A new learning curve for me here

[Mark321]

Hi everybody,

I'm on a mission to use a font in XDP and the characters (glyphs?) I wish to use is in the "Private Use Area". I'm trying to use these characters but the "try and figure it out" phase just ain't working for me. I've even tried the "copy to clipboard and paste" trick but I'm having a devil of a time figuring out just how to make that work (wish I knew how to just type the character without all the "copy and paste" stuff. And by the way, when I do the "copy and paste" trick, XDP lets me choose between Rich Format Text or HTML Placeholders (I have no clue which one to choose) and the best results that I get is a tiny little character on the HUGE white background (WHAT THE HECK?!). I can use the transparency tool and use the "Stain Glass" thingy but I still have this HUGE green box (looks like a text box to me).

Anyone here knows what I am going through (heluva learning curve)?

Thank you for your help in advance!

Mark

P.S...I have NO trouble doing this in Word 2016 but I just can't do it in Xara Designer Pro

[gwpriester]

I'm not sure I understand any of this Mark. Which font and what glyphs?

If you can format the text the way you want it in Word then try copying from Word and pasting as RTF (Rich Text Format) which is a file format that copies and pastes original text attributes such as font, size, style, etc. I am not sure why you are getting the option to past HTML Placeholder unless you are copying a script of some sort.

Give us a few more details.

[Mark321]

I pasted from Word and got the "g" that I wanted but it's not in the right place AND there's that white background that appears with the out-of-place "g".

[mwenz]

Is this the font you referenced in a different post?

[Mark321]

Yes, it is, Mike.

I got XDP to paste from Word but I had to shrink the text box surrounding the letter and I still can't get rid of the white background so I have to copy the text and paste it in another document. What a friggin' pain for one little swash.

[mwenz]

I just downloaded it. It is messed up.

Unfortunately, XDP has no Glyph Panel/Gallery like other applications and so getting to PUA or unmapped glyphs is problematic. I'm gonna send you a PM (private message)...

Mike

[Mark321]

LOL!

Wonder why a professional design program can't do what a word processor can?

[mwenz]

I wonder why a word processor cannot do what a proper layout application can? It's not like Microsoft doesn't have a big team working on Word...

Not that I don't agree with you. It's taken a long time for Xara to support OT Features, but it is beginning to happen. I welcome it and likely the more people who let Xara know they appreciate the effort, the more OT Features they will expend energy on.

For instance, I made the suggestion to use human friendly stylistic set namessage for fonts that have them. And it is present and works. There are more things for Xara to do with OT Features that will enhance the end user experience. I am confident more will be coming.

Mike

[gwpriester]

Mark - If the character you want is correct but in the wrong place then cut and paste it into the right place.

My guess is Xara is working on a more intuitive way to display available glyphs and will release an update when they have something they are happy with.

[roly]

Hi Mark, have you tried using the windows application character map? For one or 2 characters I find it an easy way.

Ciao

Roly