Apollo’s menus

The main menu
Initially, Apollo’s menu is empty and looks like this (it will probably appear in the system font, Chicago, but you can use any font and size you like. I use 9 point Geneva, because it saves space):

Switching submenu
This menu is given the name “Current apps”. It contains the names of all the applications which are running in your Mac and is updated automatically when these change. If you have chosen to have icons in your menus, the switching submenu has the icon of the active application. A typical submenu might look like this:

The frontmost application is MacPaint, so it has a tick next to its name in the switching menu and the “Current apps” title takes on MacPaint’s icon. Finder has open windows, as have Word and DOCMaker, so they have submenus: MacPaint does not. (If you aren’t running system 7, no application will have a submenu). ResEdit, being Apple’s own software and therefore special, never has a submenu. Selecting an application makes it active. Selecting a window makes its application active and brings that window to the front.

For more detail on the application-switching menu, see the section on the Switching page of the preferences dialog.

The Apple menu
Apollo’s Apple menu is a copy of your genuine Apple menu, and choosing an item from it has the same effect as choosing an item from the Apple menu. Under system 7, however, Apollo makes its Apple menu more powerful than the system menu, because any folders or folder aliases in your Apple Menu Items folder acquire their own submenus which list their contents: this is similar to the feature offered by NowMenus and BeHierarchic. Choosing an item from a submenu opens that item, as if you had double-clicked it in the Finder.

Other application…
If you want to use Apollo to start up an application which isn’t in Apollo’s menu, choose this item from the main menu. You will see the standard “Open…” dialog, from which you should choose an application to be started. A check box and popup menu at the bottom of the dialog allow you to add the application you have chosen to Apollo’s main menu or to one of its groups:

About…
Select About… to see a dialog giving some information about Apollo. (Hint: try clicking on the Apollo icon in the dialog.) You can ask Apollo to print a registration form from this dialog.

Registration…
Select Registration… to see a short sermon on the virtues of registering shareware. You can ask Apollo to print a registration form from this dialog, too.

Purge…
Purge… removes all the items you have placed into Apollo’s menus, restoring them to their original state. Use this if you have been given a copy of Apollo set up for someone else’s Mac, or if you are just bored with your setup and want to start again. This is a drastic step to take! You will be given two chances to change your mind before Apollo purges its menus. Think carefully!

Configure…, Preferences… and Application settings…
These choices are described in their own chapters, later in this document.