Re: 'GIF'

In alt.usage.english, Donna Richoux wrote:
>Mike Barnes <november2005@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Also... in Windows I can change, for a given extension, which program is
>> used when I open it. For instance, I have several browsers, and I can
>> specify which one is used when I open a file with an HTML extension. (Of
>> course, it's possible, by a variety of means, to use some *other*
>> program: I'm talking only about the default.) On a Mac, how would I
>> specify that I wanted to use Firefox instead of IE to open HTML files?
>> Or Nullsoft Winamp rather than Microsoft Windows Media Player to open
>> WMA audio files? (Or something like that: I have no idea whether those
>> programs are available to the Mac user.) Is there some "file type"
>> field, not part of the file name, that I would specify?
>
>I can think of two ways to specify what program you want to open a
>document *in*. Drag-and-drop is frequent -- you drag the symbol for the
>document over to the symbol for the program. If it's suitable, it
>changes color, and when you let up on the mouse button, it opens.
>
>Another way is to open the desired program and use its "Open" command to
>locate the desired file.
>
>What you wouldn't do is just double-click on the icon -- that opens it
>in whatever default program is connected to it.

My question was... how would you change that default program, for one
file and all similar files? No matter if you don't know, it was only
idle curiosity.

>[...]
>
>I detect a certain confusion here about whether you think the "name" of
>the document is what's to the left of (your) extension letters, or
>whether it includes the extension letters. Is the name "Cinderella" or
>"Cinderella.jpg"? Using the same term to refer to both the part and the
>whole is a recipe for trouble...

I don't think I'm confused, but that's not to say that people aren't
confused by what I write. The word "name" is used for both purposes. The
"Cinderella" without the ".jpg", on the rare occasions that one wants to
specifically refer to it, is strictly the "base name". But often it's
just called the "name", and context takes care of any ambiguity.

When Windows XP is installed, file extensions are hidden by default, so
the bit before the extension *is* (apparently) the complete name.
Therefore it's possible to have any number of files with (apparently)
the same name in the same folder. I imagine most PCs are like that,
though the savvy user will immediately unset the "hide" option so that
they can see what's going on. Automatic hiding of extensions is a
relatively recent Windows phenomenon, designed either to simplify things
for ordinary users, or to make life easier for malware writers,
depending on your point of view.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
.