Tiger breaks hyperCard?
Devin Asay
devin_asay at byu.edu
Fri Sep 23 11:19:55 EDT 2005
On Sep 22, 2005, at 8:17 PM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> Marty Billingsley wrote:
<snip>
>>
>> I'll jump in here, although my beef is more with the regular painting
>> tools than the color tools. We really miss HC's text tool for
>> "painting"
>> letters and words. Why did RunRev eliminate that?
>>
>
> That perspective is based on a philosophical position that may not
> reflect the inventor's intent.
>
> Rather than ask "Why did RunRev eliminate that?", it may better
> reflect the engine's unique history by asking "Why didn't they add
> that?"
>
> It may seem like just word-mincing, but there's a fundamental
> difference that may help newcomers understand other differences
> between Rev and HC (or any other xTalk implementation):
>
> RunRev was not originally invented to be a HyperCard clone per se.
> While it incorporates much of the same language and object model,
> it extends them in ways that add unique value to Rev, much like
> every other xTalk has its own extensions to differentiate
> themselves from HC.
>
> So to answer the question "Why didn't Rev implement a paint text
> tool?", my guess would be that they already had fully anti-aliased,
> resolution-independent text in fields.
>
> Under what sort of circumstances would there be a benefit to having
> bitmapped text for which fields could not be used?
>
> If a strong enough case can be made that benefits enough users I'm
> sure RunRev would consider it.
Here's one: A quick and easy way to display non-Latin characters in
your stack without worrying about whether the end user has the right
font installed, and without fretting over Unicode issues.
Another, similar one: Using a particular, weird font in a title or
splash screen, and not having to worry about whether the end user has
it or about cross-platform font metrics.
Granted, you can do this in Photoshop or other bitmap graphics
editor, but it takes more time. A consideration when you're under a
short deadline.
Devin
Devin Asay
Humanities Technology and Research Support Center
Brigham Young University
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