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Preferences > Display Settings

Various settings that influence the visual representation of the whole program. Display settings are grouped into several tabs 'GPS Points', 'OSM Data', 'Colors', 'Look and feel'. Some settings are only displayed in expert mode.

OSM Data

Settings to do with map data layers shown in JOSM (ways/nodes etc)

Segment drawing options

Draw Direction Arrows

Draw direction hints for way segments.
Small arrows at the end of each segment show the direction in which it was drawn.
Advance preference: draw.segment.direction

With Only on the head of a way arrows are drawn only at the end of a way.
Advance preference: draw.segment.head_only

Draw oneway arrows

Draw arrows in the direction of oneways and other directed features.
For some ways that have direction dependent tags (like oneway) multiple oneway arrows can be drawn on the way.
Advance preference: draw.oneway

Draw segment order numbers

Draw the order numbers of all segments within their way.
Advance preference: draw.segment.order_number

Draw segment order numbers on selected way

Draw the order numbers only for ways in the Selection.
Advance preference: draw.segment.order_number.on_selected

Select and draw mode options

Draw virtual nodes in select mode

Draw virtual nodes in select mode for easy way modification.
Allows to add nodes by dragging the cross in the middle of each way segment in Select or Lasso modes.
Advance preference: mappaint.node.virtual-size

Draw rubber-band helper line

A variable segment between the last set node and the mouse pointer is shown in Draw mode.
Advance preference: draw.helper-line

Options that affect drawing performance

These options are only available in Expert mode.

Smooth map graphics (antialiasing)

Apply antialiasing to the map view resulting in a smoother appearance.
Advance preference: mappaint.use-antialiasing

Smooth map graphics in wireframe mode (antialiasing)

Apply antialiasing to the map view in wireframe mode resulting in a smoother appearance.
Advance preference: mappaint.wireframe.use-antialiasing

Highlight target ways and nodes

Highlight target nodes and ways while drawing or selecting.
Other objects glow when they are in the catch radius of the mouse pointer.
Advance preference: draw.target-highlight

Draw only outlines of areas

This option suppresses the filling of areas, overriding anything specified in the active styles.
Advance preference: draw.data.area_outline_only

Hide labels while dragging the map

This option hides the textual labels of OSM objects while dragging the map.
Advance preference: mappaint.hide.labels.while.dragging

Other options

Draw boundaries of downloaded data

Draw the boundaries of data loaded from the server.
When downloading an area you get and see all the data within the rectangular bounding box you chose. This includes some ways extending outside that box. It therefore becomes difficult to distinguish which areas contain full or partial data. If you check the "Draw boundaries of downloaded data" box, yellow hatching is drawn over all the areas into which data has not been fully downloaded. You should avoid adding or editing data in areas of yellow hatching as it may duplicate already existing data or conflict with data you don't see.
Advance preference: draw.data.downloaded_area

This option can be changed with Draw boundaries of downloaded data on the View menu, too.

Draw inactive layers in other color

Draw the inactive data layers in a different color.
Map objects not on the Active data layer are drawn in grey color.
Advance preference: draw.data.inactive_color

Display discardable keys

Display keys which have been deemed uninteresting to the point that they can be silently removed. (Expert mode only)
They will be listed in light grey color in the Tags/Memberships panel. These outdated keys will be stripped off from modified objects on upload.
Advance preference: display.discardable-keys

Use auto filters

Display buttons to automatically filter numeric values of a predefined tag.
Auto filters can be enabled here and the tag to be used for the autofilter can be chosen.
Advance preference: auto.filter.enabled

Rule

Rule defining which tag will provide automatic filters, below a certain zoom level.
Advance preference: auto.filter.rule

GPS Points

Settings to do with the display of GPS Points. These settings control the display of track points if you use JOSM with GPS traces loaded in from a local file, or everybody's trackpoints downloaded from the OpenStreetMap server.

You can cause lines to be drawn between raw GPS points.

The size which GPS points are displayed in can be changed from standard to large.

Track and Point Coloring

There are different ways to colorize gps-tracks.

When choosing one of Velocity, Direction or Dilution of Position, a legend is displayed in the top right corner of the map view if the gpx-layer is the current active layer. Example:

Colors

Color choices. These largely relate to display of OSM data layers too. You can change the color scheme for the display of nodes, ways, background, etc. "Paint style" options all relate to the non-wireframe view ('View' menu option)

Look and Feel

Some overall options for the behavior and kind of display.

Look and Feel

You can choose the overall theme, the default options are: Metal, Nimbus, CDE / Motif, GTK+, Windows, Windows Classic. Via the plugin FlatLaf more options are available including dark modes (since JOSM version 16974).
Advance preference: laf

Show splash screen at startup

The splash screen shows the loading of the modules and plugins when JOSM starts up.
Advance preference: draw.splashscreen

When ready, JOSM shows an informative welcome page with current news. This Startup page cannot be suppressed.

Show user name in title

A name entered in the Connection Settings is displayed in the Title bar above the Main menu.
Advance preference: draw.show-user

Show object ID in selection lists

Additional to an objects name its unique id is shown in lists of objects.
Advance preference: osm-primitives.showid

Show object version in selection lists

Additionally the objects version number is shown in lists of objects like the Selection panel.
Advance preference: osm-primitives.showversion

Show node coordinates in selection lists

Additionally shows for nodes their coordinates.
Advance preference: osm-primitives.showcoor

Show localized name in selection lists

Show localized name in selection lists, if available. (Expert mode only)
Advance preference: osm-primitives.localize-name

Modeless working (Potlatch style)

Do not require to switch modes (potlatch style workflow). (Expert mode only)
This option modifies the click behavior when editing. It transits between modes in a more automatic way, similar to the online flash editor Potlatch.
Advance preference: modeless

Dynamic buttons in side menus

Display buttons in right side menus only when mouse is inside the element.
Advance preference: dialog.dynamic.buttons

Display ISO dates

Format dates according to ISO 8601. Today's date will be displayed as YYYY-MM-DD instead of your local date format.
Advance preference: iso.dates

Use native file choosers (nicer, but do not support file filters)

Use file choosers that behave more like native ones. They look nicer but do not support some features like file filters.
Advance preference: use.native.file.dialog

Reverse zoom with mouse wheel

Check if you feel opposite direction more convenient.
Advance preference: zoom.reverse-wheel

Intermediate steps between native resolutions

Divide intervals between native resolution levels to smaller steps if they are much larger than zoom ratio. (Expert mode only)
Advance preference: zoom.intermediate-steps

Zoom steps to get double scale

Higher value means more steps needed, therefore zoom steps will be smaller.
Advance preference: zoom.ratio

Language

Choose the language for the user interface of JOSM.
Advance preference: language

Additional Tabs

Additional tabs may be added by Plugins.

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