Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!rutgers!dorm.rutgers.edu!Bill From: Bill Sofer Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard Subject: SuperCard vs HyperCard Keywords: SuperCard Message-ID: Date: 7 Dec 90 16:44:43 GMT Sender: news@dorm.rutgers.edu Organization: Waksman Institute Lines: 38 Nntp-Posting-Host: waksman-ow-1.rutgers.edu I want to stimulate a discussion of the merits of HyperCard vs SuperCard. For some time now, I've been using SuperCard as a developmental environment for the creation of educational software. Prior to that, I had used HyperCard 1.2 to create a fairly large tutorial stack. To my mind, SuperCard 1.5 has several advantages over HC 1.2 (and 2.0). Here's a brief list of some pros and cons... PROS SuperCard makes use of colors - 256 different ones in text and graphics - with good control over multiple color palettes. SC can use draw graphics (and it has the capability of painting as well), which makes, among other things, for smaller files. It can also import draw objects from drawing type programs. SC is very adept at animation. It has several different ways of moving objects around the screen under program control. It can also import PICS animations from other programs. SC uses a windows metaphor, and is capable of displaying seven different window types. A single project can have many different windows up at once. Each window can have hundreds of cards in it. Each window can be very large. The result is a program that looks much more Mac-ish than a HyperCard one. CONS In my view, the biggest drawback to SuperCard stems from the fact that not everyone has (or can easily obtain) a copy of the application - as is the case with HC. To counter that, the creators of the program have tacked on the ability to build a double-clickable stand alone which can be run independently of the SuperCard application. But the stand alones are very large - on the order of 300 kbytes are added to whatever your stack size is - and can easily overrun the size of an 800 Kbyte disc. On the pro side, you can create an icon of your choice for the program, rather than a generic one (or one like HC provides). The program probably has other advantages and disadvantages relative to HC, but I would like to hear other opinions. ** I have no connection, financial or otherwise, with the makers of SuperCard ** Bill Sofer