Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpfcdc!bayes
From: bayes@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Scott Bayes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: What to do about > 32K of data?
Message-ID: <10520023@hpfcdc.HP.COM>
Date: 30 Mar 89 21:53:15 GMT
References: <938@Portia.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: HP Ft. Collins, Co.
Lines: 80

>>In article <10520022@hpfcdc.HP.COM> bayes@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Scott Bayes) writes:
>>
>>BTW, to call HC, in its present incarnation, a "hypertext application", seems
>>a bit farfetched. Will 2.0 give us real text links. Huh? Huh? Please!
>
>
>How do you like the HyperText functions in the Developer's Stack?  
>With that method, you can either double click or option click on
>the linked word.  You can signify that the word is linked by making
>it all CAPS, putting *'s around it, etc.  Not optimal, but certainly 
>workable.  I havn't actually written any scripts this way, having
>just gotten the stack today, but the examples they give work fine.

Which functions were those? I browsed the stack, but nothing sprang
to my eye. They might do the job, but I really don't want to mess with
the body of the text; just perform some click on a selected word
and get a chance to define a link to some location in another card.

To Dan,

Though it may not sound like it, I'm not really after the kitchen sink. I
think a few well-considered enhancements can improve HC a lot. From my
particular bias:

on theMessage
  send BIAS to APPLE
end theMessage

	text links, on the order of ease-of-use of current button linkage
	remove 16-bit limits (32K fields, etc)
	local state for background buttons
	speed improvements esp. for large numbers of fields/buttons per card
	tighten up language, remove some accidental idioms
	resizable cards
	let DAs be non-modal (I have to close ScrapBook to access HC)
	Script Manager support (are you Script Manager compatible already?!?)
	user-definable objects (you figure out what that means. I can't yet)

Other stuff might be nice, but not necessary:
	
	spreadsheet type fields (tab columns or some such mechanism??)
	global state for background fields (can almost do with paint text)
	font/size/style control within fields
	object-oriented draw (can always use McDraw, SuperPaint, etc)
	
Some things I wouldn't want to see you waste your time on:

	more functions, etc (what are XFCNs/XCMDs for??)
	yet more variations on find, sort, etc
	arbitrary-shape buttons, fields, etc
	
My inner model for text links:

import a chunk of text, free-form stuff, into a field. Existing import 
  buttons OK
read through it.
click with some tool to start a textlink
got to the target card for the link, and click on something there to complete
  the link. The target is not just the card, but some object or part of one
  on the card.

When traversing links:

the link is visible, but text hasn't been modified (autohilite by HC is OK)
click with browser tool
get transported to target, with hilight on/in target object

The point is I don't need to "chunk up" the text, or modify it to show
existence of links. Just "point and shoot." I'm lazy.

>
>-- 
>Michael S. Czeiszperger   | "He seemed to be able to see the threads
>Systems Analyst           |  which bind the Universe together..."
>The Ohio State University | 2015 Neil Ave, Columbus, OH 43210
>ARPA:czei@icarus.eng.ohio-state.edu  PAN:CZEI (614) 292-0161

Thank you both for your indulgence.

Scott Bayes