Preferences

Preferences can be configured by choosing Edit->Preferences from the main menu.

General Preferences

Lexicon

Zyzzyva can be configured to open one or more lexicons automatically each time it starts. To do so, select the Load lexicons option. To edit the list of lexicons, click the Edit button, which will display a lexicon selection window. Choose the lexicons that should be loaded whenever Zyzzyva starts, with one lexicon as the default lexicon. The default lexicon is initially selected whenever a lexicon selection is needed, e.g. when performing a search or starting a quiz.

In addition to the predefined lexicons, a custom lexicon can also be loaded. After choosing Custom, click the Browse button to bring up a file browser, from which you can choose the lexicon file to be loaded as the custom lexicon.

Data Directory

Zyzzyva can be configured to store local data in a location of your choosing. Normally Zyzzyva stores its data in a directory called "Zyzzyva" in your home directory. However, since Zyzzyva's data directory is customizable, you could, for example, tell it to store its data on a USB drive, which could then be transported between computers without having to copy your Zyzzyva data files. This may be useful if you often use Zyzzyva on multiple computers and would like to keep them in sync.

Welcome Display

By default, Zyzzyva displays a Welcome page when it first starts up. If you would rather not see the Welcome page, deactivate the Display Welcome on startup option. The Welcome page can also be accessed manually by choosing File->Welcome from the main application menu.

Quiz Preferences

Question Display

Tile Theme: Quiz questions can be displayed using the configured font, or using an image for each letter. The set of images representing each letter is collectively known as a tile theme. To enable tile themes, select the Use tile images option. The dropdown box with available themes will become enabled, and a tile theme can then be selected. Once a tile theme is selected, quiz questions will be displayed using the chosen tile theme.

Zyzzyva comes with several tile themes by default. A new tile theme can be added by putting images in a new subdirectory under the data/tiles directory relative to Zyzzyva. A tile theme consists of 26 images named A.png through Z.png, and a 27th image named _.png (representing a blank tile).

Letter Order: The letters of a quiz question can be displayed in various orders. The default order is Alphabetical. Also available are Random, Vowels First, and Consonants First.

Background Color: The quiz question background field can be configured to be any color. To choose the color, click the Choose button next to the Background Color preference. A window will appear that allows the color to be chosen.

Quiz Behavior

Some aspects of quiz behavior can be customized, including certain hints and conveniences that are available when taking a quiz. They can help quizzes to go more quickly, or to provide helpful information to guide you to the correct answers.

Start in Flashcard Mode: If this option is selected, all new quizzes will be started in Flashcard Mode. If this option is not selected, all new quizzes will be started in normal quiz mode. See Flashcard Mode for more details about Flashcard Mode.

Show number of responses in the status bar: If this option is selected, the total number of correct responses for the current question will be displayed in the main status bar. For example, if the question is AELZ, the status bar will say "Correct: 0/2". Once a correct answer is entered (either LAZE or ZEAL), the status bar will say "Correct: 1/2". After another correct answer, the status bar will say "Correct: 2/2", indicating that all correct answers have been entered.

Show question statistics: If this option is selected, statistics about the current question will be displayed immediately after the question is answered. Zyzzyva will display your overall performance on that question, including the number of consecutive times you have answered the question correctly or incorrectly, and the last time it was answered correctly.

End question after all correct responses: If this option is selected, a quiz question will end automatically after all correct responses have been entered. The effect is exactly as if the Check Answers button were clicked immediately after the last correct response is entered.

Go to next question after all correct responses: If this option is selected, the quiz will proceed to the next question automatically after all correct responses have been entered. The effect is exactly as if the Check Answers and Next buttons were clicked immediately after the last correct response is entered. This option can only be selected if End question after all correct responses is also selected.

End question after an incorrect response: If this option is selected, a quiz question will end automatically after any incorrect response is entered. The effect is exactly as if the Check Answers button were clicked immediately after the incorrect response is entered. This option is useful for forcing yourself to be careful not to enter any incorrect responses.

Mark question as missed after an incorrect response: If this option is selected, a quiz question will be marked as missed if an incorrect response was ever given in the course of answering the question. This means the question will be marked as missed even if all correct responses were given.

Cycle answers after ending a question: If this option is selected, the quiz question display area will change to display correct answers after a question has ended in an Anagram quiz. If a tile images are being used, it will appear that the tiles have been rearranged to form the correct answer. If there are multiple correct answers, each one will be displayed for five seconds in a cycle.

Probability Preferences

Number of Blanks

Zyzzyva can calculate probability values using a variable number of blanks: 0, 1, or 2. The Number of Blanks preferences allows you to specify how many blanks you prefer to be used. The calculation using two blanks is more accurate in calculating the actual probability of drawing a particular word from a full bag of letter tiles. However, some people prefer to use zero blanks because it simplifies the estimation of a word's probability value. This can be useful if you have studied many words in probability order and need to determine whether you would have already seen a particular unknown word if it were valid. Usually, the number of blanks does not affect a word's probability value drastically, though there are many exceptions.

Zyzzyva's default number of blanks is 2. Regardless of the value of this preference, you can always search for words using a different number of blanks by specifying the number of blanks in a Probability Order or Limit By Probability Order search condition.

Cardbox Preferences

Cardbox Schedule

The cardbox system automatically schedules quiz questions to be seen in a certain number of days, depending on the cardbox in which the question is placed. Additionally, each cardbox has an associated window of days within which the question is randomly scheduled. For example, words added to cardbox 5 are normally scheduled to be seen in 30 days, within a window of 7 days. So a word added to cardbox 5 may be scheduled anywhere from 23 to 37 days in the future.

