How do you see line width?

[PhilM]

Folks,

Xara X responds to Windows Regional/Language settings to display numbers in an appropriate way for your locale.

Go to Control Panel | Regional and Language Options and in the "Regional Options" tab click "Customize...". There's a dropdown on that dialog that lets you set the "number of digits after decimal". Set it to "2" and Xara X will show (most) numbers with 2 decimal places.

Regarding "pix" and "px": Since CSS is a well-used standard we should really follow it (another small job for the job list). The reason we don't at the moment is simply that we abbreviated our pixel unit "pix" long before CSS was invented!

Hope this helps.

[eobet]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PhilM:
Folks,

Xara X responds to Windows Regional/Language settings to display numbers in an appropriate way for your locale.

Go to Control Panel | Regional and Language Options and in the "Regional Options" tab click "Customize...". There's a dropdown on that dialog that lets you set the "number of digits after decimal". Set it to "2" and Xara X will show (most) numbers with 2 decimal places.

Regarding "pix" and "px": Since CSS is a well-used standard we should really follow it (another small job for the job list). The reason we don't at the moment is simply that we abbreviated our pixel unit "pix" long before CSS was invented!

Hope this helps. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Awesome! That was it. I now have two decimals again. Thank you very much!

Strange how not even Charles Moir knew this.

I think the Units dialog should have a notice about this (not even the Units help mention it).

Also, someone mentioned that the definition of a pixel isn't exact. I'd say it's the opposite: The definition of dpi isn't exact on a monitor, but you always know how big a pixel is!

Further proof: The default drawing size of a Xara X page is 800 by 600 PIXELS, not inches.

Only BeOS had the option of either using floating point pixels or even dpi values to draw directly on screen (something I believe Longhorn has stolen, btw).

Of course line widths should be displayed in pixels if I choose so in the Units dialog!

[Egg Bramhill]

Glad to hear your back to 2 decimal places eobet.
However, John is correct in his assertion that a pixel is not a definitive size. Think about it. If I'm running a 14 inch monitor at 800 x 600 pixels and a second 30 inch monitor at 800 x 600 pixels, then an individual pixel would be much larger on the 30 inch monitor, than the 14 inch one.
Egg

[raynerj]

"John is correct " - Egg

Wow! I am right for once! Mark this day on your calendars. Tommorrow he|| freezes over. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[eobet]

I guess I was talking as a coder, not as a designer.

As you say, there isn't a standard for how big a pixel is outside a screen, but I don't care since Xara X, and my end product, is on a screen (I draw icons, which never leave the monitor).

If you "talk" to Windows, using the win32 api, getting a pixel is easy. Getting an exact inch, however, is quite impossible I believe, because, like you say, different monitors have different sizes.

Don't a lot of people design/sketch webpages in Xara X?

If you wish to code a drawn box in CSS as a <div>, you can get the height, width and position from Xara X in pixels, but never the line width (unless you convert manually).

It's different for Illustrator, which has a default drawing size of a letter (measured in cm), but I say again:

The default drawing size in Xara X is 800x600 PIXELS.

[PhilM]

XaraX defines the "pix" unit as 1/96th of an inch. It doesn't ever change - doesn't adapt to changes in screen resolution for example.

This is the standard size of pixels on Windows. (Right-click your desktop, go to the Settings tab, then click Advanced and in the General tab of that dialog the first drop down shows Windows current idea of DPI. "DPI" stands for "Dots Per Inch" but in this context really means "Pixels Per Inch". Most people leave this set to 96DPI.)

I don't think this measurement of pixel size is intended to be an absolute measurement of the size of real pixels on screens. But it is useful as a relative measurement.

Taking the 800*600 pixel page size as an example, the 96DPI pixel size means that it is technically 8.33 inches wide by 6.66 inches high, but more importantly when you view it at 100% zoom, or export it, the page should be exactly 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high.

[Egg Bramhill]

eobet
Don't get me wrong. I agree that it would be great to work in pixels. I work with my units set to pixels by default and would love to be able to set my line widths to pixels instead of pts as well. All my graphics are for the screen as well. But I don't find it difficult to use .75 pts as a line of 1 pixel width etc. My greatest bug-bear is I create all of my graphics in XaraX mainly for use in Flash. Flash on Windows still deals in 72 ppi as opposed to Windows native 96 ppi. I then have to use a template using a 'Real World' scaling to ensure the size I create in XaraX equals the import size in Flash.(This works great for vectors but is a pain in the ass when using bitmaps) Like a lot of things on computers, they have there roots in the printing industry, and old habits die hard.

I can't say I agree with Phils point. PPI is a meaningless phrase on a computer. 96 ppi on a 800 x 600 resolution, 14" monitor and comparing it to 96 ppi on a 800 x 600 resolution, 21" monitor, takes up the same 'relative' real estate on the screen, but bears no relationship to an INCH ! Not an inch of screen real estate anyway. (It may bear some meaning when printing)
All that aside, it would be pleasant to have the option to set line width and text size to pixels.