Subject: AUTOFOCUS v1.5 mini hypertext application
hi!
AUTOFOCUS is a free HyperCard stack which discusses elementary photography. The stack discusses how much control we can still have over a camera that has been extensively, if not completely, automated. I hope that it may be useful and informative. This version includes a camera simulator which helps to visualize how depth of field varies with lighting conditions, focal length, and film speed.
The AUTOFOCUS stack is done with hypertext, and it is really an illustration of a specific hypertext format. The package includes complete instructions for creating your own hypertext in a stack called ABOUT THE SHUTTLE. No scripting is required, hypertext authors have their hands full just doing text.
This is not a demo
This is a working application, not a demo. The features list is small but by no means minimalist. The package contains a shareware offer for a more powerful application designed along similar lines, but I should point out that a great deal of hypertext can be produced without subscribing to the shareware. I have spent several years improving this hypertext system, following my own trains of thought, and acting on feedback from users, and I remain convinced that hypertext is above all a tool for creation, and isn’t just for browsing. This belief makes a demo impossible. I am also convinced that there is a need for free dedicated hypertext formats, in the spirit of the original HyperCard release which, as some may recall, was about sharing information with one another. I am also providing basic utilities which tend to make a subscription to the shareware package a mere convenience (instead of a necessity) for most purposes. The “real” program does the same things, it just does more of them and does them better.
Version
Current version is 1.5. Anyone with an earlier version should update to get the new tools. The hypertext format is the same as version 1.4 with minor enhancements. Earlier versions contain a few minor bugs and existing hypertext files should be converted to the new version with the tools. The text has changed in significant ways in each version.
Legal stuff
This software uses 2 XFCNs and adaptations of a few scripts and pictures by Apple, all found in the HyperCard 2.1 release. As far as I know, there are no restrictions on distribution of such within HyperCard applications. Otherwise, the material is all original, from design to scripting, and I am the sole copyright owner.
More legal stuff
Users should feel free to post unmodified copies of this package on bulletin boards, or give them away by any other means. Please give away the complete package, including this message!
Requires HyperCard 2.1 or later (the itemdelimiter property is used).
