PaneSlide was designed for touch screens, but it plays very well on a laptop or desktop. On a big screen the layout spreads out, the board grows, and you can play entirely from the keyboard. This guide lists every control.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tab or 1 to 9 | Pick a pane. Number keys pick panes in order; Tab moves between panes and buttons |
| ← ↑ → ↓ | Slide the picked pane |
| W A S D | Slide the picked pane, too |
| Enter | Pick the next pane that can move |
| Z, or Ctrl + Z (⌘ + Z on Mac) | Undo the last swipe |
| H | Use a hint (in Levels mode) |
| M | Turn music on or off |
| Esc | Close an open window, such as Settings or Stats |
A few details are worth knowing:
- Arrows with nothing picked. If no pane is picked yet, pressing an arrow picks the first pane that can slide that way. Press the arrow again to slide it.
- Locked glass is skipped when you use Enter to move between panes, because it can never move.
- A ↔ pane only moves with ← and →, and a ↕ pane only with ↑ and ↓, exactly as with swipes.
- Shortcuts pause while a window is open or while you are typing, for example in the progress code box, so you will not move glass by accident.
- Undo still counts. Pressing Z undoes a swipe but does not give it back, just like the undo button.
The game shows a small Controls panel beside the board on wide screens, so you do not need to remember them all.
Using the mouse
- Drag a pane in the direction you want it to go. As with a finger swipe, the length of the drag does not matter: the pane glides until something stops it.
- Hover over a pane to highlight its edge. Locked glass does not highlight, which is a quick way to see what can move.
- The cursor changes to a hand over panes and a grabbing hand while you drag.
- Buttons respond to hover with a slight glow, and all of them work with a single click.
Trackpads work the same way: press, drag and release.
The desktop layout
On a wide screen (roughly a laptop or larger, held landscape), PaneSlide switches to a layout made for it:
- Home screen. The title and daily information sit on the left, with the main buttons in a card on the right.
- Playing a level. The target picture and move meter sit on the left, a large board in the centre, and the Controls panel on the right. The board is much bigger than on a phone, which makes busy 5×5 levels easier to read.
- Guides. Articles use a comfortable reading width with a side panel listing the sections of the page and other guides in the same group.
On a tablet in portrait, or a small window, PaneSlide uses the familiar single-column layout, sized up to fit. Phones are unchanged.
Tips for keyboard players
- Plan, then type. Because keyboard swipes are precise and quick, it is easy to make several in a row. Keep the plan-then-swipe habit so you do not waste swipes.
- Use number keys on bigger boards. On a level with five or six panes, number keys get you to the right pane in one press.
- Use H sparingly. A hint shows the next best swipe. It never costs stars in Levels mode, but solving it yourself is more satisfying.
- Press M if you are playing somewhere quiet. Sound effects have their own switch in Settings.
Browser and zoom
PaneSlide works in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. If the board looks too small or too large, browser zoom (Ctrl with + or −, or ⌘ on Mac) works normally, and the layout adjusts.
For accessibility features such as Patterns and screen reader labels, see the accessibility guide.