Mac
Creating a New Cross-Platform Application in Revolution
Joe Wilkins February 21, 2007
When I first started thinking about this Chapter, I lost focus and started thinking about knowing all there is to know about Revolution. That was naive, and pretty stupid of me. I had exposed myself to a little bit of the vastness of Revolution and started thinking in grander terms than my original conception, which was to provide the old HyperCard crowd a really good excuse to shift their long-standing HC devotion to Revolution by demonstrating that Revolution can be a fairly simple extension to their HyperCard addiction.
How to Display the Date in the Menu Bar
Matt Cone February 20, 2007
When getting settled into my new MacBook, it quickly became apparent that I did not want to rely on the calendar widget to find the numeric date. I simply wanted to view the date alongside the time in the menu-bar. Unfortunately, this is not an option in the Mac OS X operating system. However, by making some minor modifications, you too can easily display the date in the Mac OS X menu-bar without additional applications.
How to Fix a Dead Pixel
Stephen Korecky February 19, 2007
There comes a time in the life of every computer where one of the pixels on that beautiful LCD screen decides to not “play along” with the others. Usually it does one of two things: It stays one color and refuses to change (Stuck Pixel). It goes to sleep (Dead Pixel). There is always a slight chance that the pixel is dead for good. But 90% of the time it can be fixed.
How to Clean Your Mac (On the Cheap)
Eric Buczynski February 15, 2007
I’ll admit it: I’m not a neat freak. And the fact that my gear is in an attic where dust likes to accumulate doesn’t help the situation. The dust accumulates in the strangest of places, and one of those places is near my computers. So every now and then I’ll open up the Mac and do a little bit of cleaning here and there. I don’t stop there, however. Other surfaces and peripherals also get the cleaning treatment.
Converting HyperCard Stacks to Standalone Apps Using Revolution
Joe Wilkins February 14, 2007
First of all, I want to say that my recent voyages into the land of Revolution have started taking their toll on me. Something that I, simplistically, had thought I was “up to” as a challenge in teaching has started to become far more. I’m not giving up; I just need to set the record straight: I’m a beginner, just like many of you who are reading my offerings, and my tenet “the best way to learn is by teaching” still remains in place.
An Absolute Beginner's Guide to the Terminal
Ric Getter February 12, 2007
Sitting discreetly in Utilities folder (nestled nearly unnoticed amid your applications) is one of the most powerful tools ever created for the Mac. It is simple and elegant, yet can be intimidating (if not terrifying) and has the power to cure some of your computer’s most puzzling ills. It also possesses the fearsome ability to wreak unimaginable havoc on your system. We are talking, of course, about the Terminal, that magnificent gateway to the hidden underpinnings of the Mac OS.
How to Print Borderless Photos with iPhoto
Dave Strom February 9, 2007
We use iPhoto for our digital photos. (Who doesn’t?) For this tutorial, we wanted to perform two iPhoto tasks: print 8.5x11 photos, and crop a portrait photo from a landscape original. We used iPhoto ‘06 on Mac OS 10.4, with a Hewlett-Packard 7960 Photosmart printer. Differences in printers and in the iPhoto and OS versions should not make for too dissimilar of a process, provided the OS is in the 10.
Convert a HyperCard Stack to Revolution
Joe Wilkins February 6, 2007
I had every intention of responding to readers’ comments about my last column on Revolution, and I’m going to do just that; but we’re also going to start with some serious Revolution activity after I make a few corrections to my previous offerings. Thanks to several of the RevList members, it was brought to my attention that I made a couple of erroneous observations and remarks. Should you go back to reread my previous articles, you will notice that I will have changed them a little to reflect the things that I am about to reveal - though not immediately!
How to Create Slideshows Using iDVD
Dave Strom February 5, 2007
Do you want to show off your photos on something besides your Mac? Then you need to create a slideshow and burn it to a DVD! You’ll be able to play your slideshow on any DVD player. Why do we use iDVD instead of iPhoto to do this? We tried creating slideshows using iPhoto with our 800MHz G4 iBook (1 GB of RAM and a SuperDrive), and with a 1.5 GHz G4 desktop.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Mac Icon Design
Matt Cone February 4, 2007
Several months ago, Macinstruct decided to commission a set of custom-designed icons for its new website. We had no idea what we were doing. After researching the heck out of icon designers and emailing more than a dozen of them, we found somebody we liked who managed to create the beautiful icons you see today on Macinstruct. This article is a crooked chronicle of our experience. What the @#$%?! Why Mac Icons on a Website?