Pop-up Hell

I just downloaded and installed the latest iteration of Xara Photo and Graphic whatever the thing is called these days, just to give it a text drive.
I loaded a blank template, clicked on the Text Tool and then clicked on the document and the very first thing that happened was a pop-up. (attached)
The last thing I expected to see was a pop-up message asking me a question which mystified me and immediately killed what enthusiasm I had to use the product.
Firstly, I had no idea which rectangle the message referred to, so I was unable to decide which of the 4 options to choose.
In the end I thought the message referred to the 800x800 pixel rectangle I have used as my default template for many years. That had to be what was being referred to, but by then I'd lost interest in going any further.

Surely I'm not alone in being cheesed off with obtrusive and unneccessary multiple-choice questions even before I start doing any work.
I quit the program, never to return. I do not appreciate being confronted with nonsensical questions such as this. I didn't need to be asked this question in previous iterations of the program, so why now? Needless to say I will not be buying this puerile rubbish. I just want to create, not play these silly irrelevant juvenile games.

Rather a dramatic reaction to a new feature, don't you think?

A while back, Xara added the ability to have text placed into an object and added Auto-Fitting to the shape. So, if you have an object selected, like your rectangle, as soon as try to type in text that is within the bounds of the selected object, say a rectangle, a photo or any other object, you will get the pop-up. Select On-top if you just want text on its own over the object, Fixed inside if you want text at the selected font size but staying within the bounds of the object, or Auto-fit inside of the previously selected object. Try the combinations to understand how this works.

If you don't want to see the pop-up, make sure that nothing is selected before selecting where you want to type text, or, if something is selected, position the start of the text somewhere outside of the selected object.

October 2018
Auto-Fitting Text
A powerful and time-saving new option that automatically resizes your text to 'best fit' into any shape. Forget about manually adjusting your font size, just turn on the new auto fit feature and type away - what you type will be automatically re-sized to fit. What's more it works with mixed font sizes, maintaining the relative size, and it even works with repelling borders!

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Originally Posted by browj2

Rather a dramatic reaction to a new feature, don't you think?

A while back, Xara added the ability to have text placed into an object and added Auto-Fitting to the shape. So, if you have an object selected, like your rectangle, as soon as try to type in text that is within the bounds of the selected object, say a rectangle, a photo or any other object, you will get the pop-up. Select On-top if you just want text on its own over the object, Fixed inside if you want text at the selected font size but staying within the bounds of the object, or Auto-fit inside of the previously selected object. Try the combinations to understand how this works.

If you don't want to see the pop-up, make sure that nothing is selected before selecting where you want to type text, or, if something is selected, position the start of the text somewhere outside of the selected object.

October 2018
Auto-Fitting Text
A powerful and time-saving new option that automatically resizes your text to 'best fit' into any shape. Forget about manually adjusting your font size, just turn on the new auto fit feature and type away - what you type will be automatically re-sized to fit. What's more it works with mixed font sizes, maintaining the relative size, and it even works with repelling borders!

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John, we had a duologue a time back (https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...ng-Text-Inside). I wholly concur with iamtheblues that Xara is a repeat offender of introducing Pop-ups that hinder workflow and fails to address user interface considerations.

The ideal UI would be to invoke the pop-up dialog with Text tool > Alt+Select; c.f., Alt key use instead of the Smart transform.

Acorn

Acorn,

You have a great memory. I vaguely recalled having seen something about this, completely forgot that it was I who raised the question about your request. Thanks for putting in the link.

From what I have seen, the two features that you would like to see are:
1. When both a text object and another object are selected, a way to fit the text inside the shape. In this case, the question of Auto-fit inside or Fixed inside would still have to be raised, no? Thus the pop-up would be required.
2. A way to toggle Auto-fit inside/Fixed inside once a selection has been made - that would be most helpful.

And the modification to the feature would be invoking the pop-up dialog with Text tool > Alt+Select, instead of having the pop-up appear if an object has been selected, Text tool selected, and the user starts typing over the selected object. Thus the default would be On Top, even if an object had been selected and typing started over that object. The user would then start looking for how to get the text to fit, one way or another, inside the object. I don't think that Alt+Select would be obvious to most users. Then after doing Alt+Select, there would still have to be a pop-up for Auto-fit inside or Fixed inside, would there not? So, there is almost no avoiding a pop-up.

I like the present method and the pop-up, now that I know how to exploit it and avoid getting a pop-up when I want On Top. And, I know how to quickly get new text into an object and that I will be asked how I want it.

I wonder what would happen if this situation were reversed - we had the current method with the pop-up and then Xara changed it to having to default On top, and Alt+Select for fitting the text inside an object. Would there be a lot of complaints about Xara hiding this great feature, the added work of having to figure out the Alt+Select part, interruption to learned workflow, and so on?

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Rather a dramatic reaction to a new feature, don't you think?

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I agree with John. I see minimum use for this feature, in fact I ignore it. Just another annoying pop-up.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

I agree with John. I see minimum use for this feature, in fact I ignore it. Just another annoying pop-up.

