TEXT ENTRY in O&A

[JEB]

Hi,

This may well have come up before so please forgive me if it has.

Something I would like to see in the future is to have say the first 10 characters of a "text" item entered in the "Text" box in the Properties tab, being automatically entered in the "Name" box of the "Common" Tab. This would both save time but also confusion when you inadvertently forget till you notice several "text" objects in the Objects box. Any automatic naming should of course be able to be over written. Hope that's clear!!

Another enhancement that I think would be appreciated would be the ability to select a text size that can be applied over selected slides. This would eliminate the guesswork and the use of the zoom tool as is the case at present. The introduction of the grid has helped greatly but its still a bind.

I would welcome any comments. Perhaps its all possible at the moment and I'm missing something - it has been known!!!

Regards

John

[Lin Evans]

Hi John,

I'm only commenting on that part of your comments below:

There is no need to "guess" or use the grid to match text size. Just look in the zoom box, pick the text object you want to match for size then copy and paste the zoom number of that text object into other text zoom boxes for a perfect match.

Best regards,

Lin

Another enhancement that I think would be appreciated would be the ability to select a text size that can be applied over selected slides. This would eliminate the guesswork and the use of the zoom tool as is the case at present. The introduction of the grid has helped greatly but its still a bind.

[JEB]

Hi Lin,

I can't see the wood for the trees!!

I thought there must be a better way and indeed now that I think about it I may well have used this method in the past.

I think my feelings are however, that it would be nice if it could be achieved a little bit simpler than this method, which could be said to be a bit of a work around.

I certainly would like to see my first point, regarding the automatic naming of a text item to be considered for the future. Perhaps I'm the only person who gets carried away with himself when putting a complex sequence together and forgets to name the object as I go along.

I've just had a look at a chart (Hermann Brain Dominance Theory) posted on a thread here some time ago which took my fancy and has been stuck on my wall ever since. It positions me (an ex-salesperson) firmly in the right brain quadrant 3 and describes my type of person as - "Flakes, not practical, unpredictable and sloppy"!!

Oh well - who cares, I'm having fun even if I do cause myself pain from time to time.

Regards and thanks.

John

[JEB]

Hi Folks,

I’m mildly surprised that this post has not attracted more comment. I have acknowledged Lyn’s response, however, I would like to add a further related issue.

When in either Animation or Common Tab and the “Text” symbol is activated would it not be beneficial if O&A switched automatically to the Properties Tab to permit a more convenient opportunity to enter the desired text?

Indeed why can’t the text box be instantly active on the activation of the “Text” symbol by placing the cursor directly into the text box and enable input instantly from the keyboard?

Just to tidy up this post the following are my original points.

Something I would like to see in the future is to have say the first 10 characters of a "text" item entered in the "Text" box in the Properties tab, being automatically entered in the "Name" box of the "Common" Tab. This would both save time but also confusion when you inadvertently forget till you notice several "text" objects in the Objects box. Any automatic naming should of course be able to be over written. Hope that's clear!!

Another enhancement that I think would be appreciated would be the ability to select a text size that can be applied over selected slides.

I’m surprised that others don’t find this an irritation. To be fair it is only an irritation but it’s beginning to get to me!!

Regards

John

[davegee]

With regard to "matching" text box position / size etc I just copy a text box from one slide to the next in O&A and change the content as required.

Being able to copy to multiple slides would be an advantage - I could then alter each one individually - it would save me a lot of time.

DaveG

[Barry Beckham]

If you highlight any object in the Object section of the O&A, you can hit Ctrl+c and then Ctrl+v to copy that object/text to any of the other images in the show. That way you can skip to the next image and Ctrl+v, then the next and so on.

I use this as a quick way to apply a frame to all the images in a slide show.

If this was done with text, you could then go into the copied text to adjust what words you want, but size and style would remain constant. However, if we can have something built into PTE for this all the better.

[JEB]

Hi Barry & Dave,

I take on board and understand and use the methods you describe.

Perhaps I have not made my point clear. My problem is when, as I often do, have a number of "text" items on the one slide all appearing and disappearing at different times there seem to me to be a lot of "unnecessary" things to be done manually which I think could be done automatically by the system. (text naming, tab selection, clicking in test boxes etc.).

It's not a BIG issue but something that I think would make the process simpler and more user (perhaps just me!) friendly.

As I say I'm just surprised others have not had similar thoughts.

Regards

John

P.S. - When do you depart these shores Barry?