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3.5 User interface options

-display
-geometry
-iconic
These and most other standard Xt options are accepted.
-noGUI
Suppresses all GUI functions of XBoard (to speed up automated ultra-fast engine-engine games, which you don’t want to watch). There will be no board or clock updates, no printing of moves, and no update of the icon on the task bar in this mode.
-movesound/-xmovesound or -ringBellAfterMoves true/false
Sets the Move Sound menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false. For compatibility with old XBoard versions, -bell/-xbell are also accepted as abbreviations for this option.
-exit/-xexit or -popupExitMessage true/false
Sets the Popup Exit Message menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-popup/-xpopup or -popupMoveErrors true/false
Sets the Popup Move Errors menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-queen/-xqueen or -alwaysPromoteToQueen true/false
Sets the Always Queen menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-legal/-xlegal or -testLegality true/false
Sets the Test Legality menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-size or -boardSize (sizeName | n1,n2,n3,n4,n5,n6,n7)
Determines how large the board will be, by selecting the pixel size of the pieces and setting a few related parameters. The sizeName can be one of: Titanic, giving 129x129 pixel pieces, Colossal 116x116, Giant 108x108, Huge 95x95, Big 87x87, Large 80x80, Bulky 72x72, Medium 64x64, Moderate 58x58, Average 54x54, Middling 49x49, Mediocre 45x45, Small 40x40, Slim 37x37, Petite 33x33, Dinky 29x29, Teeny 25x25, or Tiny 21x21. Pieces of all these sizes are built into XBoard. Other sizes can be used if you have them; see the pixmapDirectory and bitmapDirectory options. The default depends on the size of your screen; it is approximately the largest size that will fit without clipping.

You can select other sizes or vary other layout parameters by providing a list of comma-separated values (with no spaces) as the argument. You do not need to provide all the values; for any you omit from the end of the list, defaults are taken from the nearest built-in size. The value n1 gives the piece size, n2 the width of the black border between squares, n3 the desired size for the clockFont, n4 the desired size for the coordFont, n5 the desired size for the default font, n6 the smallLayout flag (0 or 1), and n7 the tinyLayout flag (0 or 1). All dimensions are in pixels. If the border between squares is eliminated (0 width), the various highlight options will not work, as there is nowhere to draw the highlight. If smallLayout is 1 and titleInWindow is true, the window layout is rearranged to make more room for the title. If tinyLayout is 1, the labels on the menu bar are abbreviated to one character each and the buttons in the button bar are made narrower.

-coords/-xcoords or -showCoords true/false
Sets the Show Coords menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false. The coordFont option specifies what font to use.
-autoraise/-xautoraise or -autoRaiseBoard true/false
Sets the Auto Raise Board menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-autoflip/-xautoflip or -autoFlipView true/false
Sets the Auto Flip View menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-flip/-xflip or -flipView true/false
If Auto Flip View is not set, or if you are observing but not participating in a game, then the positioning of the board at the start of each game depends on the flipView option. If flipView is false (the default), the board is positioned so that the white pawns move from the bottom to the top; if true, the black pawns move from the bottom to the top. In any case, the Flip menu option (see Options Menu) can be used to flip the board after the game starts.
-title/-xtitle or -titleInWindow true/false
If this option is true, XBoard displays player names (for ICS games) and game file names (for ‘Load Game’) inside its main window. If the option is false (the default), this information is displayed only in the window banner. You probably won't want to set this option unless the information is not showing up in the banner, as happens with a few X window managers.
-buttons/-xbuttons or -showButtonBar True/False
If this option is False, xboard omits the [<<] [<] [P] [>] [>>] button bar from the window, allowing the message line to be wider. You can still get the functions of these buttons using the menus or their keyboard shortcuts. Default: true.
-mono/-xmono or -monoMode true/false
Determines whether XBoard displays its pieces and squares with two colors (true) or four (false). You shouldn't have to specify monoMode; XBoard will determine if it is necessary.
-flashCount count
-flashRate rate
-flash/-xflash
These options enable flashing of pieces when they land on their destination square. flashCount tells XBoard how many times to flash a piece after it lands on its destination square. flashRate controls the rate of flashing (flashes/sec). Abbreviations: flash sets flashCount to 3. xflash sets flashCount to 0. Defaults: flashCount=0 (no flashing), flashRate=5.
-highlight/-xhighlight or -highlightLastMove true/false
Sets the Highlight Last Move menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-blind/-xblind or -blindfold true/false
Sets the Blindfold menu option. See Options Menu. Default: false.
-clockFont font
The font used for the clocks. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal–*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
-coordFont font
The font used for rank and file coordinate labels if showCoords is true. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal–*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
-font font
The font used for popup dialogs, menus, comments, etc. If the option value is a pattern that does not specify the font size, XBoard tries to choose an appropriate font for the board size being used. Default: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal–*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*.
-fontSizeTolerance tol
In the font selection algorithm, a nonscalable font will be preferred over a scalable font if the nonscalable font's size differs by tol pixels or less from the desired size. A value of -1 will force a scalable font to always be used if available; a value of 0 will use a nonscalable font only if it is exactly the right size; a large value (say 1000) will force a nonscalable font to always be used if available. Default: 4.
-bm or -bitmapDirectory dir
-pixmap or -pixmapDirectory dir
These options control what piece images xboard uses. The XBoard distribution includes one set of pixmap pieces in xpm format, in the directory pixmaps, and one set of bitmap pieces in xbm format, in the directory bitmaps. Pixmap pieces give a better appearance on the screen: the white pieces have dark borders, and the black pieces have opaque internal details. With bitmaps, neither piece color has a border, and the internal details are transparent; you see the square color or other background color through them.

