Intrigued by the rave reviews of FullWrite¬ Professional's WalkDown menus feature, but not intrigued enough to spend $395.00 to test it out? Or would you like the same, consistent command-key approach in all your menus, in all your applications? Then step up to Staircase¬, a introductory gift from Eccentric Software.
Staircase is an INIT/CDEV inspired by WalkDown which makes all menu items accessible from the keyboard. Menus are numbered from left to right (the Apple menu is zero), so that pressing Command-2 will select the Edit menu. The selected menu drops down and the menu items are labeled with number equivalents (except for the Apple menu). Command Key Modifiers, Abort Key, and Menu Delay are all user-selectable from the Control Panel DA. A Return Key option (Return signals end of key sequence) is available to facilitate selection of items from menus with more than 9 items. But heck, it's a lot easier to use than it is to explain; so I'll stop trying.
To install Staircase, simply place it in the System Folder of your Startup disk, and reboot. Staircase can be toggled on and off from the Control Panel.
Staircase is freeware, however it is NOT in the public domain, and Eccentric Software retains all copyrights! Staircase and it's companion file Staircase Docs, must be distributed together and at NO charge (commercial online services may charge standard connect fees).
Staircase has been tested on a Mac SE and Mac II under systems 5.0 and 6.0, under the Finder and MultiFinder. It apparently runs on a Mac Plus, but has not bee thoroughly tested. Staircase does not currently support hierarchical menus (it just ignores them).
UPDATES:
Ñ v1.0.1 (10/24/88)
- Fixes a bug which caused random bombing at boot up on machines with
ROM that does NOT contain color QuickDraw. Ooops.
- Fixes a bug which showed garbage characters in hierarchical menus.
- No longer let's you select disabled menu items. Ooops, ooops.
- Improved handling of color menus.
- Hilites selected menu title.
Ñ v1.0.2 (10/25/88)
- Fixes grafport conflict bug which resulted from doing something that
Apple never said we shouldn't do.
Please send all bug reports, suggestions and comments to: