The author of the article looked at your editor, and he thought it was so useful that he
submitted it to the CD. Thanks!
-- Caroline Rose
NEW FLOATING WDEF ON CD
I'm the author of a freeware floating window WDEF known as the Infinity Windoid. It
was one of the first such WDEFs to implement the System 7- style coloring of
windows, tinge colors and all. It includes support for a title bar down the left side of a
window, System 6's coloring of windows, multiple monitors via DeviceLoop, and
checking the available colors in 8-bit mode to determine whether the title bar should
be color.
I recently finished up version 2.5.1 of the WDEF, which adds the ability to have a grow
box, a title string in the title bar, and a slightly different style of title bar.
Please consider including this WDEF with source code on your CD. An appropriate
place for it would be with Dean Yu's floating windows code (Issue 15). Dean has stated
that his WDEF is not highly robust, and providing my WDEF with the source would
make a lot of sense. This would also help me meet my goal of making it available to as
many Macintosh developers as possible.
-- Troy Gaul
Thanks for bringing your WDEF to our attention. We've included it with Issue 15's
floating windows code on this issue's CD. Dean has also tweaked the code again since his
last updates. Check it out!
-- Caroline Rose
GREAT MAG, BUT LOSE LEDGE
My vote for your View From the Ledge column is: lose it! Dilbert (the comic strip by
Scott Adams) does a much better job at commenting on the political and social
structures of corporate America. Thanks for the fine publication. develop is the only
periodical that doesn't end up in the trash after I read it. Keep up the good work.
-- Dave Lamkins
The editor thanks you for your kind words about develop. As the author of View From
the Ledge, I've been volunteered to address your remarks about that column.
Scott Adams is unquestionably a genius. He has a certain wit and control of the English
language that hasn't really been equaled since Shakespeare, and an artistic flair that
I'm certain makes all Florentines weep. There's simply no way I can compete with this
caliber of raw talent.
No doubt Mr. Adams gets invitations to dine with the President. I've never met any of
the Presidents of Apple, let alone of the United States -- although John Sculley did pull
up next to me at a stoplight a few years ago, and I used to have a Jean-Louis GassÉe
mask hanging in my cubicle.
Mr. Adams has the advantage of dealing with a world where the characters are
two-dimensional, all of their worst traits are brought to the forefront, and the
situations these characters get caught up in border on the absurd. None of those things
can be said about the real office environment.
Having said all that, we're putting View From the Ledge on ice after this issue, and the
thaw comes only if there's a chinook in the form of a strong reader response.-- Tao
Jones
MISSING CD? A ROYAL PAIN
First, I'd like to say that I think develop is excellent. I await each issue with frenzied
anticipation and find each one absorbing, informative, well written, and funny.
I'd also like to comment on the Bookmark CD. I can't, however, because we don't get it. I
keep reading articles referring to "this issue's CD" and it's infuriating! We get our
regular monthly Developer CD with Apple Directions but no develop CD. Is this because
we're in England? Don't you like us any more? It's the royal family's fault, isn't it?
They've made us look stupid. They're nothing to do with us, honest. We'd just like our
CD.
--Richard Gibson
Some international developers receive develop without the Bookmark CD as part of a
mailing that includes the Developer CD and Apple Directions. Anyone who gets the
Developer CD doesn't need the Bookmark CD (see "This issue's CD" on the inside front
cover).
We still like our British readers, so from our standpoint you should have no gripe
with the royal family. Thanks for writing!
--Caroline Rose
DON'T FORGET TO 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 303-4DP, 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). *