The calculator layout can be customised from the Options tabbed dialog box. When experimenting with layout, you can use the Apply button in the dialog to see the effects of changes without leaving the dialog.
Don't forget that the overall size and shape of the calculator is changed simply by dragging the sides or corners to re-size the window. The keypads and display automatically adjust themselves to fit the available space.
The Layout tab allows you to specify the orientation of the two supported keypads, Main and Function. Normally the Function keypad has a larger number of smaller buttons than the Main keypad, which has the main arithmetic keys.
In addition you can specify the colour of the body of the calculator, whether there is a bevel around the edge of the calculator window, and whether or not a menu bar (or command bar) is required. The bevel is not necessary on Windows95 and later because the default windows already have a bevelled appearance, but it improves the appearance on older versions of Windows. The menu bar provides an alternative way of accessing some of the functions of the calculator such as loading and saving data and closing the application. All of the commands on the menu bar can be obtained in other ways.
There are tabs for the Main and Function keypads. The contents are the same, but allow you to control separately the appearance of each.
It is possible to set the size of the keypad (i.e. number of rows and columns of buttons) to show more buttons than are actually defined, and this is in order to support future development of the software.
The button size and spacing between buttons are controlled by the two groups of edit boxes on the right. The font button produces a dialog for selecting the font type and size. Note that some fonts (e.g. WingDings) are not suitable as they do not produce alphanumeric characters.
The appearance of tooltips (floating prompts) when the cursor lingers over a button can be controlled using the group in the bottom left-hand corner. They can be disabled completely, or the delay before showing them can be changed as required. Tooltips are controlled separately for the two keypads.
Using the Layout Tabs, the appearance of the calculator can be greatly changed from the default to suit personal preference and screen resolution. See the Display Tab for more information about changing the appearance of the display.
An example customisation is given below:
