CrossWWWord Sold to Websters

The first online interactive crossword was created by Dan Zen and a license sold to Websters (for a CD ROM) for $14,000.

At the time, the limit to the number of layers in Director was forty, yet, there were hundreds of squares that needed to be controlled. Dan Zen applied a unique way of tiling or stamping the squares by discretely moving one single layer and setting the trace function to leave a trail. The crossword could read in external text files and dynamically adjust to display the clues, the numbers, and the tiles. Hints and solutions were provided. As you moved around the crossword the appropriate clue would be highlighted and conversely, as you clicked a clue the crossword would highlight.