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[1] About this FAQ

Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.1] What is this document, and who is it for?

 This is the Frequently Asked Questions document for Direct-L. As such, it attempts to provide at least approximate answers to many of the most common questions that crop up on the Direct-L mailing list. Most of these are to do with Macromedia Director, a multimedia authoring package for Macintosh and Windows. Some are specifically about the mechanics of the mailing list. A few are about more general multimedia issues.

If you're a user of Macromedia Director, hopefully this FAQ will contain information of use to you. Even if it doesn't have the answers to your questions, it may give some pointers to other places to find those answers.

It is not intended to stifle discussion on Direct-L or elsewhere, nor is it supposed to be the word from on high on every detail of development with Director. It certainly isn't intended to replace the Director manuals or remove the need to read them.

It also isn't intended to be read all the way through, unless you're in need of an insomnia cure. Check the contents list above, and fast-forward to the question you're interested in by having your text editor search for the question number enclosed in square brackets: [1.1]

It is simply intended to be a resource for Director users, collecting solutions to common problems, various neat tricks and the occasional bit of bad news all in one place. If you treat it as such, and give the contents a quick glance before posting questions to the list, we can all live happily ever after.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.2] Where can I find the latest version?

 The latest version of this FAQ will be posted fortnightly to Direct-L and comp.multimedia. It will also be placed on the Direct-L ftp server at: 
    ftp://sharedcast.hccs.cc.tx.us/Director
    login: anonymous
    password: none
If you can think of other good net.homes for this FAQ, let me know.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.3] Version history

 This is the second partial pre-release version. Its predecessor, 0.1a, was even more rudimentary than this. Main changes this version are answers to a bunch more questions, and a contents list. Still to come are, obviously, answers to the rest of the questions. So far no major changes in structure have been called for.

The first release version will be v1.0 and may or may not be substantially different to this. Watch this space.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.4] Responsible parties

 This FAQ is compiled by Matthew Caldwell <sexkittn@burn.demon.co.uk>, with the considerable assistance of all the good folks from Direct-L. Several people have contributed items or questions (either directly to me or to Direct-L) which in some form or other have been incorporated, including (in no particular order) the following:

This is by no means an exhaustive list of those who have influenced the development of this document. If I've failed to mention your name above, please don't feel snubbed. If there's a specific credit you think I've omitted, or if I've introduced errors into your answers, please let me know.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.5] What to do with suggestions, corrections and additions

 If you spot a glaring mistake that needs correction, or can think of a crucially important FAQ that should be included, or have any other suggestions for future versions of this document, mail them direct to me at: 
    sexkittn@burn.demon.co.uk
All constructive suggestions are welcome. Flames will be binned, thanks all the same.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.6] Future attractions

 A number of suggestions have been made but not yet incorporated into this FAQ. Chief among them (courtesy of Matt Craig <mnmac@flinders.edu.au>) is to have sections for basic design guidelines, interface and navigation issues. These sections may or may not be added to the next version, depending on what people think. I hope it's clear that they would not purport to be instructions as to how things should be done but rather pointers to obvious pitfalls and some ways of avoiding them.

Another thing I hope to be able to add to future versions is more info coming from the Windows side of things. Since I personally have little experience of Windows development, I'm reliant on others to provide me with this info. I'll be gathering what I can from Direct-L itself, but if you have anything specific to contribute see 1.5 above.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.7] Mumbo jumbo

 This document is copyright Matthew Caldwell 1994. Individual portions are copyright their respective authors. The document may be freely distributed but must not be sold.

The content of this FAQ is provided for information only, with absolutely no warranty either express or implied. No responsibility can be accepted for any consequences of the use or misuse of the information or suggestions given here. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but errors may nevertheless creep in. Use is strictly at your own risk, so don't come crying to me.

This document is in no way authorized by Macromedia, Apple Computer, Microsoft or the Del Rio Midgets, so don't go crying to them either.

All trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

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Director FAQ [1] About this FAQ

[1.8] More mumbo jumbo

 Some techniques discussed here utilize features of Director and Lingo that either differ or were excluded from the published documentation. On the whole they do actually work, but Macromedia technical support points out that these capabilities were not included in the Director 4.0 testing cycle, and so were not included in the documentation. Use of undocumented features cannot be guaranteed to work in the same way in future versions of Director, and so would require particular testing and acceptance of risk on the part of the developer.

Like I say, don't go crying to them.

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Director Web: Director FAQ: [1] About this FAQ

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The Internet Connection at MCLI is Alan Levine --}
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