Version 4.3.8 Available for Testing

[fred]

A fairly major new feature is being introduced in this version: BBO members will have the ability to customize the colors of almost all aspects of the user interface. We hope that some creative and artistic people will make some nice color schemes and be willing to share them with the rest of our members!

 

You can access this facility by logging in, clicking the Options button on the toolbar, followed by the "Online colors" button in the window that appears.

 

Up until this version, BBO used a "custom made" file named nprofile.nbk (in the "profiles" folder) to store user options and colors. Since we have added a lot of options over the years, this file was getting to be a real mess and we have had some problems with compatibility between versions.

 

We are now using a .ini file instead. Your options and color settings will be strored as a file named BBO_X.ini (where X is your user ID). You can open this file with a text editor (such as Windows Notepad) and manually change BBO's options.

 

In most cases you won't need to do this as you can use BBO itself (and the new "Online colors" window) to modify your BBO settings. Most likely eventually we will add options to give the user control fonts and other aspects of the user interface (sooner rather than later if the response to these changes are favorable).

 

If more than one ID logs on from the same computer, the settings and colors for those IDs will be stored separately.

 

For those of you who don't have the computer knowledge to understand all of the above, take my word for it - this is a good thing. It is also fun to change the colors!

 

Unfortunately it is necessary to "reset" all BBO settings and colors to their defaults in order to implement this. Sorry for this inconvenience. If you don't want to try 4.3.8 because of this, you should know that it is going to happen when we do the next "official release" (hopefully soon).

 

Good news is that your settings will be reset only 1 more time - either when you upgrade to 4.3.8 or when we do an official release - this is one of the benefits of the new method we are using for storing options and colors.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments concerning any of this or if you find any bugs. You can either post to Forums if you think other people might be interested, or e-mail me directly: fred@bridgebase.com

 

Instructions for upgrading to 4.3.8 follow:

 

IMPORTANT!!! Make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you begin the ugrade process!!!

 

You can upgrade to 4.3.8 at:

 

Click here to update!

 

or download everything (including all the latest files) at:

 

Click here for everything!

 

I suggest you use the first method, but however you do this, please make sure you exit the BBO program COMPLETELY before you start the download process.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com