Default font for text objects

[aplman]

May I ask the experts please ... How can I set a "default font" for all new text objects that I create in O & A?

I've spent a lot of time changing "Times New Roman" to "Comic Sans MS". Copy/paste of existing objects helps a bit, but ... surely there must be a better way?

Thanks ...

Ken T.

[fh1805]

Ken,

There isn't one! To me, this is a major weakness in PTE's design. I, too, spend a lot of time changing to the font that I want to use. When Igor re-worked the text handling I had hoped this would be included but it wasn't.

regards,

Peter

[aplman]

Ken,

There isn't one! To me, this is a major weakness in PTE's design. I, too, spend a lot of time changing to the font that I want to use. When Igor re-worked the text handling I had hoped this would be included but it wasn't.

regards,

Peter

Hello Peter!

Nice to find you and I are of one accord -- not the first time!

I wouldn't call it a "major" weakness, only because I feel the programming involved to fix this weakness would be "minor". But if Igor has another think about this, we might get what we need! Thank you, Igor.

If I might extend the idea further ... It would be desirable to have not only "Project Options", but also "Default Options" or "Installation Options". Each user probably has favourite items that he/she would standardise on across projects. Project Options enable us to avoid specifying things separately for every slide. Default or Installation Options would enable us to avoid specifying things for each project.

Best Wishes ...

Ken T.

[JEB]

Hi,

This is an area where I also think some benefit could be gained by changes being made. Related to this would be automatic naming of text objects in O&A. However regarding the ability to create ones own "Options" we do have I believe a way of achieving much of what is being asked for. I confess not to use this method so it is a question of "Do as I say, not as I do" !! Have a look at "Templates". It would appear that this may be the way that Igor would like us to go as far as creating ones own "standard". However it still doesn't handle the VERY CLUMSY method of naming text objects.

Regards

John

[Conflow]

Hi All,

I have just been reading through the reply Posts on this Topic and it seeems to me as if the replies are wandering from:-

A lack of 'default-Fonts in PTEs O&A' -to- 'Personal Choice' of Fonts -and- why does Igor not adopt a set of suitable Fonts ?

In factual reality, Igor has very little choice of 'suitable-fonts' to cater for all PTE eventualities whether they be for PTE-Exe's

-or- for Video-Presentations -or- for uploads to Web-Sites -and- those suitable for HTML Scripts -and- the more modern MHTML

downloads -and- Embedded Flash-objects.

1)

In all instance's the very 1st. requirement is that the Font is highly legible irrespective of Font-size.

2)

The 2nd. criteria is that the chosen Font must be 'Web-Safe' irrespective of the (recipient) Browser in

use, ie:- Firefox, Ourlook-Express, etc,etc.

3)

The 3rd. criteria is that it must reproduce on all Operating-Platforms from Win-95,'98, '98Se, Me, 2000, XP,

and Vista and Windows-7 ~ as well as ~ all versions of MAC-Computers ~ thats one heck of a tall order !!

Apart from 'Adobe-Fonts' which cost a fortune, there are very few (legal) Fonts which will work within 99% of all applications.

Below are 2-Charts which will help you choose an acceptable 'Web-Safe Font' which are known to work with these criteria.

Hope this helps those who are unsure about Font usage...

Brian (Conflow).

[aplman]

Apparently Text Objects inserted into a slide in O & A always start life as Times New Roman.

I do not like Times New Roman - I do like Comic Sans MS for my shows.

I spend much tedious time changing the font for every new text object.

However, I would not like my preference to be forced on other people.

May we please have a project option to set a preferred font as the default for new text objects?

I would like to suggest an additional tab in the Project Options dialog - either "Text Objects", or "Fonts", where fonts for other purposes such as Comments could also be included.

Ken T.

[fh1805]

Brian,

I take all your points about the need for "web safe" and OS compatability but you've mis-understood the point of our concern as expressed in the original post. The concern is that, everytime the user inserts a new text object into a slide using the O&A "Add Text" feature, the pre-selected font "Times New Roman" is used. If the user wants, for example, to have Nyala as their font for all their text objects, they have to change the font name every single time. There is no way of nominating Nyala as their preferred "default font".

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

I support Ken's feelings on this subject.

regards,

Peter

[aplman]

Brian,

I take all your points about the need for "web safe" and OS compatability but you've mis-understood the point of our concern as expressed in the original post. The concern is that, everytime the user inserts a new text object into a slide using the O&A "Add Text" feature, the pre-selected font "Times New Roman" is used. If the user wants, for example, to have Nyala as their font for all their text objects, they have to change the font name every single time. There is no way of nominating Nyala as their preferred "default font".

regards,

Peter

Thank you, Peter. Good to have returned to the original very simple point!

