Note for users of earlier versions of Finder Windows: Please remove the Finder Windows 1.0 extension from your extensions folder or previous versions of the Finder Windows control panel from your control panels folder before installing Finder Windows 1.2.1. You may also wish to read the "What's New?" section of this Read Me file for information on the latest features.
Note about non-English versions: There are Japanese, French, German, and Swedish versions of Finder Windows. You can download them directly from the Finder Windows web site at <http://www.stratos.net/shareware/FindWind/>. For support in these languages, here are some contacts:
•Japanese: Contact Bridge1 Software at support@bridge1.com or NiftyServe KGB00252.
•French: Contact Thierry Gondet at 106161.3577@compuserve.com.
•German: Contact Peter Hoerster at hoerste@uni-muenster.de.
•Swedish: Contact Dr. Feelgood at boss@feelgood.se.
Contents
•About Finder Windows
•System Requirements
•Usage Notes
•What's New?
•Why Register?
•Price
•How to Register
•Legal Stuff
•How to Contact Me
•Questions and Answers
•Known bugs
•Version History
•Other Programs
About Finder Windows
Finder Windows is a control panel that adds a window menu to the Finder. The new window menu has a list of all the currently open windows in the Finder (including the quasi-window "Desktop"). If you choose a window name from the list in the menu, the corresponding window in the Finder is brought to the front. You can also stack windows by choosing "Stack," and you can arrange windows (space them out) by choosing "Arrange."
System Requirements
Finder Windows requires System 7 or higher. To see the About Box, you should have a color monitor although it isn't required.
The code that controls the Finder Windows menu is "fat" which means that Finder Windows can run on 680x0 Macs and native on PowerMacs.
Usage Notes
I have always wished that Apple's Finder had a simple Window menu like most other applications. Sometimes my desktop gets very cluttered and I want to find a window that's under a bunch of other windows without having to move them all around. That's why I wrote Finder Windows. If you have had similar problems, I hope you find that Finder Windows helps solve them.
I added the ability to "Stack" and "Arrange" windows to improve window organization. "Stack" puts all the windows in a nicely ordered stack, while "Arrange" spaces them out on the desktop as much as possible.
Some other extensions add "S" and "T" command-key shortcuts to the Finder. If you find that Finder Windows' shortcuts conflict with another extension, you can change them in the control panel. (Thanks to Landon Ross for alerting me to this situation.) To turn off command-key equivalents altogether, uncheck the box next to the menu item name. To change the command-key equivalents, type the one you want next to the name and make sure the box is checked. To go back to the default setting, press the "Use Default" button. Hint: Other command key shortcuts not in use by the Finder include H, J, K, L, R, U, numbers, and various punctuation marks (e.g. command \.)
The menu created by Finder Windows has a small icon in place of a text title. If you'd rather have the menu use the word "Window" as a title (like previous versions of this program) you can change that in the control panel.
If you don't want Finder Windows to display a little icon when your Mac is starting up, you can also change that in the control panel. Sometimes the startup icon can be useful. If Finder Windows experiences any problems during startup and has to abandon its own installation, it will display an icon with a red X through it.
If you get lost in the control panel for some reason, turn on balloon help. Then point to the item you're having trouble with and the balloon will tell you what it does.
What's New
Finder Windows 1.2.1 includes all the new features and fixes of version 1.2 including native PowerPC code, an optional menu icon, an optional startup icon, balloon help, and personalization.
In addition, Finder Windows 1.2.1 once again improves overall stability and fixes a few specific bugs:
• A bug that occurred at shut-down under some very restricted conditions.
• A bug that interfered with the printing mechanism of WordPerfect.
• A cosmetic bug in which the names of windows in the menu weren't changed if the user changed the name of a folder while it was open.
Also, Finder Windows 1.2.1 no longer includes separate 680x0 and PowerMac versions. Apple has advised me not to write PowerPC-native control panel code since current versions of the Finder are not compatible with PowerPC control panels. (The current Finder is entirely 680x0 code.) It is still okay, however, to have PowerPC-native "INIT" code (the code that controls the Finder Windows menu). So Finder Windows 1.2.1 has "fat" INIT code but 680x0 control panel code.
Why Register?
