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Dialogue Box

By Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief

I Like humor

I have to admit I was a bit taken aback by the letter from Mark Munz. To be honest I work 10 to 12 hour days, and take my humor where I can get it. And three pages of humor can be skipped over, if one really doesn't like it, they don't have to look at it. Most of the articles are longer than that, so nothing could be added but advertisements. Mark may need a bit of holiday cheer to pull him out of his scrooge dulldrums.

In short, I like both editorials and the Lighter Side. So you can put me in as a vote for the plus side. I am still waiting for a topless Quadra centerfold.

- Jerome Jahnke

A forum for questions

I have a suggestion. How about a “How'd they do that?” column. I always see cool things done with other programs, and I'd like to accomplish the same thing in my code. I don't want to expose any trade secrets, maybe just some quick and dirty code. Aspiring programmers could submit questions, limited to say 100 words or less, asking how to do something. Those who know how could send in some code matching the request.

For example, I always wondered how Apple did that scrolling credits list when you hold down the Option key when selecting About the Finder. I wrote something that's close, but I wouldn't mind finding out how others do it, or submitting my code if someone asks. If you decide on something like this, please let me know - I already have some other questions to submit.

- Bill Modesitt

[Bill, we have in past used this Dialogue Box section as a forum for Q&A between readers. We will continue to do this. In addition, we will have a space available in our online areas for discussion. So readers answer his question and ask your own if you’d like. - Ed.]

Smaller Fonts and Thinner Paper

I just received my January issue. Bravo! You have made many new improvements to this magazine. However, there are few more that could make MacTech more astonishing.

It seems to me that many of your writers told us that they didn't have enough room to put some detail in their articles. I think you can solve this problem by using smaller/different font in your magazine. Also, you have large spacing between lines. If you could change this, it will give a bit more room for your writers to fill in. If you look at other programmer's magazines to see how they can put more code on a page by using smaller font and smaller spacing between line.

Also, you are using a thick paper for your magazine and this will make you magazine bulky. Just an opinion and suggestion from your reader.

- Saiful Azuan Abdul Aziz

[From time to time, we get comments on formatting. Half the time the comment is "make it smaller" and the other half it is "make it bigger". Given that we are at a 50/50 ratio, we have the best balance possible.

Elvis to the rescue!

The new CD-ROM arrived today via US Mail. It was shipped from Los Angeles on Monday the 18th and arrived in rural Georgia on Thursday. Not bad for the postal service, especially considering Monday was a holiday. I bet if Xplain Corp. had put Elvis stamps on the package, I would have received it even faster. :)

- Charles Wilkins

[We tried, but the post office ran out when the Clinton Inaugaral used them all up for invitations. - Ed.]