# The User Interface

## The &kxstitch; Main Window

Here's a screen shot of &kxstitch;

The &kxstitch; main window consists of an editor window shown on the right in the image above with three dock windows. The dock windows provide a preview of the pattern, the palette of flosses and a history list. If an image is imported, an additional dock window showing a preview of the original image for reference will be shown. Each of these dock windows can be moved around to various edges of the main window, detached from the view or turned off and back on.

The sections are divided by splitters, which can be moved to change the amount of space allocated to any of the sections.

The layout of other elements, menu bar, toolbars and the status bar, is similar to other &kde; applications you run.

The status bar at the bottom of the window shows various status messages.

## Editor Window

The main editing window shows a grid pattern and scales top and left. The scales can be formatted in stitches, centimeters or inches. The editor is a scrolling, zoomable view of your pattern and allows you to use the various editing tools to modify your design.

Generally the &LMB; is used to activate any of the tools on the pattern. Details of each of the tools and their use is shown in the command reference section.

The grid shows heavier lines dividing the cells into groups. The number of cells per group is configurable, the default is 10, as are the colors for the lines. This is useful if you are creating patterns on a dark colored canvas that requires lighter colored lines for contrast.

A menu option allows you to add background images to the editor window, to use as a template for adding stitches. For more details see the section on Creating Patterns.

### Context Menu

Using your &RMB; on the editor will activate a context menu allowing you to change the format of the scales and the visual appearance of the stitches. It also allows you to toggle on or off the background images, the stitches, backstitches, the grid and the scales.

## Preview Window

The Preview window shows a scrolling overview of the current design at a smaller scale than the Editor window. The Preview shows a black rectangle representing the current view within the Editor window.

By clicking the &LMB; within the preview window, the Editor window will be centered on that point. Additionally by pressing down the &LMB; and dragging a rectangle around an area, the Editor window will be zoomed to encompass that area.

## Palette Window

The Palette window shows the floss colors currently in this patterns palette as colored blocks, and optionally with the symbols that are associated with each color. Moving the mouse pointer over a color block will pop up a tool tip showing the color number and name for that color. Clicking on a color selects that color for the next painting or drawing function.

### Context Menu

Using your &RMB; on the Palette view will activate a context menu allowing you to perform several functions on the palette. See the command reference for more details on their use.