Tutorials
Rolling a Revolution Application
Joe Wilkins February 27, 2007
We left off last week with having pretty much completed a completely new Revolution stack, named the “San Diego Activities and Coloring Book.” There were still a number of issues and more than a few scripting challenges to be resolved. I had assumed, somewhat naively, that the balance of the scripts would not be a great deal different than their HyperCard counterparts. As I dug in to completing them, I found that was not exactly to be the case.
How to Make Mac Icons
Wayne Linder February 26, 2007
A few weeks ago, Matt Cone showed us how Macinstruct’s beautiful icons, courtesy of the talented Gary Gehiere, came to be. In that article, you were shown the beginning stages of icon design – how the meaning of an idea is distilled down to a few carefully placed pixels. The end result, of course, is seen here - on Macinstruct - in the icons scattered throughout the website. But what about the development stage?
AirPort Card Alternatives: Surfing Wirelessly (On the Cheap)
Eric Buczynski February 23, 2007
When I won the eBay auction for my PowerMac G4, I was thrilled to discover that my “new” Mac came with an AirPort card. For those who don’t know, an AirPort card allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet and other networks. Since my PC downstairs was already connected to the Internet through an ISP, all I had to do to get wireless Internet access was purchase a wireless router for the downstairs computer, and I was on my way!
District Spotlight: Jordan School District
Kelly Dumont February 21, 2007
Jordan School District (JSD) is the largest school district in the state of Utah. JSD currently serves over 80,000 students in 10 cities and other unincorporated areas. If you were to look at a map of the Salt Lake Valley and divide it into thirds going north to south, JSD would cover the southern third of the valley from the Wasatch Mountains on the east to the Oquirrh Mountains on the west.
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.
Unified Communications in Education
Charles Thacker February 14, 2007
One Box to rule them all, One Box to find them, One Box to bring them all and in the network bind them. Unified Communications (UC) is most definitely becoming, if it hasn’t already become, the buzzword of networking companies talking about an organization’s next step in communication systems. There are few, if any, major networking companies—or even small and medium ones—that are not creating, marketing, selling, re-selling, or implementing unified communications systems.
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.