later.


Answer to Question 2

The Home City is your home base where you live or work.


Answer to Question 3

The Local City is where you are now located. If you are using EarthTime Plug-in on a laptop computer and you travel, you should change the Local City to the city where you happen to be.  EarthTime sets your system time to match the Local City time.  When you change Local City, the Windows Date/Time dialog box opens so you can select the correct time zone.


Answer to Question 4

Yes.  In fact, usually they will be the same, unless you are traveling with your computer.


Answer to Question 5

Eight.


Answer to Question 6

When you launch EarthTime Lite for the first time, you see the EarthTime Settings dialog box, where you select a Home City, a Local City and six other cities to display on the world clock.  If the Home City and Local City are the same, you can choose seven other cities to display. EarthTime will not run unless this information has been provided.


Answer to Question 7

If your city is not in the database, you must choose the closest city to your location. Be sure it is in the same time zone (you can change the name that is displayed for the city, if you want).


Answer to Question 8

The House icon [image] indicates the Home City, the Person icon [image] indicates the Local City, the yellow diamond [image] indicates that daylight saving time is in effect in that city.


Answer to Question 9

EarthTime does not change the Windows Time Zone automatically, because Windows does not recognize all the time zones stored in the EarthTime database. The Windows Date/Time dialog box opens so you can change the Time Zone manually.