Ken T.

[aplman]

Hi,

This is an area where I also think some benefit could be gained by changes being made. Related to this would be automatic naming of text objects in O&A. However regarding the ability to create ones own "Options" we do have I believe a way of achieving much of what is being asked for. I confess not to use this method so it is a question of "Do as I say, not as I do" !! Have a look at "Templates". It would appear that this may be the way that Igor would like us to go as far as creating ones own "standard". However it still doesn't handle the VERY CLUMSY method of naming text objects.

Regards

John

Hi John!

Thank you for reminding me of the relevance of Templates. I realise that I have not made full use of that facility, and I shall now do so.

However, templates provide no help with a default font for text objects. Captions, yes, but not text objects. If we had a way of nominating a font for new text objects, then that choice would presumably be encapsulated in a template.

Cheers!

Ken T.

[Conflow]

Brian,

I take all your points about the need for "web safe" and OS compatability but you've mis-understood the point of our concern as expressed in the original post. The concern is that, everytime the user inserts a new text object into a slide using the O&A "Add Text" feature, the pre-selected font "Times New Roman" is used. If the user wants, for example, to have Nyala as their font for all their text objects, they have to change the font name every single time. There is no way of nominating Nyala as their preferred "default font".

regards,

Peter

Hi Peter,

Yes,I do appreciate your Post concerning the original Topic ~point taken~ but having read the succeeding Posts I thought

I should drop in a timely warning (to others) about using 'Non-friendly' and inappropriate Fonts which are not Web-Safe.

I can see why Igor is using Times New Roman as the 'default' Font type because he knows that random choices of Fonts

are going to cause trouble and compromise the quality of the PTE-Slideshow through no fault of the WnSoft Company.

Its why I wrote,viz: "In factual reality, Igor has very little choice of 'suitable-fonts' to cater for all PTE eventualities whether

they be for PTE-Exes or Video-Presentations,etc,etc".

Personally I would consider that to be a very valid point and very much appropriate to the original Topic in discussion.

(I also note that there has been a total of 52 downloads of my Charts so it seems that others have similar concerns).

Kind regards,

Brian (Conflow)

[jfa]

You have my support on this one too Ken. On more than one occasion I have been frustrated by the current font setup in the O&A area.

[JEB]

hI,

What am I missing here?

I thought that since Vs6 PTE automatically took care of the pre Vs6 need to use the "Rasterize to PNG" button and that both these methods were solutions to ensuring that the selected text was always displayed, no matter what computer was running the completed show.

The above apart, we still have to select the type font we require EVERY TIME we create a text object and I can't believe that this has to be the case. So PLEASE CAN THIS BE ADDRESSED in future versions.

Regards

John

[jfa]

.......we still have to select the type font we require EVERY TIME we create a text object and I can't believe that this has to be the case. So PLEASE CAN THIS BE ADDRESSED in future versions.

I second that!!

[aplman]

Summing up, I meant this topic to be about how we specify the font we want. Certainly not about the merits of particular fonts.

We can already choose any font we want, it's just that it requires user action for EVERY TEXT OBJECT. To specify our preference once per project would be really good. To specify our preference once and once only - for ALL future projects - would be even better (templates to the rescue!)

If I really must labour the point ... a DVD of 8 projects, 120 slides per project, just 10% needing a couple of text objects, that's about 200 text objects. Multiplied by 5 (?) clicks per text object -- a thousand clicks where just a few could do the job.

As for the merits of specific fonts ... the web is of no concern to me. I am producing shows for PC or DVD. Discussion of web-safe fonts surely belongs in some other topic.

Thanks to supporters! And thanks in anticipation to Igor!

Regards

Ken T.

[JEB]

As somebody who uses text objects frequently I am also in favour of a radical overhaul of the way text is handled within PTE.

John

[aplman]

As somebody who uses text objects frequently I am also in favour of a radical overhaul of the way text is handled within PTE.

John

Hi John ...

I'm intrigued as to what other shortcomings annoy you. I've been happy so far with the text facilities, apart from lack of a default font. It probably means I'm not doing fancy stuff, so I'm sure I could learn from your experience.

Best Regards

Ken T.

[JEB]

Hi Ken T,

You've fallen for it! An old pet hate of mine. This gives me another opportunity to make my case - thanks.

