MolView can create ribbon diagrams for proteins: thick lines for random coils, arrows for beta-strands, and 'pig tails' for alpha-helices. There are several ways MolView can color the ribbon diagrams: the whole thing is one color, each polypeptide is a different color, the diagram's color spans the rainbow going from the N to the C termini, and finally where each secondary structural element can have its own color. **The choice for the color scheme is in the Menu Item 'Ribbon' and not in this palette. If you choose to color the ribbon diagram according to polypeptide chain, the a click on the red button (in this case) will allow you to change the color of that protein (in conjunction with the Color Palette). The selected color is reflected in the button color. By clicking on the button directly above it, the entire protein is turned off and on. These two buttons precede each polypeptide chain. The subsequent buttons turn each separate element off and on (the type of secondary structure is reflected by the picture on the button) and the button beneath it displays the residue number of the first amino acid of that structural element and its color (only if the user has chosen the 'color by segments' option from the ribbon menu.

NEW OPTION:

If you hold down the 'apple' button while clicking on the colored, numbered button, an new Window will appear that allows you to color each residue independently...

Here we 'apple-clicked' on the colored button labelled with the number 53 from the above Ribbon Button Window. This is a magnification of that window. The buttons that have an X in the background show that those residues have not been given a highlight color. By clicking on one of these buttons, then selecting a color from the palette, you can highlight a particular residue in this segment. Simply close to window to work on another segment. If you 'apple-click' on one of the colored buttons, the color highlight for that residue goes away.

**NOTE: To see the highlight colors, you must have selected the 'Use Residue Highlight' button in the 'Ribbon Preferences' Dialog box (see above). This also allows you to toggle all of the colored highlights off and on.