Tip Thing is an application that when run, displays a random message from a tip catalog. The default tip catalog contains a collection of tips about how to use your Macintosh, but you can use Tip Thing with other tip catalogs. For best results, put Tip Thing or an alias of it in the Startup Items folder in the System Folder.
Tip Thing is unique because it displays the tip in a small floating window at the bottom of the screen. Tip Thing╒s window can be dismissed at any time, and it does not keep your Macintosh from doing other things.
You can change the color of the floating window by choosing Preferences from the Edit menu. The current colors are for Apple╒s 1999 selection for Mac OS 8.5 and the current iMacs. New colors will be added as Apple changes their colors.
After Tip Thing displays its tip, you can configure it to make the Finder the front-most application.
Tip Installation
Installation is simple. Just put Tip Thing or an alias of it in your Startup Items Folder (located in the System Folder). Then drop the Tip Catalog into the Preferences Folder (in the System Folder). Then the next time you restart your Macintosh, you╒ll be greeted with by the Tip Thing window.
Tip Catalog
Tip Thing automatically picks tips from the file called ╥Tip Catalog╙. Tip Thing first looks in the Preferences folder in the current System Folder. If no catalog is found, it looks in its own folder. After that, it displays a tip describing where to put the tip catalog.
You can create your own tip catalog using any plain text editor, such as SimpleText or BBEdit. Simply open a new document or the tip file that you want to edit. Put each tip on a separate line. Type in the tip type (the short phrase in bold). You don╒t have to put in the elipses, because they will be added automatically. Then press tab and type in the complete tip. Press return and continue with the file. When you╒re done, name the file ╥Tip Catalog╙ and put it in the Preferences folder.
Version History
1.3
January, 19, 1999. Added more colors for a total of 19. Redesigned Preferences menu to include the new colors. Included an option to turn off bringing the Finder to the front. Re-registered the Creator code with Apple, and the code changed. Previous users may want to rebuild their desktops when using Tip Thing 1.3.
1.2
Added three new background colors. Optimized some code to shorten the tip generating time on slower machines.
1.1
October 14, 1998. First public version.
License
Tip Thing is free for non-commercial use. This software is distributed as-is, with no guarantees or warranties. Tip Thing may be freely distributed as long as it is not sold for profit. Express permission is granted to online services and other shareware or public domain distribution avenues. Express permission is futher granted to include Tip Thing on removable media accompanying books, or on shareware collections, provided that no more than a nominal compilation and/or media fee is charged for these collections. If Tip Thing is included in any such compilations, please contact me.
