Adding Hints & Explanations

To Question Files -

The Basics

• Type the separator line ("\HINT" or "\WHY")
• Type the hint or explanation text.

Remember that hints and explanations will only be displayed if the SHOW_HINTS parameter is included in the applet tag on your web page.

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The Separator Line:

The separator line identifies the text to follow:

• For a hint, use "\H" or "\HINT" (or since separator lines are not case sensitive, you can use "\h" or "\hint", too);
• For an explanation, use "\W" or "\WHY" (or "\w" or "\why")

(Why "why"? "Why" is shorter to type than "Explanation", that's why...)

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The Hint/Explanation Text:

Following the separator line, your hint or explanation can consist of one-or-more lines of text. Like any other text in the AppletQuiz applet, you do not need to worry about formatting the text into separate lines - AppletQuiz will format it to fit the hint/explanation window for you. If you do include line breaks and/or blank lines in your text, the AppletQuiz applet will honor them, however.

There is no difference, as far as AppletQuiz is concerned, between a hint and an explanation - both are typed and formatted exactly the same way. The hint is available before the student chooses an answer for a question, and the explanation is available after the correct answer has been displayed.

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An Example:

In the following question file, the first question has both a hint and an explanation, while the second question has only a hint (no explanation), and the third question has neither a hint nor an explanation.

\TITLE
Hint & Why? Demo
\TF A T
This is a true/false question.
\HINT
This is a hint (of sorts). 
\WHY
This is an explanation, though, perhaps  not
a very good one.
\TF A T
This question has a hint, but no explanation.
\H
And this is it!
\TF A T
This question has neither a hint nor an explanation.

The applet below runs this question file:

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copyright © 1998 by Jerry L. Stanbrough - all rights reserved.