MacWorld 1999 June/Macworld (1999-06).dmg/Games World/SharewareGames/Solitaire Till Dawn 3.4/Solitaire Till Dawn User Guide/Solitaire Till Dawn User Guide.rsrc/TEXT_8994_Preferences.txt

Text File | 1999-02-19 | 7KB | 87 lines

Preferences

The Preferences menu lets you control a number of features including the use of color, the card size, the cardback design, the window background pattern, whether the program will remind you to save unfinished games, and more.

This chapter explains the features of the Preferences menu, and also explains how you and the other users of your Macintosh can keep separate preferences and scores in your own Profile documents.

There are four sections in this chapter. The first section, Menu Items, briefly explains what each item in the Preferences menu is for. The second section, The Preferences Window, explains the controls in the preferences window. The third section, The Cards & Patterns Window, explains the controls in the Cards & Patterns window. The fourth section, Profiles, explains the use of the menu items New Profile and Open Profile.


Menu Items

Preferences…
Select this item to open the Preferences Window. See The Preferences Window below for a full discussion of its features.

Cards & Patterns…
Select this item to open the Cards & Patterns window. This window lets you choose a card design and a background pattern for the game window. See The Cards & Patterns Window below for a full discussion of its features. This menu item is available only when a game is in progress, and the game window is in color.

New Profile…
Open Profile…
See Profiles below for a discussion of these menu items.

Auto Scroll
Select this item to turn the Auto Scroll option on and off. When Auto Scroll is on, the game window will scroll automatically (if necessary) when you drag a card beyond the bounds of the window. When Auto Scroll is off the window will not scroll as you drag cards, but you can still scroll the window by using the scroll bars in the usual way.

Magnetic Mouse
Select this item to turn the Magnetic Mouse option on and off. Magnetic Mouse lets you deal and move cards without clicking. See the Magnetic Mouse chapter for a description of this feature.

Sound
Select this item to turn all sound effects on and off. When sound effects are on, the Sound menu item will have a checkmark.

Show Score…
Select this item to see your score for the current game. You can also see your score in the Status Bar; see the chapter Score and Statistics for details.

Show Statistics… Select this item to see your statistics for the solitaire you have selected. You can also see your statistics in the Status Bar; see the chapter Score and Statistics for details.

Clear Statistics… Select this item to erase your statistics for the solitaire you have selected. See the chapter Score and Statistics for details.


The Preferences Window

Select Preferences from the Preferences menu to display the preferences dialog window, which contains the following controls:

(See picture: The Preferences Window.)

I Paid. Put a checkmark in this box when you have paid your shareware fee. It will replace the program’s shareware notices with the message “Thank you for supporting shareware!” and will remove the Register and Not Yet buttons from the About box.

To pay your fee, select About Solitaire Till Dawn from the Apple menu, and click the Register button that you will see in the window. The button will not be visible if you have already checkmarked I Paid.

Automatically Save Game At Quit. By default, this box is checkmarked, and your current game will be automatically saved when you quit. When you next start up Solitaire Till Dawn, you’ll see the same game again exactly as you left it. (Note: auto-saved games are kept in your current profile. If you start from a different profile, or if you change profiles while playing, you'll see the last game that was auto-saved in that profile. See Profiles below for more information.) Uncheck the box if you'd rather not auto-save games.

Show “Save Game?” Reminders. By default, this box is checkmarked. Uncheck it to turn off the automatic “Do you want to save your game?” reminders. (These can get annoying because you’ll normally get one every time you give up on a lost game.)

OK and Cancel. Click OK after you have made all your choices to save them and make the Preferences window disappear. If you decide to make no changes after all, click Cancel instead.


The Cards & Patterns Window

Select Cards & Patterns from the Preferences menu to display the Cards & Patterns dialog window, which contains the following controls:

(See picture: The Cards & Patterns Window.)

Display area. The large area at the right of the window, showing the hand and a small column of cards, shows you what your choices will look like. Whenever you make a change in the Cards & Patterns window, your new choice will be displayed here so you can see what your choice will look like in the game window.

Scrolling list of patterns. The scrolling list at the left of the window lets you select a background pattern for the game window. To select a pattern, scroll the list until you see one you like, then click on that pattern.

Scrolling list of cards. The scrolling list towards the center of the window lets you select a cardback design. To select a cardback design, scroll the list until you see one you like, then click on that design.

Small, Medium, Large. Use these buttons to choose how large or small you want your cards and game layout. Selecting Small will give you the smallest possible layout, suitable for small monitors; the cards are small and some users may find them hard to read. Selecting Medium will give you larger cards and a more spacious layout, good for medium-sized monitors. Selecting Large will give you the largest layout and will draw the cards in a less realistic but easier-to-read format.

Red Numbers. Placing a checkmark in the Red Numbers box will draw all Hearts and Diamonds with red numbers instead of black ones. Using red numbers makes it easier to tell red cards from black ones, but may make it harder to read the numbers, especially in the smaller card sizes.

OK and Cancel. Click OK after you have made all your choices to save them and make the Cards & Patterns window disappear. If you decide to make no changes after all, click Cancel instead.


Profiles

Preferences, scoring statistics, and your latest auto-saved game are kept in a document called a “profile.” Solitaire Till Dawn will create a default profile the first time you run it, and will always use that profile unless you deliberately open or create a different one. The default profile is called “Solitaire Till Dawn™ Profile” and is in your system’s Preferences folder.

You can create a new profile by selecting New Profile from the Preferences menu. You can name the new profile anything you like, and place it in any folder. The new profile contains the preference settings that were in effect when you created it, but it will not remember your old scores so you’ll be starting fresh.

You can open an existing profile by selecting Open Profile from the Preferences menu. A special button in the Open window, labeled “Open Default Profile,” lets you easily go back to the default profile.

You can also open an existing profile just by double-clicking its icon in the Finder.

You can see the name of the profile you are currently using at the top of the Preferences window. Any changes you make in the Preferences window will be saved in that profile and not in any other.