enhancing a ticker? Javascript guru help sought.

[sol07]

1) Script Title:
Ajax XML Ticker (txt file source)
2) Script URL (on DD):
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex2/ajaxticker.htm
3) Describe problem:

Hi everyone,

First off, great site guys, very informative and useful, so thanks for all your efforts and for making this a great place to grow and learn :D

Now to my question:
I have searched for a ticker script that will do everything I want, and the closest I have come to is the above. I'm using it to display testimonials in a right hand div column on my site (which is not live yet).

The thing is, there's a few things it doesn't do that I would like, so if anyone can help suggest ways to achieve these, then great. Alternatively, perhaps someone could suggest a better ticker that does all of the things I need (I like the external file for adding text).

1) Image support - small thumbs would be great to accompany the text. I've tried adding [img] tags in the text files, but no good.

2) Is there any way to add a forwards / backwards function. The pause on mouseover is great, but buttons to rewind or forward to the next item would be awesome.

3) And now for the really big challenge!!
The testimonials are quite long in some cases and I would really like to wrap the text somehow - is it possible to add a maximum text or character length to the display (perhaps with a [more] link to the testimonial page itself?

Any help greatly appreciated,

Regards
Sol

[Jas]

1) Image support - small thumbs would be great to accompany the text. I've tried adding [img] tags in the text files, but no good.

2) Is there any way to add a forwards / backwards function. The pause on mouseover is great, but buttons to rewind or forward to the next item would be awesome.

3) And now for the really big challenge!!
The testimonials are quite long in some cases and I would really like to wrap the text somehow - is it possible to add a maximum text or character length to the display (perhaps with a [more] link to the testimonial page itself?

Regards
Sol

1) Use CSS (in header, after script)

<style type="text/css"> .message{background-image: url("YOUR_IMAGE");}<style>

2) Yes, but it will take some coding.

3) Again, CSS may be what you need: (in header)

<style type="text/css"> .message{over-flow: hiden;}<style>
Is it over-flow or overflow? I think it's over-flow. . .
Not tested, but I think they will work with some tweaking ?

Does this help, or am I off?

[sol07]

Hi Jas

Thanks for your time and suggestions,

As you have suggested, what I want will take a lot of coding, so I have tried several other ticker / scrollers to see if any are better suited to my needs.

I have come across and installed one that I think is much easier to work with, however, it's still not quite right, and so I need help to modify it.

I have posted this question here:
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/forums/showpost.php?p=98753&postcount=3

Any help greatly appreciated :)