The schedule interval and window for each cardbox is customizable, from cardbox 0 through cardbox 15. To customize the interval for a cardbox, choose the number of days via the first input area next to the desired cardbox. To customize the window for a cardbox, choose the window size via the second input area next to the desired cardbox. After saving these preferences, the new schedule will immediately take effect for any quiz questions that are moved to a particular cardbox. Questions that are already scheduled in a cardbox will remain unaffacted.

Word Judge Preferences

Word Judge Log Files

The full screen Word Judge mode can be configured to save a record of its activity to log files. To use this feature, activate the Save judge results to log files checkbox in the Word Judge preference area. Then choose a directory where you would like the results to be saved.

If this feature is activated, adjudication records will be saved in a subdirectory named after the lexicon in use. For example, if the NWL2020 lexicon is being used for adjudication, the log files will be saved in a subdirectory called "NWL2020". Three files will be created.

Font Preferences

The fonts used by Zyzzyva can be configured in the Font selection area. Fonts can be configured individually for the following items:

To configure the fonts used by Zyzzyva, click the Choose button to the right of the item whose font you wish to change. A font browser will appear, from which you can choose the font to be used.

Word Table Preferences

The following settings apply to all word tables displayed in Zyzzyva. Changing one of these settings will affect that setting for all word tables.

Show probability order

If the Show probability order option is selected, Zyzzyva will automatically display probability order for words in all word tables. A column titled Prob-N will be displayed to the left of front hooks, where N is the number of blanks used to calculate the probability value. The number displayed is the word's probability order relative to other words of the same length. For example, if a 7-letter word displays the probability order 75, that means that word is the 75th most probable 7-letter word.

Show playability order

If the Show playability order option is selected, Zyzzyva will automatically display playability order for words in all word tables. A column titled Play will be displayed to the left of front hooks. The number displayed is the word's playability order relative to other words of the same length. For example, if a 7-letter word displays the playability order 75, that means that word is the 75th most playable 7-letter word.

Show hooks

If the Show hooks option is selected, Zyzzyva will automatically display hooks for words in all word tables. Front hooks (letters that can be added at the beginning of a word to make another valid word) are displayed in a column to the left of the word. Back hooks (letters that can be added at the end of a word to make another valid word) are displayed in a column to the right of the word.

Having hooks automatically displayed can be extremely helpful for learning new words, since it requires no manual effort to display hooks. With hooks automatically displayed, each item in a word table is capable of displaying many words simultaneously, instead of just a single word. Be aware, however, that selecting this option can make searches run more slowly in the Search tab, especially if the search returns a large number of result words.

Show inner hooks

If the Show inner hooks option is selected, Zyzzyva will automatically display inner hooks for words in all word tables. An inner hook is a valid word that can be formed by removing the first or last letter of a word. For example, the word BOWLS has two inner hooks. The word OWLS can be formed by removing the initial B, and the word BOWL can be formed by removing the trailing S.

Display inner hooks as hyphens

When this option is selected, a - character will be displayed at the front of words whose first letters can be removed to form valid words, and at the back of words whose last letters can be removed. Turn off this option to use a bullet () character instead.

Show definitions

If the Show definitions option is selected, Zyzzyva will automatically display definitions for words in all word tables. A word's definition will appear in a separate column to the right of the word.

Use lower-case for wildcard matches

If the Use lower-case letters for wildcard matches option is selected, any letters matched by a wildcard character (?.*@) or a character class in square brackets (e.g. [ABC]) will appear in lower case in search results. For example, with this option activated, an Anagram Match search of EXT? will result in EXiT, nEXT, sEXT, TEXt, vEXT rather than EXIT, NEXT, SEXT, TEXT, VEXT.

Note that, whether or not this option is selected, some pattern matches will always result in a list of words in upper case. This is because some searches are performed using a SQLite database search rather than a directed word graph, depending on which is likely to be faster, and SQLite query results do not indicate which letters were matched by a wildcard character.

Show lexicon symbols

If the Show lexicon symbols option is selected, special symbols will be displayed next to words that belong to a certain combination of lexicons. For example, the # symbol is displayed by default when viewing words in the CSW21 lexicon that are not in the NWL2020 lexicon.

Lexicon symbols can be configured by clicking the Edit button. On the lexicon symbol configuration window, new symbol configurations can be added by clicking the Add button, and any symbol configuration can be removed by clicking the button with a minus sign next to the configuration. Symbols can be up to three characters long, and will only be displayed when both lexicons from the symbol configuration are loaded.

Sort by word length

Often it is useful to see word tables sorted by word length, rather than alphabetically. If the Sort by word length option is selected, word tables in Zyzzyva will be sorted by word length. Within groups of words of equal length, the words will continue to be sorted alphabetically.

Group by anagrams

When performing a search that includes Anagram Match, Subanagram Match, or Pattern Match conditions, it can be very convenient to see all anagrams grouped together. For example, when searching for anagram matches of ?AEINST, it is useful to see ENTASIA and TAENIAS together, even though they are far from each other in alphabetical order. If the Group by anagrams option is selected, search results will be grouped in such a way, with alternating white and gray backgrounds for each group.

Saving Changes to Preferences

When you are done configuring your preferences, click the OK button to close the Preferences window. Any changes to the font settings will take effect immediately. Most changes to word table settings will take effect immediately, but the Sort by word length setting may not take effect for a word table until the list's contents are changed.


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