If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that includes libXpm, the X pixmap library, the xpm pixmap pieces are compiled in as the default. A different xpm piece set can be selected at runtime with the pixmapDirectory option, or a bitmap piece set can be selected with the bitmapDirectory option.

If XBoard is configured and compiled on a system that does not include libXpm (or the --disable-xpm option is given to the configure program), the bitmap pieces are compiled in as the default. It is not possible to use xpm pieces in this case, but pixmap pieces in another format called "xim" can be used by giving the pixmapDirectory option. Or again, a different bitmap piece set can be selected with the bitmapDirectory option.

Files in the bitmapDirectory must be named as follows: The first character of a piece bitmap name gives the piece it represents (‘p’, ‘n’, ‘b’, ‘r’, ‘q’, or ‘k’), the next characters give the size in pixels, the following character indicates whether the piece is solid or outline (‘s’ or ‘o’), and the extension is ‘.bm’. For example, a solid 80x80 knight would be named n80s.bm. The outline bitmaps are used only in monochrome mode. If bitmap pieces are compiled in and the bitmapDirectory is missing some files, the compiled in pieces are used instead.

If the bitmapDirectory option is given, it is also possible to replace xboard's icons and menu checkmark, by supplying files named icon_white.bm, icon_black.bm, and checkmark.bm.

For more information about pixmap pieces and how to get additional sets, see zic2xpm below.

-whitePieceColor color
-blackPieceColor color
-lightSquareColor color
-darkSquareColor color
-highlightSquareColor color
-lowTimeWarningColor color
Colors to use for the pieces, squares, and square highlights. Defaults:
          -whitePieceColor       #FFFFCC
          -blackPieceColor       #202020
          -lightSquareColor      #C8C365
          -darkSquareColor       #77A26D
          -highlightSquareColor  #FFFF00
          -premoveHighlightColor #FF0000
          -lowTimeWarningColor   #FF0000

On a grayscale monitor you might prefer:

          -whitePieceColor       gray100
          -blackPieceColor       gray0
          -lightSquareColor      gray80
          -darkSquareColor       gray60
          -highlightSquareColor  gray100
          -premoveHighlightColor gray70
          -lowTimeWarningColor   gray70

-drag/-xdrag or -animateDragging true/false
Sets the Animate Dragging menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-animate/-xanimate or -animateMoving true/false
Sets the Animate Moving menu option. See Options Menu. Default: true.
-animateSpeed n
Number of milliseconds delay between each animation frame when Animate Moves is on.