StatusBar Buttons v2.0©1994 by Jesse DevineAll Rights Reserved1/25/94Major Points of Interest======================Ą StatusBar Buttons is a single Newton applet which places seven buttons in the status bar at the bottom of the Newton's note pad application. Each of these buttons serve a distinct and useful function, and generally make the Newton a better place to live. You may select which buttons to display as appropriate for your unique needs.Ą StatusBar Buttons is a "persistent" applet. When installed, the buttons appear immediately. When the Newton is reset, the buttons reinstall themselves. They're always there, ready to serve.Ą StatusBar Buttons is card friendly. It has been tested and tested and then tested some more just to be sure. However, if you are experiencing difficulties removing the card from your Newton, it is possible that other applets are causing the dreaded "Grip-o-Death". Try removing the applets you have installed recently. Ą StausBar Buttons has been written to conform to the Button Developer Kit guidelines in accordance with the BELLY consortium. Details of the BDK can be obtained by internet email at the address given at the end of this README.Ą StatusBar Buttons v2.0 may be distributed as FreeWare, as long as this README file is distributed with it. No files here may be distributed in a changed format.Buttons=======The buttons placed in the status bar are as follows:Ą BULLETVery often (in meetings, making lists, and so on) it is desirable to bulletize items by placing the Option-8 "bullet" character (Ą) to the left of the item. This makes the item stand out visually and identifies it as the beginning of a significant item. Unfortunately, it is fairly difficult to do this under normal circumstances. The sequence usually goes like this:1. Tap the keyboard icon to get the on-screen keyboard.2. Tap return to move from the end of the last line to a new line.3. Tap the option key to get the symbol characters4. Tap the 8 key to get the Ą character5. Close the keyboard...And then resume writing, if you can remember what you wanted to write in the first place.Bullet is designed to make it easier for the the user to "bulletize" items in the MessagePad's Notepad application. By simply tapping on the Ą button at the bottom of the Notepad screen, a carriage return and a Ą character will be inserted into the text at the current insertion point. You will not be able to see where the Newton has placed the insertion point without the on-screen keyboard being open, but the insertion point is still present. It will usually be at the end of whatever word you have just written. However, it may also be at the end of a word you have just edited, perhaps after double tapping on a word and selecting one of the alternate choices. In any case, you can make the insertion point go wherever you like by single-tapping on the desired spot in the text before tapping the Ą button.Ą QUICKSTYLEQuickStyle is designed to simplify the process of changing the style of text in the Notepad. Typically, the user must hilite the text to be changed, open the extras drawer, open the Styles palette, close the extras drawer so the text is visible, make the changes, and then close the Styles palette. This is far too many taps.QuickStyle places a button at the bottom of the Notepad that, when pressed, opens the Styles palette. A second tap on the button closes it. That's all there is to it.Ą EXCLAIM!Newton Exclaim! is designed to make it easier for the user to punctuate notes in the Notepad. Some characters, particularly the comma and the period, are extremely difficult to make the Newton recognize. Exclaim! solves this by placing a button in the status bar of the Notepad that, when pressed, pops up a list of commonly used punctuation marks. A second tap on the desired mark places that mark into the Notepad's text at the current insertion point. For a brief discussion on insertion points, see the Newton Bullet entry above. Additionally, you can specify your own list of symbols and punctuation in the preferences screen for StatusBar Buttons.Ą KEYSKeys is designed to provide the user with a few editing keys that otherwise would require popping up (and then closing) the keyboard. This works very similarly to the Exclaim! applet (described above). The editing keys are forward delete, regular (backward) delete, tab, and carriage return. While this applet saves the user only a single tap, I believe it to be easier to use than the regular keyboard for certain kinds of editing.Ą INK SIZERThe Ink Sizer button allows you to select the "pen width" currently used in the notepad. This allows you artists of the Newton community to doodle without having to call up the styles palette every time you want to change the ink size. Ą WORDS/LETTERSThis button allows you to toggle between "Recognize words in word lists" and "Recognize words not in word lists". Ordinarily, this toggle would necessitate a trip to the preferences screen, which makes the Newton's ability to recognize letters instead of words difficult to use on those occasions when you just *know* the word won't be in the dictionary. When in the Word recognition mode, the button will display "W". When in the Letter recognition mode, the button will display "L".Ą PREFS SHORTCUTThis button does a quick shortcut to the preferences overview screen, making life one tap simpler.Installation===========Installing StatusBar Buttons is easy. Just use the Newton Connection kit to download the package to your Newton MessagePad. StatusBar Buttons will go to work immediately by placing it's buttons at the bottom of the Notepad application in the status bar. These buttons will remain in place even after a reset.If you install StatusBar Buttons on a PCMCIA card, the buttons will go away when the card is removed and return when it is replaced. StatusBar Buttons has been fully tested for use on the Newton memory cards and will not put the dreaded "Grip of Death" on the card.Preferences===========StatusBar Buttons has a preferences screen, accessible by tapping the applet icon in the Extras drawer. This will pop up a dialog that lets you choose which buttons you wish to have present in the note pad's status bar. Additionally, you can create the characters that are displayed by the Exclaim! button.Known Bugs===========Newton Keys, when using the forward delete on hilited text, will not properly delete the text as you would expect. Backward delete works properly in this regard. Also, neither forward delete nor backward delete will properly remove the last character of a paragraph. Normally this is not a problem, since scrubbing works much better anyway. If you *really* want to delete that last pesky character, hilite it first and then use backward delete.Feedback========If you find some aspect of StatusBar Buttons not up to snuff, or if you have helpful suggestions, please feel free to let me know. Additonally, if there is a simple function that you would really like to have a quick-access button for, I'm open to suggestions. You can reach me at: Internet: jester@apple.comOnce again, StatusBar Buttons is FreeWare! I want to make the Newton a better place to live. Pass it around, tell all your friends about it, upload it to your favorite BBS, and so on. But please! keep this read me with the package!Programmer's Note=================In the interest of having well behaved applets, and in the interest of getting along with anyone else who puts a button at the bottom of the NotePad screen, several of us Newt programmers have formed BELLY, the Button Developers Consortium. If you are interested in developing buttons with the Button Developers Kit, please send me email to that effect. I will distribute BDK over email gateways only, no snail mail.Acknowledgements=================Thanks and kudos go to Erica Sadun (of Figgles fame) and Gregory Christie (of Storekeeper fame), both of whom are charter members of the BELLY consortium and whose patience with my buggy betas amazes me.Legal=====While I have done extensive testing to make sure StatusBar Buttons is a well-behaved applet, I cannot take responsibility for its use or misuse. If you don't like being responsible for trying StatusBar Buttons, don't!StatusBar Buttons was created and is owned by Jesse Devine. Apple Computer, Inc. and it's affiliates don't have any responsibility for this applet in any way, shape, or form.