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From: PFTERRY@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: System 7.0 and tear-off menus
Message-ID: <7211@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Date: 1 Aug 89 14:31:04 GMT
References: <269.24AE0D88@bmug.FIDONET.ORG> <908@accuvax.nwu.edu> <694@pmafire.UUCP>
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services
Lines: 33

In article <694@pmafire.UUCP>, geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes:

> There has been a bit of discussion lately over System 7.0.  One of the
> issues being discussed is tear-off menus.  Apparently, they're going to
> be supported in the new system (no more hacks).  Several have said that
> they thought that _all_ menus would be tear-off menus under System 7.0.
>  
> Let the user decide whether a given menu will be tear-off or not.  For
> example, when I'm working on a HyperCard stack, I almost always tear off
> the "Tools" menu, because I often toggle between the browse, button, and
> field tools.  I think that with most programs there is one menu that is 
> accessed more often than others, and which menu that is might be
> different from user to user.  So let the user decide what tears and what
> doesn't tear.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to tear off your "pet" menu,
> but leave the others non-tear-off-able [for lake of a better word :-)]. 
> This would prevent accidentally tearing off a menu you don't really want
> hanging out in the air.
> 
> I don't know how practical this would be to try to implement, but I
> think it's worth thinking about.  What does everyone else think?

A "somewhat" commercial INIT called TOM (Tear Off Menus) allows you to set a
modifier key for tearing off a menu. For instance, you hold down the option key
to tear off a menu. This may sound awkward, but it often kept me from ripping
off a menu that I didn't want to.

Also, TOM allows you to specify which programs it works in, and it
automatically knows not to tear off "non-standard" menus (the palettes in
HyperCard and PageMaker).

Fred Terry
KS Geological Survey
Univ. of KS