Subject: Ten Best Tips...
From: [email-masked] (Gareth Jones)
Date: 31 Oct 1995 08:36:45 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2

Gareth Jones' Ten best tips for the Apple IIgs
 
1. Install the Video Keyboard desk accessory from the System disk. It 
conflicts with no program that I know of, and is a handy way to enter (or 
remember) the key combinations for specific "special" characters.
 
2. The way to import Macintosh TeachText documents into GraphicWriter 
with all the special characters intact is: Open a template and to select 
a text area that will hold the imported text. Now, select the "Universal" 
translator from the list of file translators. It will give you a dialogue 
box full of radio buttons. You must click two of these OFF: "Choose from 
TEXT files only" and "Convert all characters to low ASCII."  The first 
click allows you to select a TeachText file to import and the second 
allows you to import the file with the high-ASCII symbols displaying 
correctly.
 
3. ClarisWorks and the ProDOS File System INIT on a Mac will work 
together to save files in AppleWorks format on a ProDOS-formatted disk. 
However, the files will have resource forks that make them unreadable to 
AppleWorks. The shareware program Fork.Split will remove the fork, 
leaving you with a readable file.
 
4. To create macros in WordPerfect IIgs that are invoked by pressing 
Option plus a letter key, ignore the instructions in the manual. You must 
save the macro to disk normally under a name composed of "MACRO" plus the 
letter that you want to assign to the macro. (For example, MACROX for a 
macro that is invoked by Option-X). You must also have Keyboard 
Translation set to "None" in the General Control Panel for the macros to 
work.
 
5. You can print Text, Teach, or AppleWorks files from the desktop if you 
have ShadowWrite or Hermes installed and its "Finder Extra" function 
active. You simply have to select the files in the Finder then select 
"Print" from the Finder's "File" menu. (AppleWorks GS files will be 
printed by AppleWorks GS. HyperCard works on HyperCard stacks).
 
6. HyperCard IIgs has two commands for communicating with other 
applications: "open [document] with [application]" and "print [document] 
with [application]." The only catch is that the application must have 
been written to receive these messages. AppleWorks GS will operate 
properly with these commands for its own files; My Word! (a Teach editor 
by Gary Little) works properly for text, Teach, and AppleWorks files; 
SuperConvert will open or print many types of graphic files under 
HyperCard's control. Here is a sample script:
 
on mouseUp
  answer file "Select a text file to print:" of type 80 -- the filetype 
is specified as a _decimal_ number
  if it is "Cancel" then
     exit mouseUp
  else
    put it into wpFileName
    print wpFileName with ":HardDriveVolume:FolderName:AppleWorks.GS"
  end if
end mouseUp
 
7. SuperConvert 3.01 hides the desk accessories under the Apple menu if 
you run it under System 6.0 or 6.0.1. This bug does not appear, however, 
if you run The Manager first.
 
8. You can get proper greyscale printing on a PostScript laser printer 
from the GS LaserWriter driver _if_ the picture you are printing is 
already displaying in greyscale. Ways to obtain greyscale include: 
turning the "display colour" option in GraphicWriter III _off_, using the 
freeware Grayscale INIT, or using the ColorToGray external command for 
DreamGrafix.
 
9. LaserBeam 1.1 from EGO Systems allows PostScript fonts to be uploaded 
to a PostScript printer for use by GS software.
 
10. TextDisplayDA 1.0.2 by John Siemon is a free NDA that presents a 
scrolling text field. You can customize or replace the text with a 
freeware resource editor like Foundation or rEdit, then use the DA as an 
address list or command reference.

Hope this helps someone.

-Gareth