From: Arun Persaud Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:47:33 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Add user guide X-Git-Url: http://winboard.nl/cgi-bin?a=commitdiff_plain;h=ad04652624111e800415e3c5379022865bc3b523;p=xboard.git Add user guide --- diff --git a/whats_new/Comment.png b/whats_new/Comment.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7f9668 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/Comment.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/NewGameList.png b/whats_new/NewGameList.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f7bb83 Binary files /dev/null and b/whats_new/NewGameList.png differ diff --git a/whats_new/UserGuide.html b/whats_new/UserGuide.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a678542 --- /dev/null +++ b/whats_new/UserGuide.html @@ -0,0 +1,308 @@ +

XBoard user guide

+

+Xboard consists of a main window, displaying a chess board and clocks, +as well as a number of auxiliary windows dedicated to holding additional, +not strictly necessary information. +Depending on what you are using it for +(game viewer, playing on internet server, playing with engine(s)), +that information could be useful or irrelevant, +and you can open or close these windows accordingly. +The auxiliary windows are: +

+ +

+These auxiliary windows can be kept open all the time, and tiled so they are always in view, +without disturbing the operation of the main (chess-boadrd) window. +In addition, there are a large number of dialog windows that grab the full attention of the user interface, +so that the block operation of anything else. +These are used for altering the settings of XBoard during the session. +

+

+Below we will first describe the operation of the main and auxiliary windows in detail. +After that the function of the various menu dialogs will be discussed. +

+ +
+

The main XBoard window

+

+The main window contains several elements: +

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  • A title bar, actively used to display information
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  • A menu bar, through which you can control XBoard
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  • Two chess clocks, for white and black
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  • An optional button bar, with which you an navigate through the current game
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  • A single-line message field, where moves, variation, and sometimes texts are displayed
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  • An area where the chess board (and sometimes other stuff) is drawn
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+

+The elements are mostly operated using the mouse, sometimes in combination with the keyboard. +Many keystrokes have been assigned a shortcut function, however, as an alternative to operating the menu bar with the mouse. +It is mainly non-printable keystrokes involving Alt and Ctrl key that act as shortcuts; +typing printable characters make an input box pop up where you can finish the typing while you see it, +to type stuff to XBoard (e.g. chess moves). +The menu bar is otherwise a quite normal menu bar, that you can operate both with left and right mouse button. +

+

+The message field above the board has no input function, +and is only used to display simple error messages (such as "It is not your turn"), +or alerts ("draw pawn backwards to under-promote"), +the last move played, +or the latest 'principal variation' computed by an engine. +

+

+The button bar to the right of the message field +is used to step through the currently loaded game, move by move, or directly to beginning or end. +This can also be done through the menu (very clumsy!) or with the arrow keys on the keyboard (probably preferable). +

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+

+The principal element of the main window is the chess board. +Its main function is of course to enter chess moves, but it has several other functions as well. +To move pieces, you use the left mouse button (button 1). +You can do this either by first clicking the piece you want to move, +and then the square you want to move it to ('click-click move'), +or by 'grabbing' the piece by pressing the mouse button, +drag it to its destination square, and release the mouse button there ('drag-drop moving'). +Normally XBoard would show you the piece being dragged around +(although this 'animate dragging' can be switched off). +The move you just made can be highlighted by drawing colored borders around the from- and to-square, +or by drawing an arrow between them. +

+

+With click-click moving the first click selects the piece, and such a selected piece will already be highlighted. +You also would get this effect after dragging around a piece, but releasing it on its original square; +this simply counts as a static click on the piece. +You still have the possibility to select another piece, by clicking it: +only a clicked empty square or opponent piece will be interpreted as a to-square. +You can also deselect the selected piece by clicking it, in which case the highlight on it will go off. +

+

+Keeping the Shift key down while entering a move gives it a special meaning: +the move is in that case not added to the mainline of the game (possibly truncating it first), +but as a variation, so that you can Revert to the original game later. +

+

+Variation board - A right-click (anywhere) on the chess board will normally be taken as a request to 'walk' the latest principal variation indicated by an engine. +This would normally be the one displayed in the message field. +By keeping the right mouse button (button 3) down, and moving the mouse vertically, +XBoard will start to step through the moves indicated by the engine, +so you see them played out on the chess board. +(This is sometimes called a 'variation board'.) +You can continue to step forward and backward through the engine line as long as you keep the button down. +

+

+When setting up a position ('Edit Position mode'), things work a bit differently, +because you are not bound by any chess rules in that case. +In a click-click move any second click would be a to-square, +even if it captures a piece of your own. +You will also be able to move empty squares and even 'capture' pieces with them, +or drag pieces off the board to get rid of them. +But the most important difference is the function of the right-click, +which now is used to put a new piece on the square you clicked. +Depending on the settings, this can either go through popping up a menu from which you select, +or by making a vertical sweep with the mouse, keeping button 3 down, +which will make the identity of the newly introduced piece cycle through all possible choices, +so that you can release the button when you see the one you want ('sweep selection'). +This will always start by dropping a Pawn in the clicked square (as you typically need those most); +this will be a black Pawn unless you kept the Shift key pressed, (or use button 2), +in which case it starts with a white Pawn. +

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+ + +

+The clocks are mainly meant as output fields, but in some situations they also accept mouse clicks. +What the clicks do varies. +They can be taken as a signal you want to claim the game because the opponent has flagged +(when his clock displays a negative number). +When you keep the Shift key pressed during the click, you can adjust the clocks by adding (right-click) or subtracting (left-click) a minute. +In situations where this could be meaningful, clicking the clock of the side that does not have the move will transfer the turn to him. +(Such turn passing is obviously illegal in chess, so you cannot do that while playing a game, +but in analysis or for setting up a position, it ican be useful and is allowed.) +When setting up a position, clicking the clock of the side that already has the move +will clear the board. +

