In addition to adding or removing views from a molecule, this form is also used to change how an existing view is displayed. After selecting a view for a specific molecule, the form's controls are updated to show the current settings for that view. Changing the settings will automatically change the respective view, and the new format will be shown in the graphics display window. The display will be updated after every change, however, which is sometimes not always desirable (for example, if a number of different aspects need to be changed at once). The Apply Changes Automatically button may be toggled off to change this behavior - if it is turned off, selected changes will only be applied when the Apply Changes button is pressed. Selecting a different view, or pressing the Clear Changes button, before applying the changes will reset the form controls to the current settings of the selected view.
To clear the selection text for a given view double click on the Clear Changes button. The first (and every odd) click reverts the text to its previous setting, the second (and every even) click clears it completely.
A few details regarding the mechanism for `selections' is in order. For beginners, it is best to use the Atom Name Lists and the Image Controls together in order to generate and organize views. For instance, load a molecule and choose the Atom Name Lists option. If you double click on the name keyword, you will notice that two things happen. First, a listing of values appears to the right of the keyword. Second, the word ``name'' appears in the text selection window. Now if you go ahead and single click on some of the available values, you will notice that they are also printed in the text selection box. In this way you can use the mouse to generate a description of your selection and then hit Apply Changes in order to have that description register with VMD. The moral is, if you want to create a complex description quickly with the mouse:
As a final note, keep in mind that both the Color form and the Molecule form can be accessed from the Graphics form by clicking on the buttons located in the upper corners of the form.