There are several reasons to register: First, because you like Finder Windows and find it useful. Second, because the price is reasonable. Third, to support my efforts to write more good software for the Macintosh. Fourth, the annoying alert screen that appears every once in a while just after starting up won't appear any more! Once you register, as detailed below, I'll send you a registration number that will disable the annoying nag screen.
Price
Finder Windows has the following pricing:
• Single User License: US$10
• Site License: US$150
• World-Wide License: US$750
A single user license applies to one person. A site license covers all locations for your organization within a 160 km (100 mile) radius of your site. With a site license you don't need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software. A World-Wide license covers all locations for your organization on the planet.
How to Register
Payment is relatively painless. Open the Register program that accompanies Finder Windows. Enter your name, your e-mail address, and the number of single user licenses you desire (or site or world-wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi Shareware. Kagi Shareware handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi Shareware. Their email address is shareware@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an e-mail message or you can Save the data to a file and attach that file to an e-mail message. There is no need to compress the data file; it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via e-mail are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an e-mail acknowledgment when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet e-mail address you will receive an e-mail acknowledgment.
If paying with Cash or US$ Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-HG
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi Shareware cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for a non-US$ check is around US$15 per check and that's not practical considering that Finder Windows only costs US$10.
The Invoice option is for companies with purchasing departments. If that's you, then enter all the data, print three copies of the form, and send it to your accounts payable people. They must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Please do not fax or e-mail forms that indicate Cash, Check, or Invoice as the payment method. These need to be sent through the postal mail with payment. Payments sent via postal mail take time to reach Kagi Shareware and then up to 10 days for processing.
By the time this version is released, you should also be able to register online if you can get access to the world-wide-web with a browser that supports forms. Go to my web page at <http://www.stratos.net/shareware/> for more information.
Legal Stuff
You may copy and distribute unregistered copies of Finder Windows but you may not sell them for profit. If you want to include Finder Windows in a shareware/freeware collection, contact me at the e-mail address below. If you distribute unregistered copies in any way, you must include this "Read Me" file and the Register program along with them. You may not distribute registered copies of Finder Windows in any way with the following exceptions:
1. If you hold a site license for Finder Windows, you may distribute registered copies within your organization within a 160 km (100 mile) radius of your site.
2. If you hold a world-wide license for Finder Windows, you may distribute registered copies within your organization.
Use Finder Windows at your own risk. I make no warranties as to performance of merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. No warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose is offered. I will not be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the use or misuse of Finder Windows. Some of these exclusions or limitations may not apply in all jurisdictions.
In other words, if the program does something weird, like damages a file or disk, I am not legally responsible. However, if it does do something weird, I'd like to know so I can try to fix it in future versions. Please send bug reports to the e-mail address below.
How to Contact Me
If you find a bug, have comments, or just want to say hi, my e-mail address is gherrick@kagi.com. I also have some pages on the world-wide-web. My general web page is located at:
<http://www.stratos.net/shareware/>
The Finder Windows page, which will always contain the latest information and links for downloading the latest versions, is located at:
<http://www.stratos.net/shareware/FindWind/>
Since the location of web pages changes from time to time, if you can't find my pages at the sites above, write to me at <gherrick@kagi.com> since the locations may have changed. My email address will always be valid.
Questions and Answers
Why don't you have a "tiling" option?
Unfortunately, because of the way the Finder resizes its windows, it is exceedingly difficult to write an extension that properly changes the windows' sizes and thus I haven't been able to implement a window "tiling" option in the menu. I tried very hard to do this but it came down to a choice between buggy tiling and clean arranging. I thought users would rather have a clean and stable control panel rather than one which was infested by bugs. And the "arranging" option actually does most of the work of tiling anyway -- especially if you don't have lots of windows open.
Known Bugs
There are no known bugs at this time.
Version History
February 1997
Finder Windows 1.2.1 improves stability and fixes several bugs in Finder Windows 1.2 including: A shut-down bug, a bug that interfered with the printing mechanism on certain versions of WordPerfect, and a cosmetic bug in which window name in the menu weren't updated properly. It also consolidates PowerPC-native and 680x0 "INIT" code into fat INIT code and removes PowerPC-native control panel (cdev) code. This was made necessary on the advice of Apple Computer, Inc. due to a conflict between the Finder and PowerPC-native control panels. This conflict was most common under System 7.5.5.
