TEXT ENTRY

[JEB]

Igor,

I know you are about to release another update which no doubt will be another step forward for this superb software. I've seen reference to new transitions etc.

However I hope you have found time to improve the method of text entry in O&A. The present method whereby one has to select the text box in the Properties Tab of O&A before typing is driving me daft!! Would it not be possible to enable direct typing as is the case in Photoshop?

PLEASE consider!!!

All the best and as ever thanks for a wonderful product (which could be made even more wonderful with this simple alteration I believe!!)

Regards

John

[xahu34]

Hello John,

why don't you prepare your texts in MS Word or OpenOffice or a Text editor. You only need to copy and past them into the input field of PTE.

Best regards,

Xaver H.

Munich

[fh1805]

Xaver,

Having seen and read some of John's earlier posts on this subject, his complaint is that, when we do Add Text in the O&A window, the cursor for input is not positioned in the text input area of the Properties tab. In order to change the actual text you have to switch to the Properties tab from whichever tab you were last using in the O&A window and then select the word "Text" which is pre-filled in the input field and then key the actual text that you want.

John would like to see, as a minimum solution, the switch to the Properties tab and the selection of the word "Text" all done before we get control handed back to us. So that, if we start keying text "heads down", the text that we key goes into the input field. As a maximum solution he would like the word Text on the O&A display selected and for us to have the ability to key our own text directly onto the display area of the O&A window, replacing the pre-selected word "Text".

I would take that maximum solution one step further and ask that PTE remember the last font and colour that we selected and use that for our next text field request. I find it a right pain having to change the font and the colour for each text item when I want them to be all the same font and colour.

regards,

Peter

[JEB]

Xavier,

Why?

What is the point of having the ability to type in text, edit it, select a font etc etc. within PTE and then suggest that it would be better done elsewhere? All that is needed is a little user friendly thought! No doubt there are times when your suggestion may well be the better option but as far as I am concerned for simple headings, as Peter explains much more clearly than I did, PTE stops just a little short of being user friendly in this regard.

Thanks Peter. I should have taken the time to spell it out. I just can't understand why it's only you and I who find this irritating!

Hopefully!

Regards

John

[Antbrewer]

Hi John an Peter,

I'm sure it isn't only the two of you who find this limitation on 'text' a little irritating.

As you say to have control over the text and it's attributes within the image itself seems such an obvious solution.

How hard for Igor to incorporate this I have no idea but would be surprised if it were that difficult considering their skills and genius..

We already have the option to change to PNG status so it would make life that much easier.

We will wait and see on the forthcoming versions.

Anthony

[jfa]

No John your not alone here.

I do all my text work in Photoshop and then import the text images into PTE as either JPG or PNG then use these in the O&A screen if required. The problem where text is lost when the EXE is run on another PC if it is not one of the standard Windows fonts and your problem with positioning, (along with several other minor text problems in PTE), have made me avoid the text function altogether in PTE until these problems are rectified.

[fh1805]

John (jfa),

The problem with "...not one of the standard Windows fonts..." is eliminated if you use "Rasterize text to PNG image" on the O&A Properties tab for the text object. But I'm sure you knew this!

regards,

Peter

[JEB]

Peter,

Yes I use this all the time. As I remember you can alto un-tick the box and edit the text all within PTE.

John

[AnKo]

John and Peter,

I agree with you that this should be a huge upgrade to PtE. Maybe it is also useful to make it possible to change the standard font for O&A in the prefference tab for the project, like we can do so for the textline right now.

Regards,

André

[xahu34]

...John would like to see, as a minimum solution, the switch to the Properties tab and the selection of the word "Text" all done before we get control handed back to us. So that, if we start keying text "heads down", the text that we key goes into the input field. As a maximum solution he would like the word Text on the O&A display selected and for us to have the ability to key our own text directly onto the display area of the O&A window, replacing the pre-selected word "Text".

I would take that maximum solution one step further and ask that PTE remember the last font and colour that we selected and use that for our next text field request. I find it a right pain having to change the font and the colour for each text item when I want them to be all the same font and colour....

Peter,

what you ask for refers to settings and a kind of history. John (JEB) in the initial post of this thread asked for direct input, i.e. typing directly into the text frame on the O&A screen (similar to Photoshop), quite a new feature!

Regards,

Xaver

[fh1805]

Xaver,

Yes, I know that my addition is different to John's original post: but they are both about making the handling of text objects more "user friendly" and more "intuitive". Taken together they would be a major step forward in the way in which PTE handles text objects. If only one of them was implemented, that would be a significant step forward.

I have some reservations about the Photoshop way of handling text frames. I sometimes struggle to get the right selection mode: am I selecting to manipulate or selecting to do text entry? Doing it the right way for what I want to do next seems to be difficult for me. My brain obviously isn't wired up the right way for this particular task in Photoshop.

regards,

Peter

[xahu34]

...I have some reservations about the Photoshop way of handling text frames...

Peter,

I don't like the PS way either, but no objections from my side against your proposals!

Regards,

Xaver

[JEB]

Hi,

There is one further improvement that I believe is essential.

I believe that it would simplify and eliminate confusion if the text item were to automatically take say the first ten characters of that text object as its name (with the choice to alter). This would make life much simpler by eliminating the list of identical "Text" objects that have not been manually named as one gets carried away while in creative mode!!!

Regards

John