Moving text on a curve

[Ronny Axelsson]

Hi

I'm rather new on XaraX¹ and I cannot get the text on a curve to work as expected.
Let's say I draw a circle, convert it to editable shapes and then fit a text to it.
I'm not happy with where the text starts so I would like to move it on the circle
by dragging it. The Help says "Drag either of the red text margin handles".
1.) I can't find any handles, or
2.) if I drag (to get a red line) before I start typing, I do get the handles but
the result when dragging is unpredictable.
3.) If I type the text directly onto the circle, the result is like #1.
Besides, if I later want to release a text that is typed to the circle, it just disappears !?

Could anyone of you experienced user give me some basics, please.

/Ronny

[Ronny Axelsson]

Hi

I'm rather new on XaraX¹ and I cannot get the text on a curve to work as expected.
Let's say I draw a circle, convert it to editable shapes and then fit a text to it.
I'm not happy with where the text starts so I would like to move it on the circle
by dragging it. The Help says "Drag either of the red text margin handles".
1.) I can't find any handles, or
2.) if I drag (to get a red line) before I start typing, I do get the handles but
the result when dragging is unpredictable.
3.) If I type the text directly onto the circle, the result is like #1.
Besides, if I later want to release a text that is typed to the circle, it just disappears !?

Could anyone of you experienced user give me some basics, please.

/Ronny

[gwpriester]

I can't find any handles to drag either.

I was just looking at a Tip I posted some time ago Tip of the Week 2 and it shows a small red square that I don't find on Xara X1. I wonder if it was removed for some reason?

Try this. Create a circle and convert the circle to editable shapes.

Select the Text Tool and click the Center Justify text icon (the paragraphy icons). Now click top center on of the circle with the Text Tool and begin typing. Your type will center on the insertion point of the cursor.

Select all the text by swiping the text cursor over the text. Now press the left justify icon and then the right justify icon. The text will react in terms of the insertion point.

The only two ways I know to move the text are to insert spaces before the text or to rotate the circle.

This help?

Gary

[gwpriester]

Ah, I see now. Text on a circle works a bit differently than on an open path.

If you create an open path, click the text cursor on the path and key in your text. Insert the cursor in the text and there will be a very small red square to the left of the text, (or to the right, depending upon the justification setting), that you can drag.

Gary

[Soquili]

Great tip Gary. I never knew you could use the justification options when putting text around a circle. Of course at my age, you could have told me before and now it's new to me again. They say the memory is the first to go.

[John Rayner]

Just flipping the circle around you can get interesting positioning. The begining of the circle is top dead center at first.

[John Rayner]

Or... If you want precise positioning.... Rotate the circle using the angle of selection buttons or text entry box.

[Ronny Axelsson]

Thanks a lot for your help.

Unfortunately, this is more or less what I've found myself.
As Gary says, breaking one of the nodes to make an open path brings up the
red handles and I think this is the best way to do it(?).
Rotating the circle is of course a neat solution, but it only works with circles
and not with ellipses for example.

I would also like to add in two related questions:
Is there no way to do on-screen kerning, or move individual letters or words
in a paragraph around, with the mouse or keyboard?
If I break a node in my circle apart, how do I get them joined together again?
Is the only way to drag the end point away and then back over the other end point again?

I'm used to working with CorelDraw where all this is very simple stuff.
I like XaraX¹ very much so far, but there are a couple of things that I
really think must be easier to perform.

I'm very thankful for any help I can get, learning how to work with XaraX¹.

/Ronny

[gwpriester]

When rotating a circle with text, Ctrl click on just the circle to select it, then drag guides through the center of the circle. Now select the text and circle, click twice to enable rotate/skew mode and drag the center of rotation bulls eye to the intersection of the guides.

This will rotate the text and circle around the center of the circle and not the center of the selection.

You can also right click on the circle with text and select Reverse Text on Path which puts the text on the inside.

Gary

[gwpriester]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I would also like to add in two related questions:
Is there no way to do on-screen kerning, or move individual letters or words
in a paragraph around, with the mouse or keyboard? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When the Text Tool is selected the kerning and tracking control are enabled. Select multiple characters to track, place the text cursor between two characters to kern.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>If I break a node in my circle apart, how do I get them joined together again?
Is the only way to drag the end point away and then back over the other end point again? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes. Corel has the Join Nodes icon which makes this easier for sure.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I'm used to working with CorelDraw where all this is very simple stuff.
I like XaraX¹ very much so far, but there are a couple of things that I
really think must be easier to perform. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Many of Corel's more innovative features were "borrowed" from Xara such as interactive on screen control, gradient transprency, and the interactive Property Bar.

Xara was built for speed and performance. It has one of the best anti-antialilasing engines of any program out there. But to keep the size managable, 10MB vs: whatever Corel weighs in these days, they did not go overboard with features and extra control.

As with any software, you have to get the feel and rythm of the program and learn to work the way the program works,(worts and all). But once you do, you'll find Xara is a real joy to work with.

Gary