From: torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie)
Subject: Re: More Amiga OS weaknesses and strengths
Originator: torrie@Xenon.Stanford.EDU
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: 10 Jan 93 01:24:15 GMT

mikeh@starnine.com (Mike Haas) writes:
>>>
>>>It happens on mine... to be specific, when I create an alias for an
>>>application and move it to the desktop, double-clicking will (about
>>>half the time) bring up a dialog box saying it can't find the
>>>application!  I have to find the folder holding that app and open it!

  I've never experienced this. Can you reproduce this?
>to fix you).

>But you were the one talking about how you could intermic graphics & text
>in Apples simple little Teachtext app.  I just pointed out that
>you were wrong.

  Well, you can, but TeachText doesn't have an interface to do so.
There are lots of TeachText files with graphics mixed with text.  They
just have to be created in a separate app (the shareware Belgian Postcards).

>>>Open a mac window that has one icon way off screen.  You have to scroll
>>>the window over there and drag it, scroll the window, drag it, scroll
>>>the window... to get it to be next to the others.   That's cause the
>>>"Cleanup Window" menu item only moves icons to the next "grid" spot,
>>>unlike the WB "CleanUp", which re-arranges all icons to be as visible
>>>as possible.

  Try holding down the Option key when choosing Cleanup.  This is documented
on the first screen of the online help.

>Here's a mac example, Marc.  Open a small window, Open a big window.
>Cover the small window with the big window so that it's completely
>covered.

>Now... there is no way on the mac to get at the small window without
>either MOVING or CLOSING the big window... both of those operations
>are "permanent" i.e. remembered by the mac until you change them again.

  I see you're not using NextPrev, which lets you cycle through windows
and applications with a Command-Tab keypress.


>>   Have you tried loading an icon larger than 80x40 into IconEdit?  The icon
>>gets truncated.  Commodore is trying to enforce size limits, too.  Good idea,
>>because the Amiga's rather large icons are the reasons that things like 
>>automatic feedback during drag&drop can't work very well.  

>So?  There is still a range of sizess available... not just one like on the
>inflexible macintosh.

  Actually, cicns are not limited to 32x32.  It's just that the Finder only
supports 32x32 icons.

>>>instead of fixing it, Apple released tech note #14 which lamely tries
>>>to justify why it's OK for GetNewDialog() to NOT return an error
>>>code!  (Basically sez if the user has mucked with a programs resources,
>>>he DESERVES TO CRASH!)

>But we're talking user-interface here, marc, and USER'S AREN'T SUPPOSED
>TO MUCK WITH MAC RESOURCE FORKS.

  What position are you trying to argue for?  You castigate Apple for
their excuse in one sentence, and then seem to agree with
their excuse in the next.

>  The fact that they can get themselves into
>so much trouble doing it is a liability.

  So, the Amiga handles users binary editing executable files, and
deleting parts of the data?  That is the analogous situation to the use
of ResEdit.

>And just think about the implications of Apples engineering fiasco of
>GetNewDialog().  It means that ANYTIME A MAC APPLICATION OPENS A DIALOG,
>IT MIGHT CRASH AND THE APPLICATION CAN'T DO A THING ABOUT IT.

  Yes, the application can do a thing about it.  Read the Tech Note.
If you're really worried about your app crashing when some user
has hacked out part of your program, then you can use GetResource
to check whether the dialog is there before displaying it. 

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evan Torrie.  Stanford University, Class of 199?       torrie@cs.stanford.edu 
Embrace rationalism, reject superstition.           Break away from the past.
"...there is only one thing worse than having marketing people on a project,
 and that is having no marketing people on a project."  - Larry Tesler.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy