The fundamental design goal for Notebook Maker was that it should be able to produce Notebook applications that run in as small a memory partition as possible. This is primarily because in many areas where a Notebook application would be useful, the Macintosh user will probably have little additional RAM to spare—thus an application that chews up 500k or so, will not be as useful as one that uses only 100k.
We believe that we have managed to acheive this goal, but of course it comes with its disadvantages. This may become evident if you try to use Notebook Maker to produce a wonderful multi-media Notebook!
The following lists two of the major limitations of Notebook applications, and describes why they exist. Generally we will not be rectifying these limitations as it would invariably increase the memory requirements of each Notebook. However, if you have a really good reason why something in this list should be changed, we'll consider it—let us know.
Window is not resizeable: We feel this is not a major problem, as most Notebooks will be used in the same way a Desk Accessory would. That is, the user will be quickly looking for some information, and then will close the application again. The additional memory overhead is not justified.
‘Commander’, the sister application of Notebook Maker, which is supplied to all registered Notebook Maker users, does allow you to change the size of the viewing window (to a certain degree).
No Topic List editting: Notebook Maker allows you to add and delete topics, and attach pictures to any particular topics. The Notebook application itself does not have this full capability - the only list editting you are permitted to do is to add topics. Again, the overhead memory requirements are not justified, as most Notebooks will contain more or less static text.
