Just to reiterate and add to what Simon said...
Having a PC to do Windows MC testing, to my mind is a must. I'm doing most
of my developing on a 500 MHz G3 PowerBook lately, and I have Virtual PC
running Windows 98 on it. MetaCard for PC running in Virtual PC/Windows 98
on a Mac is slow (dat's a lotta emulation in dere). It feels like a very
slow Pentium. On the other hand, I've got a Packard-Bell PC with a Cyrix
266 (no laughing out there), and it runs MC downright zippy. When you
imagine how cheaply you could get a used 266 MHz PC today, it really makes
sense to get one. My next project will be to get a second PC and run Linux
on it.
Anyone find it odd that Outlook Express does not recognize Linux as a real
word?
Anyway...
Somewhere in the list archives there's probably a list of Mac to Windows
issues. I know a few...
1. Windows does not recognize the Mac's "does not equal" sign
(command/equal.) HyperCard users love that key, and we've had to change.
2. MC defaults to the Helvetica font for a good reason - it's got the best
cross-platform compatibility. Even so, fonts size out slightly differently
on each platform, so you have to watch that.
3. Sometimes Mac-created graphics (GIF or JPEG) look funny on Windows,
depending on how they were created. Depends how they were saved.
4. The usable screen size is different. The mac has a main menu bar,
whereas Windows puts a menu bar in each window, plus the task bar at the
bottom of the screen. So your menu bar ends up taking up space in your
stack, plus there's the task bar. There's less usable real estate.
5. Windows files of course need the "dot 2" extension so that Windows knows
what the file is. MC for Windows won't recognize metacard stacks from the
Mac immediately unless you put ".mc" on the end.
There may be a few more I'm forgetting. Aside from these issues, cross
platform stacks work extremely well.
:)
Richard MacLemale
Instructional Technology Specialist
James W. Mitchell High School
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm
Please send bug reports to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, not this list.
