Instructions

These instructions are for the web-based JavaFIBS (1.5) applet but will work for the old installable version (1.05) in most cases also.

In the instructions, click means clicking or pressing your left mouse button (or only button if you only have one). If you should click any other button, it will say so. LMB means left mouse button, MMB means middle mouse button and RMB means right mouse button. These instructions are a little old now and some things might function a little different, like single clicking on the mouse may habe become double-clicking the mouse button.

Connecting to FIBS

Playing on the Graphical Board

The User Window

The Chat Window

The System Window

Using Predefined Preferences

Other Widgets

Connecting to FIBS

To log in to FIBS, select the connect option in the JavaFIBS menu in the user window. You will be presented with a dialog box where you can enter your name and password.
If you are new to the server, use the registration tool to make yourself a username. Then log in with JavaFIBS.

Using the Graphical Board

You always start from the top right and move counter clockwise. Your opponent's name along with his current score will be shown above the board to the left and your name and score will be shown below the board to the left. The total length of the match will be shown at the top right. If you only have one mouse button, it will function as the LMB (left mouse button).

Roll dice

Move the pieces

Pick up dice (execute move)

Reject a resign or double

Undo a move

Join for the next game

Rolling the dice

To roll the dice, click ion the area where it says "ROLL".

Moving pieces on the board

When your mouse pointer is over a piece, click the left mouse button to move the piece left-die-no steps and click the right button to move the piece right-die-no steps. You can swap the dice over by clicking (with LMB) on the dice before you have started to move. After you have moved one piece, both the right and the left button will give you the remaining di(c)e.

Picking up the dice (execute move)

To pick up the dice and execute the move, click on the dice when you have moved all your pieces.

Doubling the cube

To double the cube, double-click on the cube to the left of the board when it's your turn to roll.

Resigning a game

To resign the game to the opponent, choose the appropriate option in the resign menu.
Normal gives the opponent points equal to once the cube number.
Gammon gives the opponent points equal to twice the cube number.
Backgammon gives the opponent points equal to three times the number of the cube.

Accepting a double

To accept a doubling from an opponent, click on the cube which will appear in the opponent's dice area .

Accepting a resign

When the opponent resigns, a white stripe with a letter in it will appear in the opponent's dice area. Click on it to accept the resign. The letters in it stands for (N)ormal, (G)ammon and (B)ackgammon, which will give you points equal to once, twice or three times the number of the cube.

Rejecting a double or resign

To reject a double or resign from your opponent, click on the red cross that appears to to the far right of the board.

Undo a move

To undo a move, click on the middle mouse button anywhere on the board (for users with a working three mouse button setup) or click in the middle of the bar.

Join for the next game

To join for the next game in a multipointer game, click in the area where it says "JOIN".

User Window

The main part of the User Window is the user list where all (or a part of) the users are shown. After the name, a letter or two are shown - (P)laying, (R)eady to play, (W)atching and (-) for not ready to play. After those two letters, the rating is shown followed by the experience. And lastly, the IP-address the user logged in from. This information can be changed in the preferences though to include more or less. The buttons are explained below.
Info...
You need to mark a user in the user list to use this button. When you press the button with LMB you will bring up the Information Window which shows all known info about the user. The RMB will send a "whois " to FIBS and its output will be shown in the System Window.
Invite...
When pressing this button with the LMB you will bring forth the Invitation Window. If you have marked a user, that user will be chosen to the Invitation Window. The RMB will invite the marked user to the points you have selected in the Invitation Window earlier. The default is to resume a saved game.
Watch
When you mark a user and press the LMB, you will start watching that player. RMB will make you unwatch whoever you watch.
Look
When you mark a player and press LMB. you will take a peep on that user. You will get a snap of the current board.
A-inv...
This is the autoinvitation button. It will bring up the Invitation Window when the LMB is pressed. After selecting a name and points in the Invitation Window, you will autoinvite that user whenever you are able to play him (when the user is ready and you are not playing). The RMB will select the marked user for autoinvitation to the points you have selected in the Invitation Window. To stop autoinviting, you need to erase the name in the Invitation Window.
Join
Marking a user in the Invites list and pressing LMB will join that user for a game.
Decline
This will send the decline messade (from the preferences) to the marked person in the Invites list when pressed with the LMB. When the RMB is pressed on the button, the marked inviter will be erased only.
Add...
The add button in the Friends list will bring up the Add Window where you can add your friends who will show up in the list. The RMB will add the marked person in the Users list.
Remove
The remove button in the Friends list will remove the selected friend in the list.
Gag...
This will bring up the Add Window when pressed with the LMB, where you can add users you don't want to hear anything from. The RMB will add the marked user in the Users list to your gag list. The user will also be removed from the Users list.
Blind...
This will bring up the Add Window when pressed with the LMB, where you can add users you don't want to watch your games. The RMB will add the marked user in the Users list to your blind list. The user will also be removed from the Users list.
Remove
The remove button in the Gags list will remove the selected user in the gag and blind list.

