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 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.
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.
- Print Header - 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.
By changing the preferences settings, you can change the list of possible valid characters to be used by the program. You can also set whether you want the valid characters to be used in validating word entry. If this is turned on, whenever you type a word that is not selected as a valid character, the program will give an error sound and will ignore the character typed. Also with this on, the program will alert you if you open a file, insert words from a file, or paste in text that contains letters that are not valid. The valid characters can also be used to fill in the unused spaces of the puzzle, if the corresponding option is turned on. If this option is turned off, the characters 'A' through 'Z' will be used to fill in the unused spaces.
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
- A 12" monitor or larger is necessary to view the Preferences screen. However, to use the
program with the default conditions ('A' through 'Z' valid and both "Use for validating
word entry" and "Use for filling unused spaces" options on), any size monitor can be used.
REVISION HISTORY:
v1.2 - Delivered May, 1994.
- Fixed bug that caused the program to crash or hang up the machine if more than 26
characters were selected as valid in the Preferences screen and the "Use for filling
unused spaces" option was turned on.
v1.1 - Delivered April, 1994.
- Added code to do an orderly shutdown if the program is run on under System 6.
- Changed "Teacher Mode" to "Print Header" in Options dialog.
- Fixed bug that caused program to crash on Macs without Color Quickdraw (special thanks
Dave Ray for helping me track down the problem).
- Added preferences file. Includes allowing user selection of valid characters and how the
program uses the set of valid characters.
- Added code to change the line height in the word entry window upon font change. The line
height is changed based on the ascent and descent of the selected font.
