Applications in the Classic Environment


For the most part, applications running in the Classic environment work just as if you were using them on a Mac booted into Mac OS 9 (Figure 7.12) instead of Mac OS X (Figure 7.13). I have even successfully used applications written for System 6 in the Classic environment. Since the Classic environment mimics the qualities of Mac OS 9 so well, you will experience the same problems with applications (see the sidebar "Mac OS 9's Fragile Foundation"). The upside is that if a Mac OS 9 application crashes, you don't have to restart your Mac; just relaunch the problem application.

Figure 7.12. When a window of a Classic application is active, your Desktop looks more like Mac OS 9's, including the menu bar and rainbow Apple icon.


Figure 7.13. When a window of a Mac OS X application is active, your Desktop looks like it normally does, with its smooth menu bar and blue Apple icon.


Launching Mac OS 9 applications is easy: Just double-click the application's icon. If the Classic environment isn't already running, it will launch first, followed by your application. Your Desktop and the Finder look like Mac OS 9's Finder while you are using Classic applications. The Mac OS 9 rainbow Apple icon and the Multifinder are both good visual cues to look for. If you are working in an application that was developed for Mac OS 9, you will see the rainbow Apple menu icon (Figure 7.14) in the upper-left corner of your Desktop instead of Mac OS X's blue Apple menu icon (Figure 7.15), along with the Multifinder in the upper-right corner. In addition to showing all of your currently running Mac OS 9 applications, the Multifinder shows all of your running Mac OS X applications. Also, Classic applications use Mac OS 9's menu bar instead of Tiger's.

Figure 7.14. The Apple menu in the Classic environment has the distinct look of Apple's preMac OS X logo that dates back to the 1970s, rainbow colors and all.


Figure 7.15. The Apple menu icon in Mac OS X is glossy blue and easy to distinguish from the Classic environment's Apple menu icon.





Designer's Guide to Mac OS X Tiger
Designers Guide to Mac OS X Tiger
ISBN: 032141246X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 107
Authors: Jeff Gamet

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