Subject: Re: factors to consider for the Mac port
From: Bryan Prusha (bryanp@wolfram.com)
Date: Sat Feb 12 2000 - 21:45:02 CST
At 6:21 -0600 2/10/00, Larry Kollar wrote:
>Leonard Rosenthol wrote:
>
>>>-we should find a way to generate MacOS resources for strings.
>>
>> Why? Keeping them just as they are is a MUCH safer way to go for
>>making sure the Mac port always matches the others. Also, it's makes the
>>localizations issues easier!
>
>Uhhhh, I thought putting strings in resources was what made localization
>easier on a Mac app... then again, there are quite a few translations
>already so this might be a moot point.
>
>If the strings are kept as-is, will it affect the users in any way?
>Remember, a lot of Mac users will turn their noses up at an app that
>looks like a quickie port.
Yes, quickie ports are nasty things. I think the most imortant
thing in making the distinction wether something is a quickie port is how
the interface appears and behaves. I believe the use of support files
tucked nicely away in their primarily non-interactive layout shouldn't
cause users a terrible amount of inconveniance.
>This also applies to graphics files... if not keeping them in resources
>doesn't affect the usage, then go ahead. It just makes user customization
>harder, but I'm probably one of the few who would ever bother.
>
>>>For the setup (that can come later as installing a Mac program is often
>>>easy), we can use Apple's Installer that is Free.
>> Nope, it is NOT! You have to pay Apple $$ to license the
>>installer...
>
>I agree with Bryan Prusha, who said:
>
> a good Mac app shouldn't even need an installer. ... Simply
> dragging the layout directory is all a good Mac App should
> ever need.
>
>When the app is so big it needs to be compressed to fit on a CD, it
>probably needs an installer. I don't see AbiWord turning into that kind
>of monster. Everything should go in a single folder, which could be
>dragged off the CD to wherever the user wants to put it. This would
>also allow people to run AbiWord right off the CD, if they were so
>inclined.
>
> Larry
Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------
Bryan Prusha Wolfram Research, Inc.
Coding is life. The rest is just 1's and 0's.
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