I became interested in Java as a way to produce programs that graphically mimicked real-world products so that people could contribute suggestions, preferences, and desires before committing to actual target hardware and software.
It's been my experience that no matter how hard you try to describe what you have in mind, people will not give it the attention it deserves until halfway through the implementation phase. They will then see what has been done and ask you to change something. Even if this means major re-work. Because they were not willing to spend a couple of hours reading the proposal that took you a week to write, they've effectively wasted the fortnight you spent programming the implementation you proposed.
It is an acknowledged fact that the firmer a project is controlled at the start, the easier and cheaper it is to make changes or correct problems. By the time problems get beyond being shipped out, fixing them can be so expensive as to wipe out the profit margins of the product.
Thus it was worth my time to write programs to present proposals in a visual and interactive manner. For now, my visual models have been limited to Windows console applications using coloured ANSI text and box characters. But my HTML and rudimentary Java skills have allowed me to produce visual models of display modules I was interested in using for forthcoming projects.
Before opening any of these experimental pages, be aware that some machines have had problems such as coming to a complete halt requiring a hardware reset. Save any files you are working on at the moment, before proceeding.
128x18 pixel graphic display, near
actual size, using applet borrowed from Halifax website
128x18 pixel graphic display,
enlarged, using applet borrowed from Halifax website
128x18 pixel graphic display,
enlarged, using a publicly documented conveyor.class object.