Understanding Aqua Windows

[Ken Ray]

> Setting the backgroundColor to empty (not false) doesn't work 
> for me in 
> Panther. The docs say that the stack has to be a dialog or a 
> palette to 
> have pinstripes because of the Aqua Human Interface Guidelines.
> 
> That seems pretty silly though. Check out Mail or TextEdit. 
> You'll find 
> pinstripes there in a document-oriented setting.

Yet another example of Apple violating its own rules; in fact, the whole
metal look was supposed to be reserved for iLife products (iTunes,
iPhoto, etc.) but in Panther they decided against it. 
 
> Rev needs to be changed, especially if we're doing silly things like 
> using PNGs. The system is providing the service for consistency, we 
> should be using it.

Actually, Rev is adhering to the Aqua HIG, as it should. If you want a
window to have the grey lines when it's a document window, you can
either set the style of the window to modeless (assuming you don't want
a modal dialog or palette), or set the backgroundPattern to an image to
a snapshot of a section of the striped background. When and if Apple
decides to revise the HIG to make the lines appropriate for document
windows, I'm sure Rev will follow suit. But to NOT follow the HIG
because someone else ISN'T (even Apple itself, occasionally) is just
"bad form". ;-)

Just my 2 shekels,

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/