Creating A Go Board


Often, Go Boards are created by the Go Assistant on an as need basis. When you are looking through the nodes of a Joseki Dictionary and pick a node to edit, practice or learn, the Go Assistant will create a Go Board and place the moves from the particular node on the board. When you start a match with some one on IGS, the Go Assistant will create a board and show the moves from the game on this board.
You may also create a Go Board by using the menu command File - New. This will give you an option of the possible documents you can create and by simply selecting Go you may create a new board on which you may place stones.

Properties


Depending on the manner in which a Go Document is created, the view which is created will have various properties. These properties are Board Size, Moves, Color, Texture, Learn Time, Show Variations, Fast Forward Variations, and Animate Stone Placement.

Board Size


Board size determines the size of the stones and board which will be physically displayed on your screen or used to print the board. The Go Assistant has four board sizes: Extra Large, Large, Medium and Small. These boards were designed to be used on display regions of 1280x1024, 1024x780, 800x600 and 480x320, respectively.

Moves


The Go Assistant has the ability of display the number of the move on the stones as they are placed on the board. When playing a game, or simply reviewing one, having numbers on all the stones can be quite overwhelming. However, when editing a sequence of moves, having the numbers on each stone is very usefull. In addition, comments about moves can be more erudite if the stones have numbers by which they can be referenced. The Moves property tells the Go Assitant how many moves from the current move should have their move number displayed. A value of 5 w ould display the move number on the last 5 stones placed on the board. If the Move property is -1 then all the stones have their turn displayed.

Color


The last stones move number will be displayed in this color.

Texture


The board will be drawn using this texture.

Learn Time


When in learn mode, if the game is not at the last move, the Go Assitant will place the next move on the board after the alloted Learn Time. You can use this to watch a game at a certain speed or, when learning a game, have the game advance after so many seconds without you discovering the next move.

Show Variations


Variations which are entered in the current Joseki document will be displayed if this property is selected. For learning and reviewing this allows for simple advancing through the moves stored in the Joseki document. When looking at Problems, the variations can be turned off.

Fast Forward Variations


When a variation is selected, the system will either advance to the next branching point or simply place the next stone on the board. If this property is selected the system will advance to the next branching point.

Animate Stone Placement


This feature allows for simply animation of stone placement on the Go Board. Animation was added for the express purpose of draw attention to your opponents next move when playing over the internet. When the board is filled with many stones, this little amination will help you recognize the last move. When editing and learning games, this animation may be more bothersome than helpful.