Setting Preferences

You can configure Jigsaw in many ways. To do so, open the Preferences window by:

•	selecting Preferences… from the File Menu, or
•	hold down "⌘" and type the ` key, or
•	click the Pref button on the Toolbar.

When you open the Preferences window, you will see a window with these areas on it:

•	"General options"
•	"Game starting options"
•	"Cursors"
•	"Background"
•	"On finishing a puzzle, play:"
•	"When the depth is not right:"
•	the navigation ("<<<" and ">>>") and save/revert butttons
•	the Balloon Help on/off check box

The second screen (press the ">>>" button or type "->" to get to it) has these areas:

•	"Create games where the pieces:"
•	"Default playing options"
•	"Use an offscreen image buffer:"
•	"When starting a new game:"
•	"Shape options"
•	the navigation ("<<<" and ">>>") and save/revert butttons
•	the Balloon Help on/off check box

The navigation and save/revert buttons:

•	<<<: this button will go to the first preferences screen. You can also press "," or "<-".
•	>>>: this button will go to the second preferences screen. You can also press "." or "->".
•	Use default preferences: this button changes all the preferences to the factory defaults.
•	Revert prefs: this button throws away all changes you have made and reads the preferences back in from the disk.
•	Save prefs: this button saves all changes you have made to the preferences by writing them to the disk.

General options:

•	Show splash screen: when on, the splash screen is shown.
•	Auto-save preferences: when on, any changes to the preferences are automatically saved. When off, changed preferences are not unless you click the Save prefs button.
•	Sound effects on/off icon: this affects all sound effects.
•	Show/hide desktop icon: when on, the desktop is hidden by a black backdrop.

Game starting options:

•	Show picture information in the Open Picture dialog: this will make Jigsaw display the dimensions and colour depth of the picture that is currently selected if Jigsaw recognises its format.
•	Show sneak preview: as the picture is being read in from the disk and made ready for display, Jigsaw will show you (briefly) what it looks like. Of course, those who like a challenge will turn this off. ;-)
•	Dither picture if necessary: this is especially useful for 24-bit colour pictures such as JPEGs that you want to display on any 8-bit deep (256 colours) or less monitor. This will make Jigsaw try to draw the best colours that it can for that picture and thus display it as best it can.
•	Scale picture to fit the best screen available: if you try to display large pictures at their original size, you will find that you need both a lot of memory and a lot of patience because you end up scrolling the picture around a lot. Jigsaw solves this problem by allowing you to display the picture at a size that will just fit your monitor’s screen. This results in no scrolling and less memory required to display the picture. Pictures that are smaller than the monitor are not affected by this option.
•	Play on a full screen: this will make a playing board the same size as the monitor that Jigsaw decides is the best one to play the game on. Using this options requires more memory. This option will not be used if the picture's window requires scroll bars. To ensure that this option will be used, make sure the Scale picture to fit the best screen available option is selected.

Cursors:

These options let you set up your preferred playing and waiting cursors. Left-handed players, rejoice!  :-)

Background:

These options let you set your preferred background colour and pattern when playing a game. Clicking on either of them will bring up a dialog that will let you choose your preferred colour or pattern.

•	colour selection dialog: after you select a new colour, Jigsaw will ask you if you want to apply it to all open games. Click the "Apply" button to do so.
•	pattern selection dialog: to change the pattern of all open games, click the "Apply to all games" button. To set the default pattern for any new games, click the "Set" button - this button will not alter the pattern of any open game.

Changes will be applied when the game window becomes the active game, i.e., when its window becomes the front most window.

On finishing a puzzle, play:

This option let you choose what sound to play when the game is complete. This feature is only available in the registered version of Jigsaw. Unregistered versions will only play the default sound. If you decide to keep and use Jigsaw, please register your copy. See the Registration Information section for details on how to register this software.

When the depth is not right:

This option determines what Jigsaw will do when you try to use a picture on a monitor that currently is not the best depth (or cannot be set to the best depth) for that picture. The options are:

•	Ask what to do: Jigsaw will display a dialog asking you for your choice (you will always be able to cancel the game)
•	Change to the best depth: Jigsaw will change to the best depth or the nearest depth available. Note that pictures that are 24-bit deep (such as colour JPEGs) need four times as much memory than if they were set up for display at 8-bit depth (256 colours). If you do not have enough memory, set your monitor to a lower depth and use an option other than this one.
•	Do not change depth: leaves the monitor in its current setting

If you change depth whilst playing a game, this option also determines what Jigsaw will do in response to the depth change.

Create games where the pieces:

•	are face up and upright: when selected, Jigsaw will make games with pieces that face up and are upright. If you have a slower Mac (020 or 030), you may find that this is the better option.
•	are rotated and turned over: when selected, Jigsaw will make games with pieces that are rotated and/or turned over. You should use this option on a faster Mac (040 or PowerPC) because it works best on these machines.

