Hints on using Home Suite 2.0 (It says 1.1 on the info page, but the latest upload is 2.0):
1. This stack now implements popup menus. They take a moment to appear. Buttons that use them include the “Special Thanks”, “Mona Lisa”, and “Sign Board” buttons (Sign boards are above the doors). The Mona Lisa lets you know how big your stack is, and if you have a lot of dead space in the stack (removeable with the “compact stack” command).
2. The menus on the sign boards do functions and open applications on my personal hard disk. You need to modify the script to make them work best for you. The popupmenu XCMD seems not to like “soft returns”, so the whole syntax for each menu is on one line. Edit the line (located in the button script for each sign board button) by adding returns, and then deleting them later, before you exit the script editor. Merely replace my application names with your own.
3. This stack makes liberal use of sounds. Nothing goes wrong if you don’t have the snds installed, either in your stack or in HyperCard. Snds take up a LOT of room (I’m a computer music composer by trade; I know how big samples can get), so you should be judicious; if you have a 20 meg HD, you should be careful. If you still only use floppies, forget it. I use a 45 Meg drive, and am trying diligently to always keep 10meg free. It hasn’t been easy lately. Anyway, that’s my problem...
4. To remedy (a little) the above problem, I suggest you install (with ResEdit) all your snds, XCMDs, ICONs and XFCNs that you frequently use from stack to stack into the HyperCard application itself (use a copy, I’m not liable for any damage as a result of my suggestions). Then remove these resources from the stacks using the CLEAR command. Save the stacks, and you will be able to use the resources in any of your stacks now. Note that Home Suite 2.0 includes a number of these resources. If you don’t have a copy of ResEdit, get one. On GEnie, it can be found in the MACPRO area. Just type MACPRO.
5. Rename your yucky old home stack to something like “homely”, like I did, and rename Home Suite 2.0 to “home”. This stack includes all the requisite stuff to make HyperCard work right for you...
6. A lot of the old rooms are really not necessary any more, but they remain to amuse your friends and to show off some of HyperCards abilities to extend the mind beyond the computer into a different mode of thinking (in this case, the movement around an office).
7. Most of the buttons on the icon-bar at the bottom of the screen are background buttons; they remain active just about everywhere. Some become superceded, depending upon your location, by card buttons which do card-specific things. Examples of these are the dial button on the “Calling Card” card, the arrow keys in the office rooms, and the “Special Thanks” button in the main hallway.
8. Feel free to modify this stack to your personal advantage. Do not modify to your personal gain by selling it to anyone else. You may give it away, but leave the message containing my name, and the copyright notice intact.
9. Enjoy HyperCard... There’s a lot more remaining to be explored!!!
