Editing MacPaint (section)

== Development ==
MacPaint was written by [[Bill Atkinson]], a member of Apple's original Macintosh development team.<ref name="time"/> The original MacPaint program consisted of 5,804 lines of [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] [[source code|computer code]], augmented by another 2,738 lines of [[Motorola 68000|68000]] [[assembly language]].{{sfnp|Hertzfeld|2005|page=174}} MacPaint's user interface was designed by [[Susan Kare]], also a member of the Macintosh team.<ref name="kare">{{cite magazine | last = McGeever | first =C  | title = Q&A: Susan Kare: 'I Never Planned to Be a Guiding Force in the Macintosh Design' | magazine = [[InfoWorld]] | volume=6| issue=37 | page = 64 | date = September 10, 1984| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hy8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64}}</ref> Kare also beta-tested MacPaint before release.<ref name="kare"/>

MacPaint allows users to edit a 576-by-720 pixel, 72-dpi bitmap (slightly wider than the screen, and slightly more than twice as tall as the screen). A occupies most of the screen real estate, offering a viewport into a portion of the bitmap, with toolbars and pattern palettes around it.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

MacPaint uses two offscreen [[data buffer|memory buffers]] to avoid flicker when dragging shapes or images across the screen.<ref name="buffer">{{harvp|Hertzfeld|2005|page=171}}</ref> One of these buffers contained the existing pixels of a document, and the other contained the pixels of its previous state.<ref name="buffer"/> The second buffer was used as the basis of the software's [[undo]] feature.<ref name="buffer"/> In April 1983, the software's name was changed from MacSketch to MacPaint.{{sfnp|Hertzfeld|2005|page=172}} The original MacPaint was programmed as a single-document interface. The palette positions and sizes were unalterable, as was the document window. This differed from other Macintosh software at the time, which allowed users to move windows and resize them.

=== FatBits ===
The original MacPaint did incorporate a double zoom function. Instead of a zoom function, a special magnification mode called FatBits was used. FatBits showed each pixel as a clickable rectangle with a white border. The FatBits editing mode set the standard for many future editors.{{sfnp|Hertzfeld|2005|page=147}} MacPaint included a "Goodies" menu which included the FatBits tool. This menu had been named the "Aids" menu in prerelease versions, but was renamed "Goodies" as public awareness of the [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] epidemic grew in the summer of 1983.{{sfnp|Hertzfeld|2005|pages=155-156}}<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Atkinson |first=Bill |title=MacPaint: Version 1.5 |date= April 1985|url=http://archive.org/details/mac_Paint_2 |access-date=16 March 2023}}</ref>