Basics:

(This tutorial assumes you have the Hot Potatoes program, and a basic knowledge of JCross, JBC, and FTPing)

1. Create crossword puzzles using JCross. When you save your files, use names with no spaces. (CrossSkins can read file names with spaces, but some versions of Netscape have trouble seeing them!)

2. Place copies of the all the JCross files you want to use with CrossSkins into the "skins" folder inside the CrossSkins folder.

3. Now, you need to tell CrossSkins which puzzles you want to show. Open the "options.jbc" file that comes in your "skins" folder. This is a special JBC activity that CrossSkins reads to learn the names of your puzzles. It has just one question. In the question box, enter the title that you would like to have CrossSkins show in the main menu.

Next, for each puzzle you want to include, type a puzzle title in an answer box, and type the JCross file name in the matching feedback box. The file name should not include the ".jcw" part.

4. Open your CrossSkins web page on your desktop to test it out before uploading everything to the Internet.

5. Now, FTP the entire CrossSkins folder to your web site.

Advanced Stuff:

A) Creating Hyperlinks to individual puzzles:

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 in the "Basics" tutorial above.
2. Create a hyperlink similar to the following:
   <a href="http://mysite.com/crossSkins.swf?gPuzzle=mypuzzle">My Puzzle</a>

Explanation: Using the '?gPuzzle=puzzlename' syntax, you can direct CrossSkins to open a specific puzzle file, without showing the menu. This is useful when you want to show a hyperlinked list of puzzles in a regular web page, instead of using the CrossSkins menu.

gPuzzle is a variable that CrossSkins reads to load a puzzle file. After the = sign, type in the name of a jcross file in your skins folder, without the .jcw extension.

Using this method will open the CrossSkins file directly, not embedded in a web page.

B) A second way to link to individual puzzles:

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 in the "Basics" tutorial.
2. Edit the EMBED and PARAM NAME sections of the crossSkins.html page html code to include the '?gPuzzle=somefile' syntax as follows:
   <PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="crossSkins.swf?gPuzzle=yourpuzzle">
   <EMBED src="crossSkins.swf?gPuzzle=yourpuzzle"

Explanation: This method is similar to the one above, except that you can open individual web pages all sharing a single CrossSkins.swf file.

C) Customizing background colors:

You can set the background colors of each puzzle shown in CrossSkins using JCross:

1. With your puzzle file open in JCross, select Options|Configure Output
2. Click on the Appearance tab
3. Change the 'Navigation Bar Colour' to change the color behind the Puzzle title and clues box in CrossSkins. This will also change the background color of dialog boxes in CrossSkins.
4. Change the 'Exercise Background Colour' to change the color behind the crossword puzzle grid in CrossSkins.