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Egg, the last part is the telling point of all this.

With the Text tool selected, Click-drag over a Shape to try and make a Text Column or Text Area. You know exactly what you are building but now Xara steps in and blows all this away.
If you select On Top, you are now stuck with a Text Line.

Where is the sensible workflow to get round this? Oh yes, click somewhere else and then move the text!
If the somewhere else happens to be over the shape and you change our mind, you may not get the pop-up to kick in again.

Acorn

Totally agree Acorn. This ' improvement ' leaves me totally confused and I can never understand where I would possibly use it.

Somehow, Xara believes that the ability to put text inside objects with a few options to make the text larger or not is more important than something as really useful and competitive as left and right pages in a spread that act independently or master pages.

The only advice I can offer is FOCUS people. Stop throwing shiny coins in the air and give the users features to make their design experience better and easier.

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Originally Posted by Acorn

...With the Text tool selected, Click-drag over a Shape to try and make a Text Column or Text Area. You know exactly what you are building but now Xara steps in and blows all this away.

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The only time that happens here is if I have the shape selected. If I do have a shape selected, like right after drawing a shape, and choose to add a text column or a text line, I hit the escape key and whichever type of text object gets created normally.

Seems fine to me.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Totally agree Acorn. This ' improvement ' leaves me totally confused and I can never understand where I would possibly use it.

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But Xara claimed it was one of the highest asked for features arising from a survey. While it might have its uses, it is a rarity that could have been met with existing Xara functionality. he major difference being the design would have total control as to what was wanted without have another set of workflow constraints that hamper.

Acorn

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Originally Posted by mwenz

The only time that happens here is if I have the shape selected. If I do have a shape selected, like right after drawing a shape, and choose to add a text column or a text line, I hit the escape key and whichever type of text object gets created normally.
Seems fine to me.

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Until you have a clutch of Shapes on the page and switch to the Text tool...

...the one thing I have discovered is if no Shape is select and you go to the Text tool and use Ctrl+Select the pop-up appears for that Shapes; if you just Select you get normal (Xara) capability.

It is the Select within the bounds of a selected Shape that is the problem.

Acorn

Like I said, just hitting escape works no matter what. Even with the text tool active before I begin drawing out the text area.

If I have multiple objects selected, choose the text tool and have forgotten to deselect those objects and start the text area within the bounds of the last selected object and get the pop-up, I can hit escape twice, once dismisses the pop-up and once again deselects the objects, I can draw the text area anywhere.

'Xara Designer Pro' and 'Xara Graphic Designer' the clues are there in the titles of these 2 programs. They are both called 'Designer' presumably because they are purportedly for use by Designers. Although these unwanted popups would suggest otherwise. If I load a design program, I want to start drawing or typing with it. That was easier to do in the early days of the program than it is now. That isn't progress in my book. Nothing that has been introduced in later editions of the program over quite a few years now has come remotely close to improving the user experience. It gets tougher all the time to ignore all the distractions thrown up by new improvements that require turning off, or at least stopping to read what one has done to incur the displeasure of the program. This nannying is becoming one of the main features of Xara. I love the program for its ease of use, but these annoyances are actually getting in the way of both productivity and any pleasure that used to be derived from using the program.

The spiral tool* works nicely, and some of the newer brushes are a welcome addition, but nothing much over the last decade or more has sent me scurrying off to my credit card to invest in what has been on offer. This is a huge disappointment. We have made plenty of suggestions for new or revamped tools, but nothing much has been forthcoming (except of coure the new Auto-fitting Text inside a QuickShape - and who knew that we all wanted that?). I have acknowledged elsewhere the improvements to text handling, but in this regard, they have been long overdue.
*as long as one has an internet connection (and how dull is that?)
Edit: Apologies to Rod Sterling and The Twilight Zone TV series for plagiarising their logo

If you want, there is a Registry entry that will shut off the automatic placement of text inside, along with the pop-up. This setting returns the old behavior without removing the ability to place text inside a shape...see below the image.

Attachment 124599

One can still opt to place text into a specific object by right-clicking the object and choosing to do so and selecting the desired option.

thanks for that Mike [saves me looking :)]

the one popup the irritates me more than any other is the one that presumes an imported image would be best be converted to a jpg - I never use jpgs in my Xara designs... jpgs are for photos and my art is not that kind of continuous tone image, and for why would I use a lossy format anyway, just storing up trouble down the line

can be killed in the registry

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Originally Posted by iamtheblues

... If I load a design program, I want to start drawing or typing with it...

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You can. It's just that you had created a template and used it that has a rectangle, that rectangle was selected, and you tried to type into it. With the new features, Xara has to ask you what you really want to do. Now you know what to do, I presume.

If you had created and selected a text box instead of a rectangle in your template, then you would not have seen the pop-up...until later.

It is your opinion, not fact, that this is an unwanted pop-up. It is my opinion that the pop-up is wanted.

I already explained that above...and I do know what to do, I removed the program from my system.