This dialog allows you to select and choose various options regarding how Abel prints and displays bells and blue lines etc. on the screen.

First Trace Bell and Number of Trace Bells

A "trace bell" is a bell with a line drawn through it, and optionally highlighted by colour, in the blue line display and printing. These options allow you to choose the first trace bell in the blue line display, and how many bells are to be traced.

• If you've rung one or more bells yourself, the "First Trace Bell" value is ignored, and Abel traces the first bell you rang, and consecutive bells up to the specified Number of Trace Bells.
• Otherwise, if you have set the first trace bell to "Tenors", then however many bells are ringing, the back bells are traced, including at least one working bell; if Number of Trace Bells is greater than one, tenors behind may be traced as well as working bells.
• Otherwise, if you set the first trace bell to a specific bell (e.g. 2 or 8) from the list, Abel will if possible trace this bell (and subsequent bells, if Number of Trace Bells is more than one) - even if only tenor(s) behind. But if there aren't currently that number of bells available (eg, if you set First Trace Bell to 10, then ring minor), Abel traces "Tenors", as described above.

You can set how many bells to trace, up to 4 (plus the treble): if you are a handbell ringer, you will probably want to trace 2 bells plus the treble.

Trace Bell Colours

Allows you to choose the colours to be used on the 'blue-line' display for each trace bell you have specified. Use the arrows to change colours

Bell Pictures

Allows you to select the pictures that Abel uses to represent bells on the screen. There are three types of pictures provided:

• Various "standard" sets of tower bell and handbell pictures, such as "Red white and blue sallies" and "Handbells". These pictures are suitable for screen sizes up to about 17", and are the ONLY ones suitable for old slow PCs (processor speed less than 250MHz). When you use them, the pictures flip between handstroke and backstroke positions exactly as Abel rings each bell.
• Some "high definition" sets of pictures, such as "HD RWB Sallies" and "HD Handbells". These look better than the standard ones on large screens. They behave the same as the standard pictures.
• Some "moving" sets of pictures, such as "Moving Ropes" and "Moving Handbells (no handles)". When you use these, Abel provides smoothly moving pictures, with the bell sounding at an appropriate point during the movement (normally 80% of the way through tower bell movement, and at the end of handbell movement, but it is possible for you to vary this). For handbells, there are different sets provided for slow and fast moving bells (since different handbell bands may move their bells at different speeds); "bell sight" is generally easiest with fairly quickly moving bells, particularly on higher numbers.
  For moving handbells, normally bells you ring yourself sound immediately and just flip between handstroke and backstroke pictures (thus, as in real handbell ringing, you have precise control of when your bells sound). For tower bells, normally a bell you ring starts to move immediately, as if you had pulled the rope, and sound is delayed until the approriate point in the movement (as in real tower bell ringing); note that if you're ringing from the keyboard it is much harder to ring with good striking using moving ropes and delayed sound than when using "standard" pictures (see above)! You can control whether your bells (whether rung from the keyboard or as external bells) ring immediately or after a delay (with appropriate picture movement in both cases): click the Ringing Menu item User Bell Sound Delay (or press Ctrl+D). Particularly if you are using moving ropes with sound delay, you may find the movement of your own bell on screen is confusing: if so, you can disable user bell movement in the View menu.

Some pictures are square, and are displayed in a circle that rotates so that the (first) bell you ring, eg with the j key, is at the bottom right (or left, for an anticlockwise ring). Other pictures are rectangular, and are displayed either in a 3-dimensional circle with the bell(s) you ring on the near side of the circle, or in a row across the screen with the treble at the right (or left, for an anticlockwise ring). For rectangular pictures in a circle, the number of bells on the near side of the circle is the same as the number of trace bells (for up to two trace bells). For rectangular pictures in a line, the treble and tenor are always at the ends of the line; the bell you ring with the j key (or, if you have connected external bells to Abel, the one mapped as the physical treble) is identified by an underline.

Scale Bell Pictures

Allows you to specify that the size of bell pictures varies with the bell number, from the smallest being the treble to the largest being the tenor. This can help you pick out the treble during ringing, particularly on higher numbers of bells. It applies only for bell pictures arranged in a circle (ie square pictures, rather than tall pictures of ropes etc).

Long Bell Pictures Shown in a Line / in a Circle

As described above, if you have selected a set of rectangular bell pictures, they can be displayed either in a 3-dimensional circle or in a row across the screen. NOTE that displaying the bell pictures in a circle (with distant bells smaller than nearer ones) uses more PC processor resources: if you have a very old, slow, PC this may disrupt the rhythm of the ringing!

Large font for blue line

Allows you to choose to have the on-screen blue line appear in a large font.

Anticlockwise Ring

Allows you to choose whether Abel displays the bell circle normally (clockwise) or anticlockwise. If you tick this box, Abel will change the circle so that the bells ring anticlockwise. The first manual bell, which is normally at the bottom right, will move to the bottom left. Note - if you use this option you might also like to use the keyboard mappings option to change which keys operate which manual bells.

Printer Font Size, Print Line for Treble and Print in Colour

Lets you choose how big the text is when you print, and whether or not Abel uses colour when printing. If Print Line for Treble is ticked, a line will be drawn through though the treble's path, using the colour specified in Trace Bell Colours (default red).

Print Style

The options here allow you to choose the format used to print methods.

• Line and Rows prints methods in a style similar to Diagrams, with all the changes written out using numbers, and lines drawn through the bell or bells you have selected.
• Line and Frame does not print numbers, only the blue line; it also prints dotted lines to show you the positions of the bells.
• Line and Miniframe is similar to Line and Frame, but uses a smaller frame. This option takes up less space on the paper.
• One Lead Only prints just the first lead of the method (or touch - so if you have a call at the end of the first lead, this will be shown as well). Lines are drawn through all the bells, with the treble picked out in colour if you have turned this option on (see Print Line for Treble above). This option is useful to see how the bells work together within a lead.