Color Bar

Updated 01/06/05

The color bar at the bottom of each screen shows and controls the color lines you see on the Chart Tab and the current family.  The 6 cells are color coordinated to match the chart lines.

On the Chart Tab

To Change a line with ONLY the keyboard:

The mouse must rest on the chart and NOT on the date scale. Hit one of the following keys:

R for the red line
G for the green line
Y for the yellow line
P for the purple line
C for the cyan (light blue) line
B for the blue (dark blue) line

An input box will popup. Type the desired symbol into the box. The charts will redraw immediately.

To Change a line with both the mouse and the keyboard:

1. Move the mouse to any ColorBar cell.
2. Note the dotted frame around the cell. If the frame is not around the desired cell, click on the cell.
3. Type a symbol. It will be entered into the cell.

The charts will redraw when you move the mouse into the chart area.

The ColorBar Interaction with the Issue List

To Change a line using only the mouse

Double-click any issue in the Issue List. That issue will be placed in the first highlighted (black background) ColorBar cell. If no cell is highlighted, then the issue double-clicked will go the cell after the last active cell. For each successive double-click on an Issue List member, the next successive ColorBar cell  will be changed  to right.

Changing by Dragging:

You can change the issues charted by dragging from the Issue List and dropping on the ColorBar. Move to a row of the Issue list. Click and Hold the left mouse button. When the icon changes to (1/2 second) move to the desired Color Bar cell and drop (release the mouse button). The charts will redraw when you move the mouse into the chart area.

If multiple issues in the list are selected, then dragging from the Issue list to the ColorBar will place the AVG (average) of all the highlighted issues into the cell and the same colored Chart Tab line.

WARNING:

Your selection may be misinterpreted if you move the mouse too soon BEFORE the appears. Wait until the appears. Also, if you forget to hold shift down before click to drag, then you will lose all your other selections . . . this can be frustrating. If you just CAN'T wait for the drag icon, then hold down <Alt> while dragging. The drag icon will appear immediately.

To Change a line by swapping:

Do one of the following:

• Drag one cell to another cell.
• Hit the [~] key to swap the red and green cells.

To Change a line using the arrow keys:

They keyboard up and down arrow keys can step through an Issue List changing the contents of a single ColorBar cell.

1. Load the Issue List with issues of interest.
2. Highlight (click on) a ColorBar cell making that cell the ONLY black background cell.
3. Double-click a starting issue in the Issue List.
4. Use up, down, home, and end arrow keys on the keyboard to step through the Issue List line by line.

Other Color Bar Cell Options:

Right-clicking the colored cells brings up the following sub-menu

The ColorBar and the Internet Tab

• Double-clicking an issue in a ColorBar cell displays the issue's Available Links.
• You can change a cell in the ColorBar by dragging on or more issues from the issue list and dropping them on the ColorBar.

The ColorBar and the Spreadsheet

Think of the Spreadsheet as just another Issue List. Dragging, clicking, etc. works the same.

Displaying Family Averages

Wherever you can enter a ticker symbol, you can also enter a family name followed by the word "AVG". For example, a symbols of HITECH AVG would load an average of all HITECH family mutual funds into a line. Click for more information about averages.

Displaying Rates of Return

You can display a constant rate of return by keying the ticker symbol as NN% where NN is a number from 0-99. The data values of the line always start with $100 and compounded daily.

Key Words for Help Search

Change line, load symbol, display symbol, load ticker, display ticker, load fund, load stock, display stock, drag symbols, drag ticker