In lines mode, the control points are connected by straight lines; the effect is something like qix.
In polygons mode, the control points are connected by straight lines, and filled in. This is most interesting in color.
In splines mode, a closed spline is interpolated from the control points.
In filled-splines mode, the splines are filled in instead of being outlines. This is most interesting in color.
In tails mode, the path which each particle follows is indicated by a worm-like trail, whose length is controlled by the segments parameter.
In glow mode, all of the balls will be drawn the same (random) color, modulo the saturation shifts. In non-glow mode, the balls will each be drawn in a random color that doesn't change.