I like the idea of sending the disc separately in its own case--though I never had a
mangled disc problem. It is the magazine itself that has a rougher trip. I received Issue
8 without the disc and hope that the disc is not far behind. The mailing label on the
back cover was half off, not torn, but detached. Flapping in the breeze, so to speak.
Keep up the good work on the magazine. I look forward to it each time.
--Robert Redmond
Thanks for your letter. It's not only heartening to hear from developers who agree
with me on this, but it makes a difference. Your opinions do count.
The disc is now in a separate case, but it's not mailed under a separate label. They
should have arrived wrapped cozily together. We'll send you the disc right away. Sorry
about that.
--Caroline Rose
TEXT FORMATS GALORE
There's a problem with the Macintosh Technical Notes which I'm finding with
increasing frequency in Apple's electronic publications. The only word processor I use
is Nisus, with which I can read MS Word 3.0 and 4.0 files without buying a Microsoft
product. This may be an unreasonable prejudice, but I bet it isn't uncommon.
But Nisus can't decipher fast-saved Word files. This means, I suspect, that the entire
set of new Macintosh technical publications is unavailable to me. Worse, I fear that the
next Developer CD is going to have lots of files with new, valuable, and (for me)
hidden information.
I know Apple is serious about electronic distribution of technical documents. I'm sure
fast-saving in Word is a great convenience to the authors, but surely using a format
not widely readable defeats the purpose of the exercise. I don't object to standardizing
on Word 3.0 or 4.0, so long as that format-- and not Microsoft's convenience
variant--is actually used.
Could you please ask your authors, when providing documents for publication, to use
an accessible format?
--Fritz Anderson
Thank you for alerting us to this problem. It was a snafu on our part. None of the files
should have been fast- saved in Word.
We know that having text documents in Word and MacWrit e ® represents a bias
toward these products. Unfortunately our alternatives are limited and we'll probably
have to continue using these products until the spring.
The good news is that we're working on a new text formatting tool. This tool will be
available on the CD and will be able to open, search, and print text documents available
on the CD. The dilemma of how to make every document available to every developer
has been a topic of discussion for some time. We're hoping this will solve the problem.
Again, thank you for your input. Developer feedback is the fuel of change around here.
Keep it coming.
--Sharon Flowers
NEW AND IMPROVED CD
I just received Issue 8 of develop , and was pleased to find that the developer's CD has
improved. Is this new?--Mike Caputo
Yes, starting with Issue 8 the CD is not just Developer Essentials, but the entire
Developer CD Series disc (of which Developer Essentials is just a subset).
--Caroline Rose
SUBMITTING TO DEVELOP
First of all, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of develop . The combination of excellent
technical articles (with required humor) and a CD-ROM of other developer materials
is unmatched. At least the flak surrounding the CD-ROM has finally calmed down in
the Letters section. I've always liked the idea from the start even though I purchased a
CD-ROM drive only last week.
I'm writing to find out if develop accepts articles from non-Apple employees. I
haven't looked through the back issues to see if there were any, but none come to mind.
If so, do you have a style guide for writing articles?
Keep up the great work!
--Paul-Marcel St-Onge
Thank you for your kind words about develop; it's always a pleasure to receive mail
from a big fan. Yours is the type of letter that editors in chief dream of.
We do indeed accept articles from non-Apple employees (see this issue's Editorial).
We have a vast array of materials ready for prospective authors, including an
introductory document, a short submission form, a set of detailed author's guidelines,
and even a Microsoft Word template for entering your article in a develop-like
format. We'll start with the intro and then send the rest as you need it.
On the subject of the CD-ROM controversy, it may experience a revival as a result of
Apple's dropping printed develop and Tech Notes from the monthly mailing to
Associates and Partners. We'd like to hear what developers think about that.
--Caroline Rose
ART ILLEGIBLE ON-LINE
Figure 1 from Michael Gough's article on Futures (Issue 7) was illegible when printed
under System 7 from a Macintosh II on a LaserWriter II NTX. It's just as illegible on
the screen. Any ideas?
The HyperCard® format on the CD is convenient for flipping to pages and articles but
is terrible for seeing all of a page at one time, since HyperCard's windows are not
resizable. Further-more, HyperCard is slow--especially from a CD. And searching is
neither fast nor intuitive.
--Steve Tyler
I looked into the problem and found out that a mistake was made when the electronic
version of Issue 7 was created: Art that's in EPS format is normally opened in an
application that interprets PostScrip t® and then saved as a PICT. This process wasn't
followed, with the result that the conversion to PICT was only an approximation, and
so not very legible. This will be fixed in Issue 7 on the CD.
Regarding the HyperCard format, a lot of people agree with you. We're working on an
alternate viewing mechanism--but this mechanism may not apply to develop for a
while yet. Meanwhile, HyperCard's windows are in fact resizable. If you're not able to
resize them, your memory partition for HyperCard is probably not large enough; try
increasing it.
--Caroline Rose
PLEASE WRITE!We welcome timely letters to the editors, especially from readers
reacting to articles that we publish in develop . Letters should be addressed to
Caroline Rose (or, if technical develop -related questions, to Dave Johnson) at Apple
Computer, Inc., 20525 Mariani Avenue, M/S 75-2B, Cupertino, CA 95014
(AppleLink: CROSE or JOHNSON.DK). All letters should include your name and
company name as well as your address and phone number. Letters may be excerpted or
edited for clarity (or to make them say what we wish they did). *