AppleWorks-5 doomed
It’s beginning to look like I’ll be able to ditch AppleWorks-5.
I should explain.
AppleWorks-5 is an old computer application; a combination word-processor, spreadsheet, and paint program; Apple’s upgrade of ClarisWorks, which they bought.
It’s much more user-friendly than Microsoft Word® to a stroke-survivor. No magic keys to trip you into the ozone.
But AppleWorks-5 doesn’t run under OS-X.
Actually it does, sort of; as long as the OS-X has the “Classic Mode,” an OS 9.2 buried within.
OS-X had “Classic Mode” at first, but no longer does.
I’m running “Tiger,” (10.4); the last OS-X with Classic Mode.
My double-processor tower, with Motorola chips, is at least seven years old — probably older.
Plus I can’t take it with me like I could a laptop.
I’d like to upgrade, but doing so will require a newer OS-X without the Classic Mode.
The newer Intel-based OS-X’s can be partitioned to run two or more operating systems; e.g. the OS-X interface, and Windoze.
So people suggested I partition a Tiger, with its Classic Mode.
I ran this all by “Andrew,” my contact at the dreaded Mac-Shack; and he said the newer Intel-based Macs can’t run Classic Mode.
A while ago I purchased AppleWorks-6, an OS-X app, and installed it. But it lacks the macro function.
Back to AppleWorks-5. All my HTML-tags are macros.
Ditch the macro function, and I need to generate and insert HTML-tags.
Other macros are “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth,” “so-called elitist country-club,” and “the awful temerity and unmitigated gall and horrific audacity.”
But they all could be made into files for copy/paste.
I do that already.
Another HTML-tag is my picture-tag; I actually have quite a few. But they’re all already files for copy/paste.
That leaves only eight tiny tags: my paragraph return (“<br>;” one line); begin- and end-bold (“<b>” and “</b>”); begin- and end-italic (“<i>” and “</i>”); begin- and end-underline (“<u>” and “</u>”); and my bullet tag (“<li>”).
They’re very small tags, only three or four characters; the tiniest of macros.
What to do?
Andrew suggested PageSpinner, an HTML-generating ‘pyooter software.
I’m not so sure.
I have PageSpinner, although an older version, and it generates a complete HTML document; begin- and end-HTML (“<html>,” and “</html>”), etc.
All I need is something to write out the silly little tags I use.
Linda had a word-processor that generated the tags as text, which is what I need. Click a button, and the tag-text gets written in.
I’ve used it; but it’s a PC application — not available for Mac.
It just so happens all the tags do is embolden and/or italicize text for FlagOut posts. Heaven forbid I underline anything — the Delawareans think link.
Click “HTML-Advanced,” and FlagOut reads the HTML.
But you have to use the <br>-tag for FlagOut to do a paragraph-return in an “HTML-Advance” clicked post. Regular paragraph returns aren’t read.
My blog does pretty much what FlagOut did; post such a document with the written-out HTML-tags, and the tags get read.
The only problem is if my blog got browsed with Internet-Explorer. IE shoves tiny bits of text up next to the right side of a column-width picture, and most ‘pyooter-users are browsing with IE.
To avoid this I made a blog picture tag [“<img src="??????????????????"> caption. (Photo by ??????????????)”], so Granny doesn’t go ballistic when she gets lost.
My FireFox Internet browser doesn’t do that, but I’m noisily told FireFox is stupid and of-the-Devil.
So what I was doing was posting pretty much what I had posted to FlagOut on my blog; except that I had replaced my FlagOut picture-tags with my blog-tags, if any.
Boom-zoom! Simple transfer — not too time-consuming.
E-mail was just another step: delete all picture tags, if any, and find/replace the HTML-tags with the actual characters; i.e. nonHTML it.
My e-mail program doesn’t have an HTML switch; my old MyWay e-mail did. E-mail has to be nonHTML. Any pictures get added as attachments.
Also not too time-consuming. Usually 10-15 minutes.
The difference between a FlagOut post and a blog and e-mail post is footnotes.
I figured my siblings didn’t need ‘em — they complained loudly if I included ‘em.
But someone in California reading the blog might need to know what the mighty Curve was, or who “Scarlett” is.
Same with the vaunted Ne’er-do-Wells. They’re not famblee, and won’t know who Timmoooo is. —Or even what FlagOut is.
But I’m no longer doing FlagOut; just the blog and e-mail.
And I noticed the blog has an HTML editor to embolden or italicize text.
I also noticed it reads actual paragraph-returns as paragraph-returns; i.e. I don’t need the <br>-tag.
So for all intents and purposes I no longer need my HTML macros.
Without FlagOut, and with the blog HTML editor, I can embolden and italicize just like I did when I was using my HTML macros. I.e. the onliest place the macros would apply is FlagOut, which I’m no longer doing.
The tags the blog generates are slightly different than my simple tags; e.g. “<span style="font-style:italic;">” equals “<i>.”
The only problem is red text. For that I was using my dreaded “<FONT COLOR=#FF0000>BALONEY ALERT!</FONT>” macro, and overwriting “BALONEY ALERT!”
But that macro is so long, and so infrequently used, it can be turned into a copy-pastable file.
The blog reads the tag, and displays red text.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993.
• “OS-X” is the current Apple Computer operating system. It replaced OS 9.2.
• “Windoze” is the Mac user’s put-down of Microsoft Windows; supposedly because it’s slow.
• “App” is computer slang for application.
• RE: “Dreaded Mac-Shack....” —All my siblings use Windows (“Windoze”) PCs, but I use an Apple MacIntosh, so I am therefore stupid and of-the-Devil. (The older Macs had processor-chips made my Motorola; the newer ones have chips made by Intel — same as a PC [Personal-Computer; the ‘pyooter architecture that Microsoft wrote for, and currently dominates the market].)
• “HTML” is hypertext markup language. A document written in HTML will display with added tricks in an Internet-browser.
• RE: “Macros.....” —Push a certain combination of keys, and an entire recorded text-file is typed in. (I was using macros to generate my HTML-tags.)
• “Linda” is my wife of 41+ years. Before retirement she programmed computers.
• “‘Pyooter” is of course computer.
• “FlagOut” is our family’s web-site, named that because I had a mentally-retarded kid-brother (Down Syndrome) who lived at home, and loudly insisted the flag be flown every day. “Flag-Out! Sun comes up, the flag goes up! Sun goes down, the flag comes down.” I fly the flag partly in his honor. (He died at 15 in 1969.)
• RE: “The Delawareans......” —My younger brother and his wife live in northern Delaware. I was loudly excoriated for underlining things, which they thought were Internet links. (An Internet link is usually underlined. They also are usually a different text-color. My underlinings were the same color as the surrounding text; black.)
• “IE” is of course Microsoft’s “Internet-Explorer” Internet browser.
• The “mighty Curve” (“Horseshoe Curve”), west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. Horseshoe Curve is a national historic site. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use. (I am a railfan, and have been since I was a child.)
• “Scarlett” is our current dog; a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s almost four, and is our sixth Irish-Setter.
• “Timmoooo” (Tim) was my mentally-retarded kid brother.
I should explain.
AppleWorks-5 is an old computer application; a combination word-processor, spreadsheet, and paint program; Apple’s upgrade of ClarisWorks, which they bought.
It’s much more user-friendly than Microsoft Word® to a stroke-survivor. No magic keys to trip you into the ozone.
But AppleWorks-5 doesn’t run under OS-X.
Actually it does, sort of; as long as the OS-X has the “Classic Mode,” an OS 9.2 buried within.
OS-X had “Classic Mode” at first, but no longer does.
I’m running “Tiger,” (10.4); the last OS-X with Classic Mode.
My double-processor tower, with Motorola chips, is at least seven years old — probably older.
Plus I can’t take it with me like I could a laptop.
I’d like to upgrade, but doing so will require a newer OS-X without the Classic Mode.
The newer Intel-based OS-X’s can be partitioned to run two or more operating systems; e.g. the OS-X interface, and Windoze.
So people suggested I partition a Tiger, with its Classic Mode.
I ran this all by “Andrew,” my contact at the dreaded Mac-Shack; and he said the newer Intel-based Macs can’t run Classic Mode.
A while ago I purchased AppleWorks-6, an OS-X app, and installed it. But it lacks the macro function.
Back to AppleWorks-5. All my HTML-tags are macros.
Ditch the macro function, and I need to generate and insert HTML-tags.
Other macros are “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth,” “so-called elitist country-club,” and “the awful temerity and unmitigated gall and horrific audacity.”
But they all could be made into files for copy/paste.
I do that already.
Another HTML-tag is my picture-tag; I actually have quite a few. But they’re all already files for copy/paste.
That leaves only eight tiny tags: my paragraph return (“<br>;” one line); begin- and end-bold (“<b>” and “</b>”); begin- and end-italic (“<i>” and “</i>”); begin- and end-underline (“<u>” and “</u>”); and my bullet tag (“<li>”).
They’re very small tags, only three or four characters; the tiniest of macros.
What to do?
Andrew suggested PageSpinner, an HTML-generating ‘pyooter software.
I’m not so sure.
I have PageSpinner, although an older version, and it generates a complete HTML document; begin- and end-HTML (“<html>,” and “</html>”), etc.
All I need is something to write out the silly little tags I use.
Linda had a word-processor that generated the tags as text, which is what I need. Click a button, and the tag-text gets written in.
I’ve used it; but it’s a PC application — not available for Mac.
