Jack Amos on Text

The purpose of this exercise is to develop a working Text Dialog tool for PowerCADD so that greater control of text can be attained from a floating menu that has the capability of displaying a wider assortment of controls than are currently available. There are no doubt many other editing capabilities available in other programs that might find some degree of usefulness here, but for the sake of getting this project under way I have limited myself to what follows.

Related areas which also need to be addressed:

PowerCADD currently limits maximum text size to 127 points. For this program to appeal to graphic designers, this limit should be increased to at least 600 points.

Font conversions to outlines should be available across the board, whether the fonts are TrueType or PostScript. And the user should have the choice of whether the conversions are filled or not, Bezier or B-Spline.

All fonts need to be accurately displayed and editable regardless of their size or the zoom factor.

A keyboard shortcut for editing kerned pairs must be made available. PageMaker's technique could be the foundation for this capability. It incorporates the Command and Shift keys with the left and right Nudge keys. It is a critical necessity when working with type over 12 points, but most especially all font sizes over 24 points.

Tabs and Indent controls need to be included on a separate menu.

Text controls need to be implemented by the block and not across the board. When across-the-board control is necessary it should be done from a pre-configured Styles menu where across-the-board defaults can be set up and changed.

The Text Dialog
The Text Dialog is summoned by choosing Text Specs... from the Text pull-down menus or by typing T (Command-T). The following dialog box appears.

This dialog provides you with basic attributes for font selection, size, and alignment characteristics such as flush left, centered, flush right and justified copy. It also identifies whether the selected font is TrueType or PostScript. The dialog box is designed to be moved about your desktop as needed.

Selected attributes are entered into your document by clicking the "Apply" button with the mouse when the Text Dialog is present, or by clicking "Return" or "Enter" from your keyboard.

Text Size Selection

Mouse down and hold on the Text Size and additional size selections pop out. Drag up or down to the desired size and release. Or, drag the cursor through the displayed size and keyboard in the size you want to work with. Sizes not displayed and selections in tenths (.1) of a point may be keyboarded into the dialog area.

A keyboard override/shortcut for 1 point increments of enlargement or reduction of preselected text (text highlighted by dragging the cursor through a specific letter, word or group of words) is to hold down the Command, Option and Shift keys while hitting the < (Less Than) for 1-point-at-a-time reduction or the > (Greater Than) for 1-point-at-a-time enlargement.

Font Selection

Mouse down and hold on the shadowed box displaying the font name and additional fonts (all of those fonts installed in your System Folder, or accessed by programs such as Suitcase) will pop out. Drag the cursor to the desired font and release to select that font. If an additional arrow is present to the right of the font name you want to work with, then additional selections must be made to use that font. Those choices will pop out automatically for your selection when you move the cursor over the arrow.

Text Alignment

Align selected text (flush left, centered, flush right and justified) with a mouse click to one of four boxes above the font name. These same alignment attributes can be applied to selected copy from the pull-down menu or by using keyboard shortcuts. L (Command-L) is Flush Left text, C (Command-C) is Centered text, R (Command-R) is Flush Right text, and J (Command-J) is Justified text. These keyboard shortcuts are highlighting in the Alignment Dialogs as if they were chosen from the dialogs with the mouse.

Additional Typographic Attributes

Click on the square in the upper right corner of the text dialog box and the box expands with additional typographic controls.

Attributes: Styles

Attributes can be applied to selected text from these Style buttons. As the buttons are clicked, styles are selected and the buttons are highlighted. Enter by clicking "Apply" or by hitting the Return or Enter key from the keyboard. "Reset" eliminates all selections except Normal.

If a selection of type is highlighted that contains several individually selected styles, none of the buttons will be highlighted. By selecting attributes at this time, all selected text will be reassigned the newly selected attributes. By making selections when no type has been highlighted, these selections will become the new style default settings for all new type entered into your document.

Many of these same attributes can also be entered or altered using keyboard shortcuts or pull-down menus. Regardless of the method of entry, they will appear as highlighted style buttons when that specific text is selected.

Attributes: Case

Change the case of selected copy by clicking on the case selection buttons for All Caps or Small Caps. Return it to the Normal setting by clicking on the "Normal" button. If no copy is highlighted, this selection will become the new default setting. The Small Caps size parameters are user adjustable from the Options... dialog.

Attributes: Position

Use the same technique for Superscript and Subscript. Select the type you want to make Superscript or Subscript by highlighting it and then click on the desired button. Superscript and Subscript parameters are user adjustable from the Options... dialog.

Attributes: Leading

Leading attributes are selected by clicking and holding the mouse on the Leading dialog and selecting from the pop out menu. "Auto" is the default setting and will remain in force until you drag the cursor to a specific size other than Auto. Leading selections not displayed and selections in tenths (.1) of a point may also be keyboarded into the dialog area. The "Auto" parameters are user adjustable from the Options... dialog.

Attributes: Spacing

Spacing characteristics are adjusted by mousing down on the Spacing pop out menu. These choices are applied to any currently highlighted selection. If nothing has been highlighted then the selection becomes the new default setting for all new type entered into your document. Spacing attributes are applied equally to both word (distance between words) and letter (distance between letters) spacing and are user adjustable from Text Preferences... in the pull-down menus.

Attributes: Width

Expand or condense selected text by mousing down on the Width pop out menu and dragging to the desired number. Percentages not displayed may be keyboarded into the dialog area. Width attributes are applied equally to both letters and spaces.

Attributes: Options

Click on Options... to assign numeric values to Autoleading, Small Caps Size, Superscript and Subscript and their respective positions throughout an individual text block and throughout all the text in a document. Keyboarding in numeric values when no text has been highlighted becomes the new default for all future uses of that attribute. Dismiss by either clicking OK with the mouse or hitting the Return or Enter key, which returns you to the Text Dialog.

Dismissing the Text Dialog

Dismiss the Text Dialog -whether abbreviated or expanded- by clicking on the square in the upper left corner of the box.