Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!dn5
From: DN5@PSUVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: Copying a background (hacker's tip & request for feature)
Message-ID: <85567DN5@PSUVM>
Date: 8 May 89 19:29:49 GMT
References: <39528@bbn.COM> <30160@apple.Apple.COM> <445@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 23

Yes, copying a background isn't hard to do.  Just choose Copy Card from
the menu, then change ANYTHING about the background (I just go to the
background, paint a dot, then go back to the foreground), then choose
Paste Card.  The new background will be a copy of the old background.  Then
go back and undo whatever change you made to the old background, and you
have two similar but distinct backgrounds.

There are many valid reasons to copy a background (or rather to want to
copy a background).  If I have several sets of cards which group into a
logical grouping, even if their backgrounds look alike, I put them in
different backgrounds so that I can reference them through their background.

I think that the trouble lies in that there is only 2 level: Card and
Background.  I would like to see multiple levels of background, with each
inheriting everything from its ancestors, and adding new things of its own.
That way you can change items at the most appropriate level, and do this with
the least effort.  In many ways HyperCard tries to be object-oriented, but
it does this in a very limited way.

These thoughts (chaotic as they are) are merely my two cents worth in this
discussion.

                               Jay, etc.. (D. Jay Newman)