File options

The menu Options|File options... opens the options dialog for the currently active Stackz document. Things like fonts and names of the attributes, the color scheme of the stacks, and some settings of the test- and learn-dialogs such as skills can be set for each Stackz document individually.

The file options of the active document can be set to all other currently open documents with the 'Propagate File Options' command from the 'Options' Menu.

ColorBand Menu
Tab Entries
Tab ColorMode
Tab TestDialog
Tab LearnDialog
Tab MatchDialog

ColorBand Menu

Clicking on the ColorBand opens the ColorBand menu, wich allows to select the current color mode and set the untested entries on top as well as the Sorted stacks flags. The entry Configure ColorMode is a shortcut to the ColorMode Tab of the File options dialog.

Tab Entries

• Attribute Names:
  The default names for a new lesson are Entry, Reading, Translation and Comment. Here they can be redefined if needed.
  
• Attribute languages:
  Attributes in the Stackz documents are not directly mapped to fonts. They are rather assigned to languages, which then in turn are mapped to a certain font in the Stackz installation. Details about the Stackz language concept are here.
  
  Leitner vs. Stackz Classic System
  The desired promotion mode mode can be chosen here.
• Leitner Mode: The cards are initially in the first column, positive tests promote them one level to the right. Negative tests, and 'reset entire file', put the cards back to the first column.
• Stackz Classic Mode: The cards begin in the center column (neutral position), positive test promote them one level to the right and negative tests demote them one level to the left. 'Reset entire file' puts the cards in the center column.
  
  Sorted vs. Random Stacks
  The processing order of the cards can be selected here. More info is here.
• Sorted Stacks: The entries are processed in ColorMode difficulty order.
• Random Stacks: The entries are processed in random order.
  

Tab ColorMode

• ColorMode:
  Selects the current ColorMode.
  Note: The ColorMode can also be changed by clicking on the ColorBand, or by using the Stackz Menu button .
  
• Highlight Entries worse than...
  All entries "worse" than the specified value are displayed with the specified color. "Worse" depends on the current ColorMode:
  
  

  ColorMode	"worse" means
  RepeatAdvisor	n/a
  RefreshDate	older than ... days
  SuccessRatio	less than ... % success
  FailureCount	more than ... failures
  SuccessCount	less than ... successes

  
  
• There are Advanced Options for the following ColorModes:

  RepeatAdvisor: This ColorMode highlights items that are recommended for refreshing. The more difficult the entry, the shorter the repetition interval. The exact definition of the highlighting rule can be defined in the advanced options.

  RefreshDate: The display of the ColorBand reference can be set to relative date (e.g. "refreshed 20 days ago") or to the absolute date. Also, marking of uninitialized entries can be switched off to see the date color even if the positive test count is zero. This is useful when files of Stackz file formats older than 2.0 are opened, which do not have any test counters.
  

Tab Test Dialog

• Textsize:
  
  

  Setting	Meaning	Text visibility	Textsize changed
  fit whole text in control	The font is resized to fit the text in the current size of the textbox.	Full text always visible, no scrollbars	On every textchange. It may become very big or small.
  show x line(s) in control	The font is automatically chosen such that x lines can be displayed in the textbox.	Always x lines visible, scrollbars	Only on resizing the textbox.
  defined attribute size	The attribute size is always used.	scrollbars	never

  
  
• Appearance:
  The order of appearance of the attributes in the test dialog can be set here.
  
• Appearance Skill Denomination:
  The currently visible order of appearance can be named. Typically, a certain order of appearance represents a certain skill.
  
  If the Place Attributes In Appearance Order flag is checked, the attributes are placed according to the appearance order in the Test- and LearnDialog. The flag can be unchechked to place them in the same order as listed in the options dialog.
  

Tab Learn Dialog

• Automatic Textsize:
  same as Test Dialog.
  
• Local stack text size:
  

  Setting	Meaning	Line visibility	Textsize changed
  fit to listbox size	The font is resized to fit in the size of the listbox.	All lines are always visible	On resizing listbox and on chaning number of entries in the list.
  defined attribute size	The attribute size is always used.	might be necessary to use scrollbars	never

  
  
• Local stack elements:
  The number of items in the local stack can be set here. The best number depends on the difficulty of the new words. The bigger the number, the more difficult the learn task of this reduced list becomes.
  
• Appearance:
  same as Test Dialog.
  
• Appearance Skill Denomination:
  same as Test Dialog.
  

Tab Match Dialog

• Match list size:
  The number of items in the match dialog can be set here. The best number depends on the difficulty of the new words. The bigger the number, the more difficult the learn task becomes.