Default playing options:

•	Reveal all places: this will display the actual location of each piece as a black outline. Perhaps this should be called the "too easy" mode. It's good for people who are novices at jigsaw puzzles. :-)   You can toggle this mode from the Game menu or by clicking the Reveal button on the toolbar.
•	Show edges of all pieces: this will display the edges or all loose pieces as a black border around the piece. This may make it easier to identify the loose pieces. You can toggle this mode from the Game menu or by clicking the Edges button on the toolbar.
•	Put big joined pieces on top: this will put a piece that has 4 or more joined individual pieces at the top of the pile of pieces after you drop it. This will hide the pieces that are under the dropped piece.
•	Hide loose pieces on dragging: when you select a piece, all the other loose pieces will be hidden, allowing you to see only the pieces that have already been correctly placed. You can do the same thing on a "once-only" basis by holding down the option key when you click on a piece.
•	Drag piece’s outline if no offscreen image buffer made: when you start a game, Jigsaw will try to make a copy of the current window in memory to make the drawing smoother (if you let it do so by setting an appropriate Use an offscreen image buffer option below). Such a copy goes into what is called an "offscreen image buffer". If no buffer can be made, then drawing may become quite "flashy" normally. You can avoid this "flashy" effect by setting this option: when you drag a piece, Jigsaw will no longer try to draw the piece but rather it will draw only its outline, resulting in a much smoother effect (but you won’t be able to see what the piece looks like, only what its outline shape is). You can also invert this setting by shift-clicking a piece - that is, holding down the shift key before clicking/dragging a piece will cause it to draw in the opposite to what this setting would otherwise do.

Use an offscreen image buffer:

When you start a game, Jigsaw will try to make a copy of the current window in its memory to make the drawing smoother. Such a copy goes into what is called an "offscreen image buffer". These options control how and whether Jigsaw should try to make this buffer:

•	Never: no attempt is made to make a buffer. This will result in either a lot of "flashy" drawing or, if the Drag piece’s outline if no offscreen image buffer made option (above) is set, then the piece's outline will be drawn when you drag a piece.
•	If enough application memory: a buffer is made only if the application size will permit it (this is determined by the "preferred size" setting in the Get Info window of the Jigsaw application. To see this size, go to the Finder and click on Jigsaw and then select the Get Info command in the Finder’s File menu).
•	If enough system memory: Jigsaw will try to make a buffer in its application space first and if this fails, it will try to make it in the available system memory. The amount available can be approximately determined by looking in the About This Macintosh window in the Finder's Apple menu (top left). Warning: using this option reduces the memory available to open other applications with.
•	Always: this setting tells Jigsaw that it must make a buffer for all games that are played. This will ensure smooth drawing but you will need enough available application or system memory to open the game(s) otherwise Jigsaw will not let you play them (it will instead report a "not enough memory" error).

When starting a new game:

•	Use the options shown: if you want to always use the shape and sizes that are shown in the "Piece shape" and "Piece options" areas, then set this option and Jigsaw will not ask you for a shape or size.
•	Offer a shape to select: when you drag a picture onto Jigsaw’s icon or the palette’s New button and you have this option selected, Jigsaw will ask you to select a shape and/or size for that shape's pieces. This option only works in the registered version of Jigsaw. If you decide to keep and use Jigsaw, please register your copy. See the Registration Information section for details on how to register this software.

Shape options

Shape: select the default shape with this pop-up menu. Jigsaw can have new shapes added to it with external "plug-ins". Such "plug-ins" can be added anytime and are displayed in this pop-up menu (you may need to close and open the Preferences window to see them). This option is limited to the "Jigsaw" shape in the unregistered version of Jigsaw. Registered versions allow you to choose from six shapes (see the Read Me file for a picture of them). If you decide to keep and use Jigsaw, please register your copy. See the Registration Information section for details on how to register this software.

Play by: select how you want to determine the piece sizes with this pop-up menu; some of the options shown below it will change when you select a new item in it. When you start a new game, you can specify a different method if the “Offer a shape to select” button above is selected. Your choices are:
	-	by piece size: select this to make games with the specified piece sizes (width and height) in pixels.
	-	by pieces across/down: select this to make games with the specified number of pieces across and down.
	-	by number of pieces: select this to make games with the specified (total) number of pieces.

Remaining shape options: you can change the piece sizes or numbers, the randomness and the "snappyness" by clicking on the arrows. The "snappyness" determines how easily a piece will "snap" into place. The smaller the "snap", the closer a piece must be to its place (or its neighbour) for it to "snap" into place. The ability to change these options is available only in the registered version of Jigsaw. If you decide to keep and use Jigsaw, please register your copy. See the Registration Information section for details on how to register this software.