What I'm getting at is the naming of Text objects.

If you use several text objects on the same slide, for identification purposes when applying individual key points to these text objects, it is essential to give them a unique name otherwise you don't know which is which in the objects list as they will all be named "text".

One method of naming each text object is to copy it by right clicking on the text or part of the text in the Properties Tab then opening the Common Tab and pasting it into the name box. Another method is to move as above to the Common Tab and type a name. In both cases an unfortunate need to move from the Properties to the Common Tab to achieve something which I believe could be done automatically.

I believe (though I am no programmer) that it must be possible for PTE to be programmed to automatically place say the first ten characters into the name box with the option to change that when necessary or alternatively simply to place Text 1, Text 2 ...... etc in the name box.

This may not be an irritation to those who do not use multiple text objects frequently but for those that do it seems to me to be an unnecessary hassle.

Regards

John

[aplman]

Hi Ken T,

You've fallen for it! An old pet hate of mine. This gives me another opportunity to make my case - thanks.

What I'm getting at is the naming of Text objects.

...

...

...

Thanks John ... I agree entirely! I suppose I've never had more than 6 or 7 text objects on a slide, so was not too bothered by the non-unique names. Now that you have mentioned it, I will no doubt be conscious of your point, and may even become annoyed by it!

Normally I complain about any software aspect that I feel needs improving. However, with PTE it's been different, because it's such an impressive and lovable product, and Igor seems very responsive to our wishes.

Thanks again for taking the opportunity I presented!

Ken T.

[Igor]

Right, it's time to fix this mistake.

Can we use already existed text comments parameters in Project options | Comments tab for default font settings of other text objects? Or we should create new page with default settings?

Also please don't forget, since version 6.0 you need not care about unique fonts. Slideshow will correctly display any fonts on any PC or Mac.

[fh1805]

Igor,

Thank you for once again listening to your users! Speaking personally, I would be happy to use Project Options...Comments tab to set my preferred default font for all text. But then I use only two fonts regularly: Nyala & Monotype Corsiva. Provided I can, when necessary for a specific piece of text, over-ride my chosen default via the O&A Properties tab then I'll be quite happy.

regards,

Peter

[aplman]

Right, it's time to fix this mistake.

Can we use already existed text comments parameters in Project options | Comments tab for default font settings of other text objects? Or we should create new page with default settings?

Also please don't forget, since version 6.0 you need not care about unique fonts. Slideshow will correctly display any fonts on any PC or Mac.

Hello Igor ... Thank you for this good news!

Whilst I can see that the easiest way to meet our needs is simply to use the font chosen by the user in Project Options / Comments tab as a default font for new text objects, I feel that may make things a little obscure for new PTE users. I would prefer a new tab/page "Text" in the Project Options dialog.

Whatever you decide to do, I am sure your sense of good program design and elegance will prevail. PTE is so impressive in that regard ... Keep up the great work.

Thank you for a marvellous (and fun!) piece of software.

Best wishes

Ken Travers (APLman)

[nobeefstu]

Igor,

Or we should create new page with default settings?

I believe in the long term outlook ... the best choice is to create a new page with default settings. This would keep the all the project defaults (now and any future settings you additionally add) in its own window or page for the user to easily/readily access and set such defaults.

I believe you indicated adding default folders and directories sometime in your future TODO's ... and Im sure there is many other defaults settings that would be helpful and productive that would clearly fit into this separate defaults window or page.

I think adding the text default setting to the Comments tab would be only be of benefit in the short term. The creation of a new page for default settings would clearly be best for the long term outlook.

[aplman]

I believe in the long term outlook ... the best choice is to create a new page with default settings. This would keep the all the project defaults (now and any future settings you additionally add) in its own window or page for the user to easily/readily access and set such defaults.

I believe you indicated adding default folders and directories sometime in your future TODO's ... and Im sure there is many other defaults settings that would be helpful and productive that would clearly fit into this separate defaults window or page.

Seems to me that the whole Project Options facility is about default settings. So I do not see "Defaults" or "Default Settings" as a useful name for a new tab within Project Options.

A "Text" tab/page could probably accommodate both Comments and Text Objects, if everything fits. Otherwise separate Text and Comments tabs would be needed.

I would like to support a new Project Options tab/page for Files/Folders, where the user's preferred defaults could be specified.

Once again, I say that I will be happy with whatever Igor's sense of elegance produces.

Regards

Ken T (APLman)

[fh1805]

APLman,

I've sent you a PM.

Peter