function startTicker()
{
	currentLength    = 1;
	if (document.getElementById) 
	{
		tickerObject = document.getElementById("ticker");
        tickerText   = tickerObject.innerHTML;
	    tickerHref   = tickerObject.href;
        if(tickerText)
            runTicker();
	}
}

function runTicker()
{
	var timeout;  
	if(currentLength == 0)
		tickerObject.href = tickerHref;
	tickerObject.innerHTML = " " + tickerText.substring(0,currentLength) + tickerMark();
	if(currentLength != tickerText.length)
	{
		currentLength++;
		timeout = tickerSpeed;
	}
	else
	{
		currentLength = 0;
		timeout = tickerTimeout;
	}
	setTimeout("runTicker()", timeout);
}

function tickerMark()
{
	if(currentLength == tickerText.length)
		return "";

	if((currentLength % tickerMarkSpeed) == 1)
		return tickerMark1;
	else
		return tickerMark2;
}