The gags list has two fields, the left one is for gags and the right ones is for blinds. The friend list also has two fields. In that, the left one is the friends who are online and the right is all friends you have entered.

Chat Window

The chat window shows all incoming chat related messages. The prefixes are for distinguishing between the different chat messages. The chat window also has a command line where you can type in your commands to FIBS. To the left of the command line there's a choice box where you can select what kind of command to send to FIBS. The different choices are explained below.
command means that no prefixes will be added to your message. This is what you should use when sending your ordinary commands to FIBS. You can also use this instead of all the other choices too if you prefer to write the prefixes. It's fastest if you're using lots of different commands.
kibitz is used to talk to all people around the board when you are watching or playing.
say is used to talk to your opponent only while you're playing.
shout is used to multicast a message to everyone that doesn't have the silent toggle on.
tell is used when you want to talk to a specifik. A field where you can enter the recipents name will also show up when selecting this choice. This is useful for having chats with persons you aren't playing.
whisper is used to talk only to the persons who are watching so that the players won't hear.

If you want to have a separate area for shouts and another one for the rest of the chat messages, triple click with your LMB in the text area. Triple click again will bring it back to one area.

To clear any of the text areas, triple click on your RMB in it.

System Window

The system window shows all server and client messages that is not related to any chat.

If you want to get a separate area for game info, click with your LMB in the text area. Click again to remove it.

To clear any of the text areas, triple click on your RMB in it.

Predefined preferences

To use your own preferences at start up, open the HTML Preferences... menu option in the UserWindow's Preferences menu. Then save the text in the window that appears as a new file. Next time you want to use JavaFIBS, load the file you saved with your browser (or appletviewer). JavaFIBS will then start with your chosen preferences. Don't edit the file by hand if you don't know what you're doing.

Other widgets

Below, most of the menu options, that might require some information, are explained.

Toggle Ready

Toggle ready toggles your ready/not ready to play status. When you are ready, people can invite you.

Toggle Notify

Toggle notify turns the messages that people are entering/leaving FIBS on and off.

Toggle Report

Toggle report turns the messages about starting/ending matches on and off. .

Toggle Silent

Toggle silent turns on and off the shouts from people.

Toggle Away

Toggle away puts you in away status with the away message that is written in the preferences, or back if you already were away. A bug in FIBS makes this option a bit annoying to use.

Toggle Automove

With this toggle on, most of your forced moves will be made for you automagically.

Toggle Greedy

With this toggle on, you will bear off as many pieces automatically in a bear off situation.

Toggle Double

This is the same as autoroll. When on, you won't have to roll the dice every turn.

Toggle Board Delay

This toggle will give a delay to board updates with at least 0.5 seconds. This is handy if you want to see every move in a fast game.

Show Running Games

This option will list all currently running games in the System Window.

Show Saved Games

This option will list all your unfinished games in the System Window.

Show Users Away

This option will show all users who are away along with their away message.

Show Watchers

This option will show all people who are watching a game.

Show Top 20 Rated

This option will show the top 20 highest rated persons on FIBS along with your current position.

Validate User List

This option will ask FIBS for a new fresh user list. Due to some bugs in FIBS, the user list gets invalide every now and then so this is needed. It's needed if you want to update the idle times too if you use them.