Congratulations! You have just obtained a copy of the World's Premier Word Find Creation program. (OK, maybe not. I can dream can't I?)
Word Find v1.0 is a program that creates Word Find puzzles. You know, those things made of several words hidden in a matrix of letters. Some people call them "Word Search" puzzles, but I feel that "Word Find" sounds more goal-oriented (ya know? :-).
The operation of the program is simple. You create a new puzzle, enter the words you want, set up the parameters of the puzzle (like size), and then have the program generate the puzzle. It's that simple. Once the puzzle has been created, you can print it or store it to a file. The output file is in Text format. So if you want to import the puzzle into your favorite word processor, just run the word processor, open the file, and change it to your heart's delight. As long as you don't change the file's resources or file's type, Word Find will be able to read it.
When you are entering the words for the puzzle, you can type them in yourself or insert them from a Text file. While typing, the standard edit commands (cut, copy, paste) are supported. Only letter characters can be typed, however, along with Return. All lowercase letters are automatically converted to uppercase as well. This was done because I thought it would be stupid to have a number or symbol stuck in the middle of a bunch of letters. (Kind of makes things too easy, don't you think?)
Other features of the program include the capability to sort the words entered in the words window, the ability to change the font of the words and the puzzle, the ability to print the puzzle, and the ability to show or hide the answers. If show answers is selected, the words hidden in the puzzle will be circled indicating their position. This option also controls whether the answers are indicated on the puzzle when the puzzle is printed.
Several options can be setup for the puzzle. These include the following:
- Quick Hide - If this is on, the words will be hidden in a "first position that works" manner. If it is off, the words will be hidden in the position that has the most matching letters, therefore leading to more word interconnectivity but longer hiding times.
- No Backwards Words - If this is off, the words will be hidden in the puzzle only in directions that make the words run from left to right.
- Puzzle Size - These fields set the number of columns/rows of letters in the puzzle.
- Teacher Mode - Since this program was written for a teacher (my wife), it was necessary that it contain a "Teacher Mode". This mode only affects the way the puzzle is printed. If this is on, you can enter a Puzzle Title that will be printed on the upper left hand side of the page. Also with this on, you can turn on or off the Print Name Field option which will print a field for someone to fill in their name on the upper right hand side of the page.
If the puzzle size is set too small, some of the words that were entered may not be able to be hidden. If this happens, the dialog box that is shown when the puzzle is being generated will show the word(s) that couldn't be hidden and a count of the number of words not hidden will be shown after puzzle generation is complete. Also, when the puzzle is printed, the words that could not be hidden in the puzzle will be printed with lines through them. If you
open the puzzle file with a word processor, you will see the words that couldn't be hidden
enclosed by parentheses.
A WORD OF CAUTION: Editing the words after the puzzle has been generated, will cause the puzzle to be erased. This was done because the puzzle no longer truly contains the words that were entered.
And now the bottom line - this program is FREE. Yes, use it all you want. Give it to your neighbor, your friend, your enemy, your dog ... I wrote this program for my wife to use, so it doesn't make sense to charge for work I needed to do anyway. Since this is my first Macintosh program, I would REALLY appreciate any feedback you want to give me. If you have comments, complaints, bug reports, or things you would like to see added, please drop me a line. If you find the program useful and decide to keep using it, I would like to hear from you just so I know whether or not other people benefitted from my work. Don't worry, I have no intention of keeping your names on file to demand outrageous upgrade fees or to sell your names to marketing firms that will bug you from now until eternity. Anyway, I'd like to hear what you think, so let me know. My email address is:
bhelbig@motown.ge.com
My company had nothing to do with the generation of this program. I just use their email services to communicate with the outside world.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: System 7
POSSIBLE FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS:
- Support of Apple Events
- Integration of a dictionary to spell check the words typed in