It just so happens all the tags do is embolden and/or italicize text for FlagOut posts. Heaven forbid I underline anything — the Delawareans think link.
Click “HTML-Advanced,” and FlagOut reads the HTML.
But you have to use the <br>-tag for FlagOut to do a paragraph-return in an “HTML-Advance” clicked post. Regular paragraph returns aren’t read.
My blog does pretty much what FlagOut did; post such a document with the written-out HTML-tags, and the tags get read.
The only problem is if my blog got browsed with Internet-Explorer. IE shoves tiny bits of text up next to the right side of a column-width picture, and most ‘pyooter-users are browsing with IE.
To avoid this I made a blog picture tag [“<img src="??????????????????"> caption. (Photo by ??????????????)”], so Granny doesn’t go ballistic when she gets lost.
My FireFox Internet browser doesn’t do that, but I’m noisily told FireFox is stupid and of-the-Devil.
So what I was doing was posting pretty much what I had posted to FlagOut on my blog; except that I had replaced my FlagOut picture-tags with my blog-tags, if any.
Boom-zoom! Simple transfer — not too time-consuming.
E-mail was just another step: delete all picture tags, if any, and find/replace the HTML-tags with the actual characters; i.e. nonHTML it.
My e-mail program doesn’t have an HTML switch; my old MyWay e-mail did. E-mail has to be nonHTML. Any pictures get added as attachments.
Also not too time-consuming. Usually 10-15 minutes.
The difference between a FlagOut post and a blog and e-mail post is footnotes.
I figured my siblings didn’t need ‘em — they complained loudly if I included ‘em.
But someone in California reading the blog might need to know what the mighty Curve was, or who “Scarlett” is.
Same with the vaunted Ne’er-do-Wells. They’re not famblee, and won’t know who Timmoooo is. —Or even what FlagOut is.
But I’m no longer doing FlagOut; just the blog and e-mail.
And I noticed the blog has an HTML editor to embolden or italicize text.
I also noticed it reads actual paragraph-returns as paragraph-returns; i.e. I don’t need the <br>-tag.
So for all intents and purposes I no longer need my HTML macros.
Without FlagOut, and with the blog HTML editor, I can embolden and italicize just like I did when I was using my HTML macros. I.e. the onliest place the macros would apply is FlagOut, which I’m no longer doing.
The tags the blog generates are slightly different than my simple tags; e.g. “<span style="font-style:italic;">” equals “<i>.”
The only problem is red text. For that I was using my dreaded “<FONT COLOR=#FF0000>BALONEY ALERT!</FONT>” macro, and overwriting “BALONEY ALERT!”
But that macro is so long, and so infrequently used, it can be turned into a copy-pastable file.
The blog reads the tag, and displays red text.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993.
• “OS-X” is the current Apple Computer operating system. It replaced OS 9.2.
• “Windoze” is the Mac user’s put-down of Microsoft Windows; supposedly because it’s slow.
• “App” is computer slang for application.
• RE: “Dreaded Mac-Shack....” —All my siblings use Windows (“Windoze”) PCs, but I use an Apple MacIntosh, so I am therefore stupid and of-the-Devil. (The older Macs had processor-chips made my Motorola; the newer ones have chips made by Intel — same as a PC [Personal-Computer; the ‘pyooter architecture that Microsoft wrote for, and currently dominates the market].)
• “HTML” is hypertext markup language. A document written in HTML will display with added tricks in an Internet-browser.
• RE: “Macros.....” —Push a certain combination of keys, and an entire recorded text-file is typed in. (I was using macros to generate my HTML-tags.)
• “Linda” is my wife of 41+ years. Before retirement she programmed computers.
• “‘Pyooter” is of course computer.
• “FlagOut” is our family’s web-site, named that because I had a mentally-retarded kid-brother (Down Syndrome) who lived at home, and loudly insisted the flag be flown every day. “Flag-Out! Sun comes up, the flag goes up! Sun goes down, the flag comes down.” I fly the flag partly in his honor. (He died at 15 in 1969.)
• RE: “The Delawareans......” —My younger brother and his wife live in northern Delaware. I was loudly excoriated for underlining things, which they thought were Internet links. (An Internet link is usually underlined. They also are usually a different text-color. My underlinings were the same color as the surrounding text; black.)
• “IE” is of course Microsoft’s “Internet-Explorer” Internet browser.
• The “mighty Curve” (“Horseshoe Curve”), west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. Horseshoe Curve is a national historic site. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use. (I am a railfan, and have been since I was a child.)
• “Scarlett” is our current dog; a rescue Irish-Setter. She’s almost four, and is our sixth Irish-Setter.
• “Timmoooo” (Tim) was my mentally-retarded kid brother.
Labels: 'pyooter ruminations
posted by BobbaLew at 10:11 AM
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