Easter egg hunt

Posted 12-21-2007 by Francis Reddy

Okay, it’s the wrong season, but bear with me.

Easter eggs, at least the software kind, are everywhere — from a hidden menu in a DVD to an obscure demo in an application program. In the software game, some rules apply as to what legitimately can be called an Easter egg. They can’t be documented or obvious, they must be reproducible by any user performing the right combination of actions, and they must be entertaining.

I've gone down this road because — you guessed it — our Tonight’s Sky applet has three of them. Now, I can’t tell you exactly where they are and what they do because that would be documenting them, and it would spoil the fun.

What I can say is that a certain keyboard and/or mouse combination in specific locations on Tonight’s Sky will cause the display to change. Can you find them?

Comments (5) | Tags: Francis Reddy

Comments

MPDavis 55744 said:

The only thing I could find was a zoom in effect. Is that what is supposed to happen?

December 27, 2007 7:22 PM
Francis Reddy said:

With the right keyboard/mouse combo, in the right spot, you can advance, roll back, and reset the date on Tonight's Sky. The most obvious effect is animation of the Moon's phases, but all the information for the Sun and planets changes, as does the special events "crawl" at the bottom of the display.
Oh, and Happy New Year!

January 1, 2008 12:21 PM
jfruhbauer said:

Let's see if I have this right: there are three Easter eggs, all of which involve changing the date (backwards, forwards and return to current - all of which have side effects) - I take it that F5 is not the “correct” keyboard stroke? Is there a fourth Easter egg for a zoom as mentioned by the prior blogger?

At least I found one of the three - thanks for the challenge.

January 7, 2008 3:29 PM
Francis Reddy said:

Yes. Three Easter eggs, all involving the date, as you describe. Another hint: Because they involve the date, you would do well to focus efforts on the word "Tonight" ....

On the "zoom in" -- I asumed MPDavis 55744 was talking about the StardomePlus tool, which does allow a zoom. I'm not aware of a zoom effect in Tonight's Sky (which, to be clear, is the almanac-like info panel at the top right of this page).

And I haven't been able to discover one with F5 using Firefox or IE7 (which, of course, doesn't mean it isn't there). Maybe this is a browser-dependent thing? At least, it isn't deliberately programmed into the applet as far as I know.

January 9, 2008 11:53 AM
jfruhbauer said:

Thanks, I have found all three - 'twas a nice little exercise. FYI, the F5 button calls for an update in the active window (works as a refresh in a browser).

January 9, 2008 1:41 PM