I started learning Macintosh programming about a year ago. One day, I got this huge curiosity on how to hide the Mac menu bar. "How do game programmers hide this white thing ?", I kept asking myself. This curiosity started to turn into research and later into success!
So, I knew how to hide the menu bar...hhmmm...ok! Now I have to write something just to try it! I did and the result was BlankScreen 1.0. In a first stage it just blanked out the screen. Then I thought about making it a bit more fun and put the Apple logo jumping around the blanked screen!!! This version 2.0 gets more serious as it is a real screen saver that actualy works.
NEW IN VERSION 2.0:
Version 2.0 introduces a greater level of customization so that the user can put BlankScreen working the way (s)he likes. Here are the new features:
• You can now choose what image you want to use.
• You can choose the background color.
• You can set the time that BlankScreen waits before moving the image to another spot.
• You can change the way BlankScreen moves the image on the screen from two possible modes: Sliding and Jumping.
HOW TO USE BLANKSCREEN:
There are two applications included in the BlankScreen folder. If you didn't get the two applications, then go download them or write to me. Both the URL for the download page and my addresses are at the end of this "Read Me" file. Here are the icons of the two applications:
BlankScreen Tools 2.0: This is the application where you set your options. Open this when, for instance, you want to change the picture or change anything else.
BlankScreen 2.0: This is the application that does all the screen saving. When you double-click it the screen turns to the background color you chose in the BlankScreen Tools application and the image starts displaying.
USING BLANKSCREEN TOOLS:
BlankScreen Tools is very straight-forward and very easy to use !!!
Here is how it looks:
• To change the picture just click on the "Change…" button that is inside the "Picture" frame.
A dialog box will appear. Choose the image file which you want to use as a screen saving image. When you click in the OK button of this dialog, a sample of the image you've just chosen will appear in the Picture box of the BlankScreen Tools window (the box where the apple logo is displayed in the image shown above).
• To change the background color just click in the other "Change…" button and proceed in a similar manner.
• To change the time that BlankScreen has to wait before moving the image, change the number in the little white box that may have the text selected (like the one shown above). The meaning of the number you enter changes according to the mode you have set:
If you set Jumping : this is the time in 1/60s of second that BlankScreen waits before "jumping" the image to another place on the screen. Example: if you enter 60 it will wait 1 second. If you enter 120 it will wait 2 seconds. If you enter 90 it will wait 1second and a half. Get the point?
If you set Sliding : sliding makes an animation with your image moving it in the screen. When the image bumps into a border of the screen it makes a ricochet !
The time setting in this mode is a bit tricky. The time you enter is the time that the image takes to cross the screen if it moved horizontally. I've played a bit with this setting and came to the conclusion that the best setting is 1200. It gives you a rather smooth animation. Nevertheless, play with the setting and try new values ! That's why it's there !
When you're done with all the settings, you can click "Test" and see the result right away !
When you're finished just quit.
USING BLANKSCREEN:
BlankScreen is even more straight-forward and easier to use than BlankScreen Tools!!!
When you want to call the screen saver, just double-click in BlankScreen !!!
For getting to it more quickly, you should put it in the desktop or in the Apple Menu.
To quit just hit a key or the mouse button.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROBLEM SOLVING:
• If you have QuickTime 2.5 or greater you may choose not only PICT files but also JPEGs and GIFs! Get it from the Apple Computer, Inc. web site (http://www.apple.com/).
• If you usually use BlankScreen while your Mac is doing other stuff (file downloading, calculations, etc.) you should use the Jumping mode because it doesn't take too much time from the processor. You should also use a time setting greater than 120.
• If your Mac crashes while BlankScreen or BlankScreen Tools was running, the preferences file may get currupted. This will certainly cause any of the two applications to behave strangely if they can run at all. In this case, trash the preferences file and customize BlankScreen again.
• BlankScreen is an application instead of an extension. This means that it doesn't generate extension conflicts. It also doesn't take up memory until you open it. When you quit, it releases all the memory it was using so that other applications may use it.
• BlankScreen is designed to run on single monitor systems only. You may have to restart your Mac if you try to use it in a multiple monitor system because after quitting BlankScreen windows start to behave in a weird manner. If you guys with multiple monitor systems would like to use BlankScreen then send me email to the address at the end of this file. If I receive enough mail asking for a multiple monitor capable version, you can count on version 3.0 to work on your system.
• BlankScreen deals with graphics files and as all graphic applications, the size of the files that it can open depend on the amount of memory that you assign to it in the "Get Info" dialog on the Finder. BlankScreen will probably have lots of room in memory to open any file with the default memory settings as I recomend you not to use files larger than half the screen. Files larger than that will not move much on the screen so it isn't a good idea to use them.
If you try to open a file larger than the available memory, you'll get an error and BlankScreen will quit. If you really want to use a big file with a big color depth (24 bits, for example) just increase the memory for both BlankScreen and BlankScreen Tools in the Finder by about 200kb and you should have no problems. Anyway, sometimes even a small image can cause a “Full Memory” error in the BlankScreen application if the mode you chose is Sliding because the animation eats a bit more memory. In this case set the BlankScreen application memory to 1000kb and you'll be fine again.
THIS IS FREEWARE:
The BlankScreen suite is distributed as freeware !!!
This means that you don't have to pay for it ! Cool, isn't it ?
HOW TO REACH ME:
Please do send me email! I would love to receive feedback from the users. The development of applications that are both usefull and fun is only possible if you tell the developers what you like and what you think that other people might like. So, please send me some comments and/or suggestions.
You'll find other software that I've written on my page so please go there and take a look.
email: pavao@bigfoot.com
www: http://members.tripod.com/~Pavon/
DISCLAIMER:
The software and documentation are provided “as is” and without any guaranty or warranty of any kind. Under no circumstances shall the author be liable for any damages that result from the use or inability to use the software or related documentation.
