About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk

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All that’s needed now is for Microsoft to provide a “Use MDI” check box in the Office Preferences,which are located in the Tools menu just where you expect to find them. With thischecked, Mac Office would take over the desktop and provide a “Multiple Document Interface.”Since no other Mac applications allow multiple windows to be open at the same time,this would be a big hit.BBEditThis text editor is powerful and versatile 6 , and I probably use it more than any other piece ofsoftware, except maybe Mailsmith 7 . Therein lies the problem: I’ve just become sick ofBBEdit. See, I understand that part of its philosophy is getting the job done without a lot offlash or bloat, but if I’ll be using this piece of software day and night, I want it to be entertaining!As the number of functions in a program grows, so should its on-screen appearance. BBEdithas a huge set of menus, but it hides cool features, like shifting by spaces and reverse searching,behind the standard menu items until you hold down modifier keys. How drab.Bare Bones could start by adding icons for each menu item. Pulling down the Markup menucould be like a trip to Le Louvre 8 . Hover over the “Inline Elements” submenu if you likeimpressionists. Hold down the Option or Shift keys to reveal hidden commands and theiricons. Commands you seldom use would gradually move towards the bottoms of menus,eventually disappearing into the store rooms of the museum. Each month the featured commandsat the tops of the menus would change, rather like a rotating gallery. Individual menuitems could play unique sounds when selected; write an AppleScript to automate a task andhear the notes for each command come alive as music 9 .BBEdit should have customizable toolbars just like Word’s. It might be difficult to designicons for commands like “Enter Replace String” and “Find Again (Reverse),” and I’d probablyhave trouble remembering them, but that’s not the point. When I’m working in a texteditor, I don’t care much about getting work done. (I have Office for that.) I want to look atpretty icons, miniature works of art. Think about the joy of creating sets of toolbars withrelated buttons. They’d have to be flat, not look like buttons, to avoid becoming eyesores, of6. http://www.atpm.com/5.02/page11.shtml7. http://www.atpm.com/5.01/page8.shtml8. http://www.atpm.com/2.06/page13.shtml9. http://www.atpm.com/5.10/music.shtmlATPM 6.04 ← 20 →Columns: What I Really Think
course. Then there could be a “concentration” mode where the icons disappear, leavingempty grey rectangles; click around to reveal and match pairs of icons.I’ve been putting up with BBEdit since version 4.0, but at last Bare Bones seems to be gettingwith the program. When I ran into the president of Bare Bones Software 10 in the Applebooth at Seybold Boston, he confided that big changes were underway. “It’s time we gavecustomers the eye candy they’ve been clamoring for,” said Siegel. “BBEdit 2000 features fullycustomizable toolbars with five fruity ‘themes.’ The status bar will be ribbed like the iMac’scase.” Also, the product will finally play well with the Windows and Unix worlds. Accordingto Siegel, users will “no longer be burdened with control over DOS, Unix, and Macintoshline breaks.” Instead, a wizard will guide the user through seven easy steps to perfect crossplatformbreaking. (Stereo speakers are recommended.)This is good news for a company that’s never been known for listening to its customers. Perhapsthe hiring of technical support guru Robeson Kitchin 11 , who brings extensive experiencefrom the customer service departments of Quark and Symantec, can be credited withthe change of heart. In any case, Macintosh users can be assured that BBEdit 2000 will continueto suck less than competing text editors with five-letter names.ConclusionAs you can see, even some of the most popular Mac programs can benefit from a thoroughrethinking. I applaud Apple for encouraging us all to Think Different 12 , because although“different” is not necessarily “better,” at least it’s different. If you can’t beat ’em, at least don’tcopy ’em.“The Personal Computing Paradigm” is copyright © 2000 Michael Tsai, mtsai@atpm.com.10. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/mwny99/mwpics4.html11. http://www.robeson.org12. http://www.atpm.com/4.04/page11.shtmlATPM 6.04 ← 21 →Columns: What I Really Think
Page 6 and 7: in this issue is correct to the bes
Page 8: WelcomeWelcomeWelcome to the April
Page 11 and 12: ut power users are always hungering
Page 13 and 14: Jobs’s Compensation—Bad• •
Page 15 and 16: Columns: Deep Space MacAbout ThisOp
Page 17 and 18: While these improvements will reduc
Page 19: especially when combined with Playe
Page 24 and 25: Click once on the icon next to the
Page 26 and 27: Trash ‘n’ AppleFinally, iMacolo
Page 28 and 29: Apple Platinum theme, there are som
Page 30 and 31: lously calculating interlocking pit
Page 32 and 33: Anyway, for the sake of a good stor
Page 34 and 35: Columns: DSL and the MacSlices From
Page 36 and 37: get their heads together and resolv
Page 38 and 39: Overall, I think the Mac is a smart
Page 40 and 41: Columns: RumorsAbout This Particula
Page 42 and 43: or developing a similar and compati
Page 44 and 45: Rumormonger TakeoverDisappointed by
Page 46 and 47: the message will be bounced back to
Page 48 and 49: DogDoo.comWeb Address: http://www.d
Page 50 and 51: Genetic Savings & CloneWeb Address:
Page 52 and 53: Columns: Digital Audio and the Mac(
Page 54 and 55: mat converter, and I can work with
Page 56 and 57: But that’s just my stuff…there
Page 58 and 59: “Done!”Good! You’ve destroyed
Page 60 and 61: Dragging Sarah Michelle Gellar onto
Page 62 and 63: on them like a ton of bricks. (We
Page 64 and 65: Politely write to the ISP, explaini
Page 66 and 67: Columns: Networking Guru (VII)How T
Page 68 and 69: MacLAN for Windows 95, 98, and NT.
Page 70 and 71:
If you haven’t seen the older par
Page 72 and 73:
Stuff: Shareware RoundupAbout ThisS
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they’re accessible from the new O
Page 76 and 77:
Process Manager is a far easier way
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FM Egg TimerAuthor: Dave NaultWeb:
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evisions are substantial enough to
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There is little to report about the
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With Photoshop already loaded, pres
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supplied for single and 4x 35mm, 6x
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There are five ways to change icons
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ut if all you’re interested in is
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wanted Microsoft’s Web fonts inst
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For instance, Macintosh sites that
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The final citizenship problem I sho
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the trash. I have mixed feelings ab
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limited to holding single pages. Pr
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Finally, although IE 5 now supports
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hand cursor. This is the kind of fe
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the better browser for people who d
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Starting With the Notes on the Page
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Or My Microphone?Melody Assistant d
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Stuff: MP3 Player Roundup (II)About
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Tactile12000 2.0Company: Tactile Pi
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tude of different streaming servers
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host, and its ping time (how quickl
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Stuff: ViaVoice Millennium EditionA
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FAQFrequently Asked QuestionsFAQWha
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• Try turning Font Smoothing on a
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een stewing in the back of your min
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Trivia Challenge 6.04—Potpourri P
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Apple CoresCan you guess why there
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