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Pistachio Backtalk Help:
Option Setting Page

Read this first: Introduction to Pistachio Backtalk

The Option Setting Page:

This page allows you to set a variety of options that influence the way The Pistachio Interface will work for you. You set the option by manipulating the various controls, and then clicking on the ``Change Settings'' box.

It is reachable from the ``Personal Information Page'' which is reachable from the ``Entrance Page.''

The ``Use Frames'' Switch:

Some browsers have the capability to divide the display into separate sub-windows called ``frames''. Pistachio can use this feature to set up a non-scrolling control panel on the top of the read item page.

Unfortunately, frames are rather awkwardly implemented even on the browsers that have them, so that they tend to slow things down considerably. Thus, even if you have a browser that is capable of using frames, you may prefer not to use them. By default, this switch is on, and Pistachio will use frames on browsers that understand frames, but if you turn it off, Pistachio will never use frames.

Sadly, your current browser does not appear to be capable of using frames, so this option won't matter to you at all.

The ``Active Item Summary'' Switch:

Pistachio can display a list of your hot list conferences, with the numbers of new items and responses in them on the entrance page. If you want this to come up immediately whenever you visit the entrance page, set this option. If it is not set, you can get the same list by clicking a button on the entrance page. If you have a long hot list, generating the summary might be slow, so this option might be better left off.

The ``Maximum Number of Responses'' Setting:

When you read a very long item, you may not want backtalk to send the whole item at once. Thus you can set the maximum number of responses to an item that will be sent at once. If there are more responses than this available, then you be given a button to fetch the next bunch.

If you don't want to limit the number of responses, just set this to a large value, maybe a thousand or so.

The ``Default Response Format'' Setting

When you enter items and responses in Backtalk, you can usually enter them in one of three different formats. You can always select which one you want to use when you are doing the posting, but this option lets you select which will be the default.

The options are:

Plain Text
The item will be displayed pretty much just as it was when you typed it in, in a fixed width font with the spacing unaltered.
The only change that will be made to your text is that certain types of strings, like URLs and cross-references to other conferences, items, and responses, will be automatically made clickable.
HTML
Your item text will be treated as HTML text. HTML is the standard markup language used to create web pages. HTML text is automatically formatted by the reader's browser, usually in a proportional font.
You can use some HTML tags in your response to control spacing, formatting, text size and style, to include images, and to create links.
Lazy HTML
Normally in HTML you need to enter a <P> tag every time you want to leave a blank line. The "lazy HTML" option is just like the "HTML" option, but it automatically converts blank lines to <P> tags. This is intended to allow you to forget that you are entering HTML text, and still have it come out reasonable looking.

The ``Auto-Favor'' Settings

Backtalk allows you to mark items as ``favorites''. These items are shown to you first when you read the conference, and are listed first in the item list. Most commonly an item become a favorite because you clicked a button to make it so. However, you can also set options so that items automatically become permanent or temporary favorites when you post them or respond to them.

Permanent favorite items behave just as if you had explicitly set them as favorites. They remain favorites until you explicitly disfavor them. By default, when you enter a new item it becomes a permanent favorite.

Temporary favorite items remain favorites only until the next time you read some part of the item. After that, it reverts back to being a non-favorite. By default, when you respond to an item, it becomes a temporary favorite.