Before you begin, please skim through this document, so that you know what is here. Once you have done that, you can get going in less than a minute.
Table of Contents:
General:
1. About StripLaunch
2. Shareware Issues
3. Passing it on
Usage:
4. Compatibility Issues
5. Using StripLaunch
6. Tips and Tricks
Support:
7. Reporting Bugs or Problems
8. Contact Information
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GENERAL
1. About StripLaunch
StripLaunch is a Control Strip module, which will give you a small menu containing your favourite applications, most commonly used documents, best scripts and anything else you desire, just by clicking on it in the Control Strip.
StripLaunch will take up only 7k on your hard drive, use next to no memory at all, load in less time than you could measure and takes only the standard amount of space in the Control Strip. There is no reason not to use it!
2. Shareware Issues
General:
StripLaunch is shareware. If you use it, please send in the registration fee of $5, in a currency of your choice. You will not only be supporting and encouraging the development of more useful shareware applications; you will also, optionally, receive notification of updates (which, naturally, will be free to all registered users) and of any new offers which might be upcoming.
If you want to register several copies of StripLaunch, contact me, and I will offer you discounts based on how many copies you want. Site licenses are also available, the price of which can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
The address to which you should send the registration fee is:
Tobias Peciva
Gibraltargatan 92 : 929
SE - 412 79 Gothenburg
SWEDEN
If you want to be on the safe side, I suggest you check this address against the most current posting on my www page, before sending any money. More about this can be found in section 8 below.
Details on registering:
Please enclose a little note (or just your name, and then send me the note via e-mail), stating whether or not you want to be notified of updates and/or of new releases, and whether or not you want them sent directly to you via e-mail (provided, of course, that their size is reasonable).
If you want e-mail notification, don't forget to enclose your e-mail address (which will not be used for anything else than what you ask for and which will be kept strictly secret).
Also, while this is not required, I would like you to tell me what computer you use (model, type and size of monitor, amount of RAM, system version, and anything else you can think of) and where you live (just the city will do nicely) so that I know where my users are located.
For your convenience, I have enclosed the file 'StripLaunch Registration Form', which you may optionally print and use for your registration. This is, however, not required.
Unfortunately, I am currently not able to accept credit card purchases or anything similar. Also, please do not send international cheques, since it will cost me the entire shareware fee cashing them in. Just plain bills in an envelope is the best and safest way to get me the money.
3. Passing it on
Please feel free to distribute StripLaunch to all your friends, or anyone at all. Note, however, that this manual must be included, unmodified, with the software. Indeed, the entire 'StripLaunch Folder' should be kept intact and passed on in the form it came; nothing should be missing or changed!
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USAGE
4. Compatibility Issues
StripLaunch will run on both 68k and PPC computers, with any monitor, in b/w or color. It requires System 7 or later and, naturally, the Control Strip extension.
StripLaunch has been tested on a rather limited range of machines, so although it is a very simple piece of software (meaning errors are very unlikely), I can not guarantee that it will work on your system. If StripLaunch refuses to load or crashes on your machine, please let me know, so that I can look into it. Hopefully, I will find the problem, in which case you will be provided with an updated copy of StripLaunch.
Also, note that I will assume no responsibility for any damage caused by StripLaunch in any way. There is in theory nothing in it which can cause any damage at all, but if it happens, I am afraid I can not compensate you in any way for it.
5. Using StripLaunch
To install StripLaunch, drop it into your Control Strip Modules folder and restart your computer. It's symbol will now appear in the Control Strip. To add items to the menu, you similarly just drag the desired documents and applications - or, preferably, aliases of them - to the Control Strip Modules folder. No restarting is necessary. The instant you drop something in the folder, it appears in the menu.
The StripLaunch menu may contain up to 64 items. This should be more than enough; if you have too many items in the menu, they will be increasingly hard to find. Also, having few items helps keeping memory requirements down. If you think, however, that 64 items is too little, just contact me, and I will send you an updated version, which can handle as many items as you desire.
6. Tips and Tricks
Items in the menu are arranged alphabetically. Thus, you may change the location of an item by changing its name. In particular, adding a 'space' in front of the name of an item will send that item to the top of the list, while typing a 'delete' (this character will be invisible, but if you step through the name with the arrow keys, you will be able to notice it) as the first character will send the item to the bottom of the menu. Note that this is the 'forward delete' key on the Extended Keyboard. If you want all the items in a particular order, simply number them by adding numbers one and up to the beginning of their names.
If you would like, for example, to set applications apart from documents, or just want to have certain items stand out, there is a little trick which will allow you to make items in the menu bold, italicized, underlined, outlined or shadowed. To accomplish this, add two characters to the names of your items according to the following list:
<B Bold
<I Italic
<U Underlined
<O Outlined
<S Shadowed
You may also combine any of these 'tags'. Thus, adding '<B<I' to a name will make that item bold and italic. Adding these tags to the beginning of the names will affect the way in which the items are ordered in the menu; tagged items will appear at the top of the menu. If you want to avoid this, instead add the tags to the end of the names. The result will be the same, but the order in which items appear in the menu will be unaffected. (If you want all applications bold by default, or anything similar, just contact me, and I will send you a customised version of StripLaunch.)
Another handy tip, if you are using AppleScript, is to create or download scripts from the web, which sets your monitor resolution and/or bit depth and/or sound volume, and add them to the StripLaunch menu. Since you seldom need more than two different settings (one for work and one for games, perhaps), you can add these two to your menu and then remove both the resolution, the bit depth and the sound control panels from the Control Strip, saving space, and reducing the number of selections needing to be done.
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SUPPORT
7. Reporting Bugs or Problems
If you should encounter what seems like a bug, or some unwanted behaviour, please let me know by sending me an e-mail. In the mail, state the nature of the problem and describe the setup of your system. Hopefully, I will be able to track the problem down, in which case I will send you an updated version as soon as I have fixed it.
In addition, if you have any comments or would like to see any modification or suchlike, please tell me this as well. All ideas are much appreciated, and will be implemented, if they seem reasonable or are requested by many users!
8. Contact Information
Getting in touch with me is best done by e-mailing. The address is:
peciva@dd.chalmers.se
To get the latest information about StripLaunch and any other products, or about how to contact me, please look at my www page, which is located at:
