For those of you who have been using WorldClock 2.0, the following items describe the changes that have been made to the program in version 3.0:
1. It is now possible to save a monthly almanac file for a location, which may be opened and printed by a separate spreadsheet or word processing program. Access this feature from the Save... option at the bottom of the WorldClock menu. Holding down the mouse button on the Save... item brings up additional choices. Release the mouse button on the bottom item in these additional choices, i.e., ΓÇ£Save Aug 1995 Almanac FileΓÇ¥ to save an almanac spreadsheet file for the current location and current month. To save a monthly almanac file for a different location or month, first select a different location and/or month, using the Change Settings option on the menu, then go to the Save... option.
The spreadsheet almanac file that is created will be saved in the folder or location you choose from a dialog box, with the name you designate. This almanac file cannot be viewed or opened by WorldClock. It is a tab-delimited TEXT type file, intended to be opened, viewed, and printed with a spreadsheet or word processor program. Double-clicking on the file will not open it. Instead, first open your spreadsheet program or word processor program, then use that program to open the almanac file.
Once you have opened the monthly almanac file with your spreadsheet, you may set up the format you wish, adjusting fonts, column spacing, etc., according to your needs and the features of your spreadsheet program, and then print the file. If you do not have a spreadsheet program, the monthly almanac file may be opened with a word processing program. Some word processing programs, however, may require significant additional effort and tab setting adjustment on your part to get the data into a nice format for printing. In the monthly almanac file, times are expressed in either 24-hour format or AM PM format, depending on your choice on the Preferences screen.
2. The direction (azimuth) of sunrise and sunset are shown, in addition to the time. This addition was requested by many photographers and cinematographers. On the Sunrise Today and Sunrise Tomorrow screens, the direction (azimuth) of sunrise and sunset at the computerΓÇÖs home location are given in degrees clockwise from true north.
3. The times at the top of the map now reflect your preference setting of 24-hour or AM PM format.
4. Menu options now allow you to save changes prior to quitting the program. You may save time changes only, location changes only, or both. If changes are not saved, you will be asked if you wish to save them when you quit the program. Both WorldClock and AppleΓÇÖs Date & Time control panel have options to save the computerΓÇÖs home location, and to reset the Macintosh system clock. Considerable confusion has been reported by WorldClock users, especially when both are being used. Your WorldClock authorΓÇÖs recommendation is to use ONLY WorldClock in setting your system location, date, and time.
One source of confusion is the fact that CHANGING THE SYSTEM LOCATION ALSO CHANGES THE SYSTEM TIME. This makes sense, because if, for example, your system clock was set correctly in Japan, to local Japan time, and then you traveled to San Francisco, and you changed the computerΓÇÖs location to San Francisco, you would want the clock to adjust itself automatically to the correct San Francisco time.
Using either WorldClock or the Date & Time control panel to change settings is easy, as long as you set the location first, THEN set the time last, if necessary. L comes before T. Set the Location first, and then the Time.
For customers using PowerBooks, who change the system location and time often, it will be easier if you use WorldClock to make the changes. WorldClock will make exactly the same changes to the system resources as the Date & Time control panel does, as well as making necessary changes to its own resources. Just be sure to SET THE LOCATION FIRST, THEN SET THE TIME. Make sure that the time in the lower right-hand corner of the map is correct, and that the correct location is displayed in the bar at the top of WorldClockΓÇÖs window. When both are correct, select ΓÇ£Save All ChangesΓÇ¥ from the ΓÇ£Save...ΓÇ¥ option in the WorldClock menu.
5. The clocks now display not only the distance of the clockΓÇÖs location from the home location, but also the initial great-circle direction from the home location to the clockΓÇÖs location. This addition is in response to amateur radio operators who have requested this information to assist in aiming antennas. Due to the curvature of the earth, you may see apparently contradictory data. For example, WorldClock says the direction of London from Los Angeles is Northeast, 034┬░. You might expect that the direction for the reverse trip from London back to Los Angeles would be 180┬░ different - Southwest, 214┬░. The actual reverse direction is Northwest, 312┬░. If you hold a string on a globe, you will see that WorldClock is correct. As you follow a great-circle course over a long distance, the compass direction of travel changes considerably from origin to destination. The direction given by WorldClock is the INITIAL, starting direction of travel when first leaving the origin toward the destination.
6. When using the large display option, the week of the year is displayed in addition to the day of the year on the calendar screens.
7. If you are using a PowerBook, and have made no changes since last saving the home location or time settings, WorldClock 3.0 will update to the current system time upon waking up from ΓÇ£sleepΓÇ¥. If you have made unsaved changes, and WorldClock is displaying a time different from system time, WorldClock will NOT reset itself to system time upon waking up from the sleep state, and the time displayed will be incorrect by the length of time it was asleep. If you plan to allow your PowerBook to go into the sleep state, be sure to save any changes you have made first. If WorldClock was open when your PowerBook wakes up, and it displays an incorrect time, simply close WorldClock without saving changes, and re-open it.
8. The database has been updated with minor changes in response to current information.
9. Information about a city or location may now be edited. You may make changes to the latitude, longitude, time zone, and daylight saving start/stop rule. To edit information about a location, you must first choose it as the computerΓÇÖs ΓÇ£Home LocationΓÇ¥, using the ΓÇ£Change SettingsΓÇ¥ option on the WorldClock menu. Once you have chosen the location to be edited as the ΓÇ£Home LocationΓÇ¥, click the ΓÇ£Edit...ΓÇ¥ button. Make the necessary changes on the dialog that appears, and click the ΓÇ£DoneΓÇ¥ button to save the changes. If you donΓÇÖt want to save the changes you have made, click the ΓÇ£CancelΓÇ¥ button.
Daylight Saving time is subject to local political control, and legislators may vote to establish, do away with, or change the starting and ending dates of daylight saving time. To change the start/stop dates of daylight saving time, first select as home location a city that uses the rule to be changed. Then click the Edit... button. On the dialog window for editing the information for the location, there is another Edit button to modify the daylight saving start/stop rule. Click this button and make the necessary changes. The rules have been fairly stable in the U.S. and Canada recently, but some locations, especially Australia, are in the process of making changes.
10. Multiple monitors are now supported. If you are using multiple monitors, and drag the WorldClock window to a secondary monitor, and then close WorldClock from there, the next time you open WorldClock, it will open on that monitor. When WorldClock opens, it will move itself if necessary so that its entire window is on the same monitor, and adjust itself to display with the maximum image depth available on that monitor. If you drag WorldClock to a secondary monitor, and the display does not look right, close the program from there and re-open it. WorldClock optimizes its display only upon opening.
11. A number of miscellaneous bug fixes were completed.
