t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu (03/15/91)
First of all let me say that I LOVE ALIASES and they are going to make MacLife a whole lot better. My following comments are only intended to encourage Apple to make them work everywhere. The first problem I ran into is that you can't create an Alias of a file on a file server if the folder is read only. Easy solution: allow a shortcut to making an Alias by option-shift-dragging the file to the destination to create an alias at the destination. This makes is possible to make aliases of read-only folder items. This also speeds up the process for regular aliases too. Aliases don't work in many places. Many programs and utilities go looking for stuff in the System folder. It appears that they look for the file by name and upon finding it do a resource open which of course opens up the Alias file and not the file it points to! It seems like the low level stuff ought to point any kind of "OPEN" to an Alias file to the actual file. If an Alias file needs to be opened then some kind of special open should be called. Even the System itself doesn't do the right thing!!!!!! You can't have an Alias of any of the special system folders (Apple Menu, Extensions, Controls, Preferences, etc) replace the actual folder. Meaning the real folder is somewhere else other that the System folder and the Alias is in the System folder. I WANT THIS FEATURE! I would like to make aliases of downloadable laser files and put them in the Extensions folder so I don't have to keep the actual files around locally. Meaning I want the aliases to point to real files on the file server. Printing doesn't work this way (at least not in System 7b4). FOR FUTURE CONSUMPTION: How about aliases to resources inside files! That could allow applications to have shared code or other resources. Kind of a lower level publish & suscribe of sorts! Tony Jacobs Center for Engineering Design University of Utah t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu
bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) (03/15/91)
In article <1991Mar14.203258.16538@fcom.cc.utah.edu> t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu writes: >.... allow a shortcut to >making an Alias by option-shift-dragging the file to the destination to create >an alias at the destination. This makes is possible to make aliases of >read-only folder items. This also speeds up the process for regular aliases >too. Hear, hear! This is a wonderful idea. "Duplicate" from the File menu has both a command-key equivalent (Command-D) and a shortcut (option- dragging); why is it that "Make Alias" (which I feel is going to be used more than Duplicate) has neither? Option-shift-dragging seems like the perfect shortcut to me. >Aliases don't work in many places. Many programs and utilities go looking for >stuff in the System folder. It appears that they look for the file by name and >upon finding it do a resource open which of course opens up the Alias file and >not the file it points to! It seems like the low level stuff ought to point >any kind of "OPEN" to an Alias file to the actual file. If an Alias file needs >to be opened then some kind of special open should be called. Hear, hear! I had both System 6 and System 7 on my hard drive at once for a while, and to cut down on disk usage I aliased a lot of INITs from my System 6 folder into the System 7 folder rather than making duplicate copies of them. I didn't even get a warning -- they didn't work. It was as if the aliases weren't even there. Why can't I alias my INITs and cdevs? >Even the System itself doesn't do the right thing!!!!!! You can't have an >Alias of any of the special system folders (Apple Menu, Extensions, Controls, >Preferences, etc) replace the actual folder. Meaning the real folder is >somewhere else other that the System folder and the Alias is in the System >folder. I WANT THIS FEATURE! So do I! It sems rather flaky to me to have aliases be essentially the real things elsewhere, but not in the System Folder. >I would like to make aliases of downloadable laser files and put them in the >Extensions folder so I don't have to keep the actual files around locally. >Meaning I want the aliases to point to real files on the file server. Printing >doesn't work this way (at least not in System 7b4). Hear, hear! And I'd *love* a folder to put my Adobe Type 1 font files into. Right now my System Folder has about ten to fifteen folders and other system files sitting in it, and about forty Adobe font files. This would be bearable if only Suitcase II worked with System 7.0, which it still doesn't (version 1.2.8 conflicts nastily with the 7.0b1 Finder), but shouldn't the LaserWriter drivers be able to be told where to find their PostScript font files? So much for reducing System Folder clutter! >FOR FUTURE CONSUMPTION: How about aliases to resources inside files! That >could allow applications to have shared code or other resources. Kind of a >lower level publish & suscribe of sorts! Sounds kinky! But really, I don't know if this is necessary. If files have to share code, you create some sort of `engine' file they can both work off. Shared resources are best placed in a temp file or a preferences file. << Brian >> | Brian S. Kendig \ Macintosh | Engineering, | bskendig | | Computer Engineering |\ Thought | USS Enterprise | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU | Princeton University |_\ Police | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET | "It's not that I don't HAVE the work to *do* -- I don't DO the work I *have*."
bernard@cs.colorado.edu (Bernie Bernstein) (03/16/91)
In article <7174@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) writes: > > In article <1991Mar14.203258.16538@fcom.cc.utah.edu> t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu writes: > >.... allow a shortcut to > >making an Alias by option-shift-dragging the file to the destination to create > >an alias at the destination. This makes is possible to make aliases of > >read-only folder items. This also speeds up the process for regular aliases > >too. > > Hear, hear! This is a wonderful idea. "Duplicate" from the File menu > has both a command-key equivalent (Command-D) and a shortcut (option- > dragging); why is it that "Make Alias" (which I feel is going to be > used more than Duplicate) has neither? Option-shift-dragging seems > like the perfect shortcut to me. > I agree that this would be a great feature for me and you, but I think we should see how cautious Apple is being about aliases. This is the first time that the desktop metaphor is displaying something that isn't really there. This is a new concept for most (non-technical) people. Normally in the finder, if you see a file, that is the only place that it exists. If you make a copy of the file, it is just that... a copy of the entire file. Imagine the dismay a novice user will be in when they click on an icon here and a file opens from a folder over there. I guess the designers had to do lots of convincing to the human interfacers to get aliases in 7.0 in the first place. Aliases are not completely intuitive, and therefore Apple doesn't want them to appear on the novices desktop unless they know what they are doing. I can picture a novice making an alias to a file then a week later, kill the original because they didn't know they were actually using it when they click on that other icon (the one in italics). I guess that is why they put "alias" on the end of the name of all aliases when they are created. Also remember that you can make aliases from servers or other disks. If it is very easy to make aliases, it might become habit to option-shift-drag things when you meant to just option-drag or just drag it. If I copy something from a floppy disk, I probably want a copy of it and not an alias to it. I'm sure it won't be long before someone writes an init which adds the feature of option-shift-drag to make an alias to a file (without "alias" in the name?) and I will be among the first to use it, but as far as the design decision to make aliases the way they are, I will agree with Apple. > >Even the System itself doesn't do the right thing!!!!!! You can't have an > >Alias of any of the special system folders (Apple Menu, Extensions, Controls, > >Preferences, etc) replace the actual folder. Meaning the real folder is > >somewhere else other that the System folder and the Alias is in the System > >folder. I WANT THIS FEATURE! > > So do I! It sems rather flaky to me to have aliases be essentially > the real things elsewhere, but not in the System Folder. > I think it is a little late to be asking for features for 7.0, but maybe they can start thinking about 7.1. I wonder if Apple knows about this bug... it sounds like a bug to me. o, ,, , | Bernie Bernstein | , ,, L>O/ \,/ \ ,| University of Colorado at boulder |/ \,,/ \ O./ ' / . `, / | office: (303) 492-8136 | / ` \ ,. ,/ / , ' | email: bernard@cs.colorado.edu | / '' \