CD update...

[Scott Rossi]

Recently, Shari wrote:

> The most difficult part is getting them stuffed/zipped without an
> error creeping in.  I used to have a bad time with Stuffit until I
> bought a paid version.  Their free download was buggy, and I could
> stuff a file, but half the world couldn't unstuff it.

Shari:

Not sure if you're already aware of this but just in case...  If you try to
ZIP a set of Mac files on a Mac and some of these files contain Mac resource
forks, you'll likely wind up with a corrupted ZIP that either will not open,
or will result in corrupted (unopenable) files when unZIPed.  Saving files
from Photoshop with thumbnails enabled, for example, is one way to induce
this problem since the thumbnails are stored in the resource fork of the
file.  Sometimes, even creating PDFs on Mac systems can cause this problem
(and PDFs are supposed to be cross platform).  This may be what you've
experienced since you're obviously very Mac oriented.

One way around this problem is to copy all your files to a Windows box,
remove the separated resource fork data files (you'll see a bunch of files
appear called .#res if I recall) and ZIP the the files there.
Alternatively, I have a small utility that effectively strips the resource
forks by copying the Mac files into binary files.  This is not a polished
stack but you're welcome to it  (it will convert single files and folders of
files, but it will not recursively go through nested subfolders).  Plus it
saves a backup original of every converted file just in case (though to date
I've had no problems).

Lemme know...

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director

Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
Email: scott at tactilemedia.com
Web: www.tactilemedia.com