Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!tecot
From: tecot@Apple.COM (Ed Tecot)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Drawing gray text.  Help!
Message-ID: <32326@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 9 Jun 89 07:26:09 GMT
References: <1077@mailrus.cc.umich.edu> <1941@internal.Apple.COM> <22049@santra.UUCP>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 19

In article <22049@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@kampi.hut.fi (Juri Munkki) writes:
>In article <1941@internal.Apple.COM> lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) writes:
>>The system draws grayed text (e.g., disabled menu items) by drawing the 
>>text normally and then painting a gray rectangle over the text using 
>>patBIC mode.  This looks best with larger sizes and/or bolder fonts.
>
>Shouldn't we check for a color monitor & use color quickdraw to draw
>the text in gray instead of masking it with a pattern. Small fonts
>should be much more readable this way.

Actually, early versions of the Mac II did this, but user testing showed
that users did not perceive the gray items as disabled.

>	b)  What would you do with colored items (in a menu)?
>	c)  What happens when a close color match is not available?

And these aren't bad reasons either.

						_emt