Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!dutrun!johan
From: johan@dutnak2.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Better inter-application graphics handling in System 7
Summary: Please keep my hotlink a little longer in the oven.
Message-ID: <1128@dutrun.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 90 10:39:14 GMT
Sender: tnaknws@dutrun.UUCP
Reply-To: johan@dutnak2.UUCP (Johan de Haas)
Organization: Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Lines: 30

I find that the current Macintosh graphics handling is often 
quite lousy. Let me illustrate that with two examples:

-   When you copy graphics from MacDrawII to Word 4.0 or WriteNow 2.0,
    linestyles (dotted, striped) and line thicknesses usually get
    mixed up. When you resize the MacDraw graphic in Word, e.g. a
    flowchart, things misalign, causing the text and the boxes around 
    it to overlap.

-   We use IGOR, a sophisticated "plotting" application that I can
    heartily recommend. Suppose you plot a smooth function like a 
    sine. Directly printing from IGOR to the LaserWriter gives perfect
    smooth results. However, exporting the graph to Word or MacDraw
    and printing no longer gives a smooth result. Doing so, the
    function looks "piecewise continuous".

So when making publications, we still end up with cutting and pasting,
using real scissors and glue. A Mac programmer omce told me that 
these problems are due to the limitations of Quickdraw, which is used
when copying something to the clipboard.

I would like to know if these problems are going to be addressed in 
new system software. I think they should, because presently, two
"standard tools" like Word and MacDraw can't communicate properly with
each other.


Johan de Haas     tel. +31 15 785188   E-mail: johan@dutnak0.tudelft.nl
Delft University of Technology
P.O Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands