Variant and Text

[Steven Cox]

Hi all,

I am not a web designer and purchased Xara to build a website for my wife's new small (as in me and her) business that we are trying to get going. The site will be VERY basic and maybe I can add more cool stuff as I learn but for now I just want a working site up to get us going.

The first issue I have run into is that I create text on the main variant page and it does not fit on the mobile variant. When I resize it in the mobile variant (by selecting it with the selector tool and dragging the corners), it resizes in the main variant. According to the documentation, sizing should not change.

I am sure I am misunderstanding this and doing something wrong but cannot figure out what.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Steven

[Acorn]

Steven, a big welcome to you from TalkGraphics.

If you are dragging the corners while using the Select Tool, you are resizing the font size and as the text and styles are live-shared you will get the same change in Main. To change the shape of the text box, you use the inner selectors (mid-points) instead.

To be more in control, switch to the Text Tool and use the corner selectors that it presents (red squares on the corners of a red dashed box).

I would use Utilites > Website variants > Stop sharing with variants to give yourself more control over font, size and layout.

Compliments to your business partner in her choice of website design package.

Acorn

[Steven Cox]

Acorn,

Thanks for the welcome and the help! It appears that the text from the template was not in text boxes (or the box is hidden & I cannot find the settings). The text I added was not in a text box. This will make it much easier for me to work the layout. I can go back and cut and paste all my text into text boxes.

I am sure this will help a lot.

Thanks!

Steven

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics Steven

[Acorn]

Acorn,
Thanks for the welcome and the help! It appears that the text from the template was not in text boxes (or the box is hidden & I cannot find the settings). The text I added was not in a text box. This will make it much easier for me to work the layout. I can go back and cut and paste all my text into text boxes.
I am sure this will help a lot.
Thanks!
Steven

Steven, the fault is more with Xara for presenting Templates that are for RWD but fall down over such a simple oversight.

You're part way to becoming a guru. Keep on plugging,
Acorn

[Steven Cox]

Acorn,

Not sure about being a guru but if I can learn enough to save some money and make a cool site that would be nice.

gwpriester, thanks for the welcome!

Steven

[Steven Cox]

Another quick questions while on the same text box subject. I have a photo on the left, and text on the right. Should I include the photo in the text box? Can I anchor the photo to the box like I can to text? Is there a preferred method?

Thanks, Steven

[Acorn]

Another quick questions while on the same text box subject. I have a photo on the left, and text on the right. Should I include the photo in the text box? Can I anchor the photo to the box like I can to text? Is there a preferred method?
Thanks, Steven

Steven, there is right-click on an image and Anchor to text.

Better, however, is image on top, Repel text under, position and then soft group both image and text.

Acorn

[Steven Cox]

Acorn,

Again, thanks for the help. Surprisingly, a lot of that makes sense to me based on what I have seen in the template but was not sure what it was,... I will add these features as I have time and create new content. I am now one menu away from being able to go live with the basic sight.

Again, thanks for all your help!

Steven

[wolfpup187]

Xara help explains how to change the font/size just for the variant using styles:

Updating Text Styles

To update an existing Text Style:
1. Select some text already in the style you want to update.
2. Apply whatever changes you require, say an alternative font, or font size.
3. Select Update 'style name' to match from the Style drop-down menu on the Text InfoBar.

For example to change all the Normal text to be a different font, select a few words in the Normal text Style, change the font (and any other attribute) and then Select Update 'Normal' to match from the Style Menu on the Text Tool InfoBar.

When you are working on a web document with RWD variants, it is possible to update a Text Style for an individual variant. This is useful for example when you need the text in a mobile variant to be a larger and/or different font. To update the style for an individual variant, change the text as above and then select Update 'style name' in this variant from the Style drop down menu on the Text InfoBar. This is an additional option that is shown in the Styles menu when you are working in a document that has multiple variants.

See Responsive Web Design for more information about variants.