Thanks to Nathan Banek, Robert Cooper, G. Curt Fiedler, Andreas Frick, and Anthony P. Meyer for bug reports and help with this version.
December 1996
Finder Windows 1.2 includes a native PowerPC version, an optional icon for the menu title, an optional startup icon, balloon help, and the opportunity to personalize one's copy.
In addition, I have fixed several bugs including a conflict with some FAX software, some miscellaneous start-up problems, a bug in which Finder Windows would stop recognizing windows after using balloon help, and a bug having to do with Finder Windows not recognizing the "Desktop" window at startup.
I also fixed the text of an alert box saying that there are duplicate copies of the control panel. Duplicate copies haven't caused errors since version 1.1 so I changed the text to reflect what was really happening.
The code has also been cleaned up considerably and several changes were made to make the control panel more stable in general.
Many people have contributed suggestions and bug reports. For going beyond the call of duty, I'd like to thank Anthony P. Meyer. Several other people have contributed including (in alphabetical order) Forrest R. Blackburn, James Edward Davis, Christopher Li, Myron T. MacLeod, Joseph McLean, and Michael B. Pawluk. If I've forgotten someone who's made a great suggestion or reported a serious bug, let me know and I'll put you in the next release notes.
May 1996
Finder Windows 1.1.3 fixes a couple more bugs having to do with dialog boxes that occurred on a few machines. Thanks to Ellen, G. Curt Fiedler, Robert Jagitsch, JeanaC, Sanders McNew, Tim Moore, and Scott Tregear for bug reports.
May 1996
Finder Windows 1.1.2 fixes a couple bugs that were found in previous versions. It is now compatible with Now Utilities and Novell Client software as well as solving an "unimplemented trap" error that sometimes happened at startup on some machines. Thanks to Erin Dalzell, Jim Isaac, Jim Richardson, and Bradley Yi for helpful bug reports.
April 1996
Finder Windows 1.1 is now a control panel (instead of an extension). It is now compatible with Glidel (versions 2.9 and above). It also allows you to change the command-key equivalents of the stack and arrange menu items. In addition, the "Window" menu no longer disappears when you restart the finder without restarting the computer and you can rename the control panel without any problems.
March 1996
Finder Windows 1.0 is the first public release of Finder Windows.
Other Programs
Here's a few of my other programs:
•KeyCommander: Don't you hate it when applications don't have command-key equivalents for some frequently-used menu items? KeyCommander is a control panel that lets you fix that problem by allowing you to add command-key equivalents to applications. And it does all of this in RAM without directly modifying the applications themselves. It features a snazzy user interface. Available at Info-Mac and other popular Macintosh shareware archives, the latest version (as of the writing of this ReadMe file) is 1.0.
•File Merger: This is a small drag-and-drop utility that merges together the data forks of files such as text files. It is useful if you download binhexed segments off of Usenet, work with large text-based data files, and other things. It is available at Info-Mac and other popular Macintosh shareware archives. The latest version (as of the writing of this ReadMe file) is 1.1.
•Addiction Manager: This is a program that helps people manage their addictions to computer games or other stuff (like the internet). It is available at Info-Mac and other popular Macintosh shareware archives. The latest version (as of the writing of this ReadMe file) is 1.0.1.
•Sokoban 3D: This computer game, based on the classic Sokoban game, puts you into a 3-D puzzle from the first-person point-of-view. It is available at Info-Mac and other popular Macintosh shareware archives. The latest version (as of the writing of this ReadMe file) is 1.0.1.
•ClipAppend: This is a simple control panel that extends the normal functionality of cutting and copying text to the Macintosh clipboard. Usually, when you cut or copy something to the clipboard, you replace whatever is stored there. But with ClipAppend installed, you can add text to the clipboard instead of replacing text. It is available at Info-Mac and other popular Macintosh shareware archives. The latest version (as of the writing of this ReadMe file) is 1.0.
"Apple," "Finder," and "Macintosh" are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Other brand names and software titles mentioned in this file are trademarks of their respective owners.
