This dialog is used to control various user-configurable options relating to the operation of Anagram Genius.
It can be invoked in two ways:
All the settings invoked from this dialog are permanent once OK is pressed and will remain even between runs of the software. To change them back you will need to open this dialog again.
There are seven different tabs covering various classes of settings. To get access to one, click on the name and the options will come to the front where they can be changed. The tabs are Anagram Search, Subword Search, Emphasis, Animation, Archive, Shortcuts and Misc display.
This allows you to set permanent default values for some of the settings at the Input Stage relating to the anagram search.
It also allows you to define precisely whether Anagram Genius will always distinguish between words containing an apostrophe and the equivalent without. Anagram Genius only generates one anagram for each collection of words so this distinction is important when both variations of the word are present in the subword list.
This allows you to set the default values for some of the settings at the Input Stage relating to the search for subwords. To see what these settings are about, see the help topic The Input Stage.
It also allows you to define the precise definition of "Vulgar words". Second-tier offensive words are words which are more debatable in terms of how offensive they are but some people may still not want them appearing (e.g. for use by children). These include milder profanity and biological terms which have sexual connotations (e.g. "labia" and "scrotum".). By selecting this box to include these words in the definition and having the Include Vulgar words setting OFF, these words can also be censored from the newly-generated anagrams.
This page enables you to set the defaults for the emphasis setting at the Input Stage. See the help topic The Input Stage for details of what these settings do.
This page controls the anagram animation that can appear at the Search Stage and Weed Stage.
The top section determines whether the animation is shown at all. The animation is fun but experienced users may wish to switch it off to give them more space. None of the functions of Anagram Genius rely on the presence of the animation.
The size of the text used in the animation is determined automatically from the length of the subject/anagram and the size of the window. The bottom section tells the software whether it should make the text smaller still in order to allow the letters to completely clear each other when they fly through the air. If the subject text is very long this may happen anyway but shorter subjects are usually given a big font which is almost as high as the animation area and the letters overlap considerably when they move.
This page controls the default values when you submit anagrams to the Anagram Genius Archive. These settings can also be set permanently from the submission dialog itself.
For more information see the help topic The Anagram Genius Archive.
This page allows you to configure the effect of various shortcuts.
The top section determines what happens if you simply enter the subject text and press the return key. How you want this configured may be determined by your habits with the software. If you usually go to the Word Stage in order to fine tune the subword scores, you should set this to take you there. If you normally skip the Word Stage, you might want to set it to one of the other two settings.
The lower section should also be determined by your habits with the software. The Opens menu setting is rather redundant however as a single right mouse click (or clicking on the Selected... button) has the same effect. The Opens menu setting is the initial setting however, to give beginner users (who haven't read this documentation!) as many ways as possible to find the menu. Advanced users who have read the documentation (such as yourself!) should probably set this to one of the other two settings.
The first (Makes it Superb) is probably the preference for people who spend a lot of time at the Word Stage looking through to find highly relevant words before running the search. The second setting (Makes it Compulsory and Superb) may be the best choice for more interactive users who like to set compulsory words, do the anagram search, weed the best anagrams and then return to the Word Stage for perhaps many further iterations.
This page determines some of the miscellaneous choices relating to how Anagram Genius presents what it is doing.
Window background determines the look of the unused portions of the main window.
Input dialog position determines how the dialog is arranged within the main window during the Input Stage.
Subject at Word Stage determines whether the subject display is on or off at the Word Stage.
Compulsory words determines whether these words should be coloured differently when the anagrams are displayed in the Search or Weed stages. Having them coloured allows the eye to easily distinguish between the words that appear in every anagram and the words that Anagram Genius has generated during the search.
Stage button arrows are the arrows that appear between the big stage buttons on the left of the main window. There are two choices of what they look like.