+

+Seek graph - When logged in to an Internet Chess Server, the area where the board is normally drawn doubles as 'seek graph', +where you can see who is looking for what type of game. +This only applies when the board is not in use, i.e. when you are not playing, examining or observing a game. +In this 'idle' mode, left-clicking the board anywhere will request information from the ICS and draw the seek graph accordingly. +Left-clicking on a dot in the seek graph makes you challenge the corresponding player, +while left-clicking off-dots would erase the seek graph, and replace it by the normal board display. +Right-clicking the seek graph off-dots would refresh it (only needed on ICS that cannot do that automatically). +On a busy server dots can sometimes cluster so densely you no longer can reach those that hide behind others; +in this case right-clicking on a dot would 'push it to the back', so that dots behind it now get to the foreground. +When you hover over a dot the message window will show you the details of the corresponding seek ad, +and an exclamation point there will warn you there were dots hiding behind it. +

+
+ + +

Comment window

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+

+The Comment window displays comments and variations from the PGN file belonging to the current move, +and will automatically update when you step through the game. +Left clicks in the Comment window are reserved for the normal editing functions (selecting, drag-drop edition). +The right button can be used to click on a PGN variation +(a sequence of alternative moves enclosed in parentheses) on the current move. +In this case XBoard will 'upgrade' this variation to become the main line of the curent game +(the original main line being shelved in its memory, so you can 'Revert' to it later). +You can then step through the variation to make it visible on the board. +

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  • Auto-dispay comment (Load Options) causes automatic pop up whenever you encounter a commented move.
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+ +

Engine output

+

+As its name suggests, the engine-output window is only useful when an engine is involved. +(This an be can engine you connect to through an Internet Chess Server, however.) +Engines print how they think the game would continue if poth sides play the moves the engine considers best, +the so called 'Principal Variation', +at ever increasing search depth. +These PV lines are diplayed in the engine-output window, preceded by the search depth at which they were found, +and the score assigned to them, (plus the less interesting time and number of positions searched). +

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+ + +

+Left clicks in the Engine Output window are reserved for the normal editing functions, +although in this case only selecting for the purpose of copying would be a useful action. +The right button can be used to click on a PV indicated by the engine. +In this case that PV will be played out on the chess board when you move the mouse vertically with the button still down +(i.e. use the main board as 'variation board'). +The behavior in analysis mode is a bit different from that in other modes: +when you release the button, the position on the variation board becomes the new position to analyse, +and all moves leading up to it will be added to the game. +Because the variation walk will start in the position after the first PV move there, +a static click on a PV would just make you play the suggested engine move. +In other modes, walking a PV will start at the end of the PV, and never change the game. +When you release the button, you will simply jump back to the original game. +When an engine produces a move, XBoard would force you back to the real game anyway, even without releasing the button. +

+

+Some engines support a multi-PV mode, where they don't only give continuations for the best move, +but also for second-best, or more. +In this case XBoard will print a header line above the PV's containing the words 'fewer' and 'more', +and when you right-click on those, the number of moves the engine calculates will be decreased or increased. +

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+ +

Move list

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+

+The Move List contains the game in SAN notation, with or without score/depth information included as comments to the moves. +Left clicks in the Move List are reserved for the normal editing functions, +although in this case only selecting for the purpose of copying would be a useful action. +Right-clicking on a move (in WinBoard: left-double-clicking) will navigate you to the position after that move +(i.e. display that position on the board, and allow you to step through the game from there). +

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  • Scores in Move List (General Options) enables inclusion of engine score/depth
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Evaluation graph

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+ + +

+The evaluation graph displays how the engine score evolved over the game, +either as a histogram, or (when space gets too tight), as a drawn line. +If two engines are playing, each side has its own histogram / line, +distinguishable by their color. +Clicking in the graph navigates you to the position corrsponding to the point where you clicked. +

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  • Zoom factor (General Options) set magnifiation of the {-1, 1} score range
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  • -evalThreshold (command-line option) minimum score to be considered different from 0
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+
+ +

Game List

+

+The Game List displays a table of contents of the urrently loaded PGN file as a listbox. +The lines in the listbox are composed of the PGN tags of the game, +in a user-configurable way. +Clicking on such a line would load the corresponding game, so you can navigate through it. +The currently loaded game will be highlighted in the list. +Using Up or Down arrow keys while the Game List window has focus will move the highlight to the previous / next game, +while typing <Enter> will load the game. +

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+The Game List window includes a number of controls at the bottom, +to select a subset of the games for display in the window. +A 'Filter' field allows you to enter a text, where then only header lines containing that text will b displayed. +You can furthermore select on positions occurring in the game, +through the 'Find Position' button. +When you do that, only those games containing the position currently on the board +(or enough like it, according to the matching criterea you specified in the Load Game Options dialog, +reachable through the 'Thresholds' button) +will remain in the list, in that case. +

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  • (Game List Options) selects the PGN tags included in the header
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  • (Load Options) can set all kind of filter and position-search criteria
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Tags window

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+The Tags window is a text window that supports normal editing functions, +but otherise has no special functions. +It can be used to view or edit the PGN tags of the stored game. +To save any changes brought about by editing, you have to press a button at the bottom of the window. +

+ + +

Edit book

+

+The Tags window is a text window that supports normal editing functions, +but otherise has no special functions. +It displays moves available for the current position (displayed on the board) in the currently installed opening book. +To save any changes brought about by editing, you have to press a button at the bottom of the window. +

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