Second: Recent news - added Kokish Game Tries and defense against Multi Diamonds

Third: How to use it yourself, mod it yourself and run it on your webpage or on your harddisk?

You will need the following:

• A good plain-text editor. I recommend PSPad. If you don't know what plain-text is or if you think that Microsoft Word is a good plain-text editor, this is not for you :). (Of course, good old notepad should be enough)
• A basic knowledge of HTML. It would be enough to know how to make lists and emphasize text... I think that you could learn it on the fly, it's not any hard. But having some knowledge of HTML (and CSS) would allow you to play with the looks as well.
• A few files downloaded from this site (more on this below)

File list:

• English ZIPped version for your personal use - copy to your disk (I suggest a new directory) and play with it
• Czech version.

The bidding system is contained in the biggest .txt file (which is in fact .html) - and modding is described at the beginning of the file, so if anything below really does not make sense to you, have a look into the source of the system file - you can see the comments there

Questions and answers

Q: So, what is this all about? How is the system moddable?
A: It uses a few cute javascript instructions (not mine) known together as Visibility Toggle. I only enhanced them a bit and added one more function that allows you to keep your own configuration of the bidding system.

Q: Tell me more!
A: When you look at the online version of the system, you will see blue and green frames around some headings. These are clickable elements that cause the corresponding part of the document to be shown or hidden. Green ones are expanded, blue ones are hidden

Q: What is this good for?
A: Let's say that you're planning to go to a bigger tourney next week with a new partner. You just agree about what conventions to employ... A few clicks - and the system looks like other conventions were never there. (But they still are, and untouched.) Print two copies and study them on the way.
Or, you find a new partner and start playing together. You just send him your system and allow him to "configure" it to suit his needs/abilities - without actually modifying the document at all!
Or, for example, you can have several conventions that you do not play with all your partners, but you want to keep all the things in one place, so that if you i.e. change a meaning of a few bids, you don't have to modify several versions of your system. Every partner of yours can have the same main document and just play (and see) a selection of it.

Q: Will this work when I just save the page?
A: No. It is a bit more complicated (but just a bit!). You will need a total of three files - the system itself, the stylesheet (which will allow you to customize the look of the page if you want) and a third file that will allow you to modify and personalize the system.

Q: Why don't you just put it all together?
A: I could, of course, but it would mean that you could not keep multiple variants of the system.

Q: I'm interested in how it works!
A: Ok. It is simple. The whole HTML document is filled with "hotspots" and "toggles", using usually the <span> tag to contain every such part. When you click on a hotspot, the javascript finds the corresponding toggle and hides/shows it.

Q: What does it mean corresponding?
A: Basically it means that n-th hotspot handles n-th toggle. This has its good and bad sides. The good side is that it is easy to work with and it is easy to change your settings. The bad side is that you have to be careful when adding new items.

Q: So, how do I add a new item?
A: You do it in two places. First, inside the system, you create both hotspot and toggle (examples to be cloned are in the commented-out part of the javascript functions at the very beginning of the file). Second, you must find after which hotspot you have inserted the new one in the system file and insert it into the same place in the settings file. (This is also described in the commented part)
If you just learn to be careful and make backups, you'll get into it easily. Anyway, this will not be done too often.

Q: How is the system stored on the server physically?
A: It is stored in one .txt file, which is in fact a .html file, but for the ease of editing contains [CL],[DI],[HE],[SP] (TREF,KARO,SRDO,PIK in Czech version) instead of actual images of suit symbols.

Q: But it is possible to display suit symbols without images! (OK, not a question)
A: Yes - you can use HTML entities &spades;, &hearts;,&diamonds;,&clubs; - and the result is ♠, ♥, ♦, ♣ But once you want to give them color, it gets more complicated.

Q: Do I have a choice?
A: Yes, of course! You can run Search and Replace (case sensitive) to replace all [SP] with &spades; in the .txt file, then rename the .html file and you're all set.

Q: And if I want the images?
A: Then you need to have something that converts the text strings like [SP] to the proper HTML tags for images. If your webpage is on a php-enabled server, you can use a simple bit of code just as I do. When you click on the above .php link for online version, the server basically reads the .txt file, replaces [SP] with image link and then sends the result to you as .html file.

Q: What if I don't have PHP (what does that mean, anyway?)
A: If your plain-text editor handles macros, you're all set - just record/define a macro that does the four search and replace operations and then saves the file as .html. You will normally work with your .txt file and when you're happy, save the .txt file and THEN run the macro to make the HTML version. There are also other tools - gsar (global search and replace). This one requires a little bit of learning unless you're familiar with command-line tools.

Q: So, how to keep multiple copies?
A: You need multiple copies of the settings file. Save each under a different name in the same directory. Customize each copy as you want. Now, when you want your system to be in a particular variant, just choose the corresponding settings file and copy it over the original.

Q: Do I really need to do such complicated things?
A: Not any often. You will most probably keep your personal copy of the system customized. But you never know who will ask you to start leading VINJE :).