A Handy Utility Program to Make Your Mac Shine

After a Christmas break of eggnog-induced hangovers and relative-induced headaches, the Happy Hacker has returned to campus without any of the pleasant goodies that he asked for in his hacker gift list; no hundred-proof vodka, no fancy flight simulators--not even little teflon pads for his mouse.

The only gift was Microsoft's recent announcement that they would no longer copy-protect any non-game disks (so much for getting an illegal copy of flight simulator). Gone are the days when the Happy Hacker, after trekking many a mile to the Office of Information Technology, prepares to laser-print a paper only to remember the need for a $%?&*! Word master disk in order to read in the file.

Moving into the new year it's time to talk about some hot and even lukewarm software packages; programs that make fun work such as hacking and distressing tasks like term-paper writing simpler.

This week the Happy Hacker has been avoiding the libraries and Science Center in order to bring you, the home reader, information about ResEdit a handy utility program for the Macintosh that lets you play some neat tricks on your computer. The program is in the public domain and is available from most user groups or direct from Apple for a nominal fee.

Cosmetic Surgery for Menus

ResEdit is the affectionate abbreviation for resource editor; the program's main function. Every Macintosh program file has a resource section in which it stores such information as menus, icons, command keys (commands given by pressing the key with the little squiggly thing and another key) and messages.

With ResEdit, the hacker or casual user can modify any program's resource files. Thus you can even edit the system file. Modifying the system file can help break the monotony of boring icons and messages. For example, the annoying little watch that always shows up on the screen to remind the user how slow that little Macintosh really is can be changed to the infinity sign, an hourglass or even a tasteful obscenity.

Messages can also be conveniently changed. Thus it is possible to modify old versions of Microsoft Word to display "Time to trek back to the Quad for the $%?&*! master disk" instead of "Please insert the Word master disk."

Names can also be changed within dialogue boxes. Any user of the Happy Hacker's souped-up version of Word who happens to click on print will then have to pick from a slightly non-standard set of print quality options--"Snail-paced," "Marginal" and "Ugly" instead of the off-the-shelf "Best," "`Faster" and "Draft."

But the real power of ResEdit goes beyond simple cosmetic surgery which improves the style but not performance. Editing menus and command keys allows users to custom tailor programs to fit their individual styles.

The Happy Hacker frequently likes to use a bold type style when writing papers in Word. Before ResEditing his Word disk, however, switching to bold took several keystrokes (not to mention a lunge for the mouse); the menu had to be chosen and then the Hacker had to click on bold. ResEdit has allowed the Hacker to define the command-1 key (i.e. pressing the little squiggly key simultaneously with the 1 key) as performing the same function as selecting Bold on the Character menu; no more grasping for that non-teflon paded mouse.

Another way to improve a program's useability through ResEdit is to completely change around the command key options. In Word, for example, the Happy Hacker has given command key options to all of the selections on the Character menu (such as Bold mentioned earlier) and also to the choices on the Paragraph menu (Left-Justify, Center, etc.)

ResEdit can also be used to play around with the fonts, editing them in a similar way to the Fatbits command in MacPaint (this is also how icons are modified in ResEdit). Thus some of the uglier letters in the London font can be cleaned up. More practically, this feature is useful for creating special characters, such as logical notation symbols, within standard fonts. On one of the Happy Hacker's disks, there are no more asterisks in Geneva and New York instead there is the often-used `existential quantifier' symbol (an oversized backwards E that is a favorite of logicians).

Caveat Hacker

Although ResEdit means no harm, it can sometimes destroy disks unintentionally. Apparently, the program has a few bugs which can really muck things up, not just for the file being edited but for the whole disk. As a precaution, always use ResEdit on a backup of a file which is on a disk with nothing important.

While ResEdit allows casual users to modify the Macintosh in ways that would require a programmer on other systems, it is also fairly complex and can be used by programmers to create everything from simple menus to complete operating environments.

As for the Happy Hacker, he's too busy waiting for an unprotected copy of flight simulator to worry about operating environments. But at least the word processing is quicker.