>> Hmm, apparently UNIX is not the only OS that can be >> somewhat less than intuitive :-( > Touch�! > In practice most Mac users will never have to mess with > file signatures. Problems will only arise when you import > files by unusual routes, e.g. when you have two different > operating systems on the same machine.
The HTML files for my "Embro, Embro" CD-ROM had been through five different signatures, sometimes twice, before they went through the burner. Most of it went BBEdit -> WriteNow -> MS Word -> BBEdit -> Nisus -> BBEdit -> Nisus -> Netscape over a period of five years, with odd bits generated by Acta, BarFly, SimpleText, Anarcho, Eudora, MSDOS text utilities and six different web browsers, all with corresponding creator codes at the start. I have never been without at least two file-type-tweaking utilities while doing all this. My favourites are TextChanger (free with BBEdit Lite) for bulk changes to many files and the shareware finder-enhancer extension Snitch for one-offs. There is a great utility called "Glidel" (written by someone in France) which, combined with a hierarchical Apple Menu launcher (I use BeHierarchic) lets you drag an arbitrary document onto an arbitrary application: click down on the document icon, wiggle mouse, let go when over the application menu label. This is wonderful when you're developing content with an application that is not the one the reader is going to use to look at it - e.g. edit HTML in Nisus Writer and drag it onto any browser to preview it. I suspect that if I ever get OS X I will be writing five-page Korn shell scripts to control this sort of activity. I was probably an Indian stationmaster in a previous life. Despite this kind of complication the Mac type/creator system is in fact helpful. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack> * food intolerance data & recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files, and my CD-ROM "Embro, Embro". ------> off-list mail to "j-c" rather than "abc" at this site, please <------ To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
