Image and text skewing / distorting megathread

[Rob-Xar]

no rob it was introduced to prevent those who don't know what they are doing from messing up at the expense of those who do - 'distortion' is often a requirement!! [aka morphing]

if you are going along those lines can you please remove all automatic switching of tools when double clicking, dragging/dropping etc as I have lost count of the number of times they have made me swear or worse; squishing I don't have a problem with

I'm not disagreeing with you, nor have I in any of the previous replies.

I need to take some examples back of why this is important and what why users deliberately distort images and text.

As also mentioned in the original message, please keep on topic as well!

[Acorn]

Matching the profile of an existing bitmap banner to replace a crest or flag with vector.

Acorn

[handrawn]

Rob - I think I did both of those things

and if pointy-head programmers don't understand why the deliberate distortion of images can be useful, maybe they should be designing something other than drawing progr.... oh yes they are, they are designing website creation software [silly me]

mind you I think distorted images probably have their use there too if only 'for effect' - no disrespect, but has anyone at Gaddesden Place really got a problem with that kindergarten level concept? [which is an example and therefore on topic]

sorry to go on, I'll stop

[Acorn]

Stretching or squishing an image or text is a totally instinctive feature Xara has offered until now.
I can still skew an image.
I can still skew text.

Currently, a designer can "accidently" rotate a text block by a small angle to find it is now rendered as an image.
Ditto skew.
To remove stretching and squishing is simply wrong.

I am sorry that Xara has not made the decision to render text with CSS3 Tranform where possible.

Acorn

[angelize]

Guys Rob is asking for actual examples. Put together a .xar file or post a png image showing how you would use squishing/stretching. Want this feature back? Lets fill this thread with examples!

Text squishing and stretching can be very useful for headlines. It used to be so simple to fit headlines that way. It also adds a bit of visual variety to your headlines while still maintaining a single font.

In the attached .xar file I have 2 examples of how i used to use stretching/sqiushing on headlines. I would be happy with a modifier key I could hold down while dragging side and top /bottom handles to allow me to have that ability again.

[angelize]

here is another example this time it is a bit of descriptive text under an image. The image has text repelling set so there is only going to be so much space for the description/by line/ etc.

Again I had to reset the aspect ratio and play around with it by trial and error to get a good result and it took me far longer than it would have if I could have just grabbed the side of the text area and squished it.

[Rob-Xar]

Thank you angelize, this is very useful to send back to them!

Do you have any examples for images as well?

Many thanks
Rob

[handrawn]

... Put together a .xar file or post a png image showing how you would use squishing/stretching. Want this feature back? Lets fill this thread with examples!

Why? - it should just be fixed... [and I gave examples earlier - I have not got the time to play beta tester anymore]

what worries me about this thread is that instead of just restoring a basic bitmap editing fuction that is so fundamental it should never be in question, Xara is considering implementing another of their 'oh look a fancy new way of doing something that will probably have yet more unintended consequences elsewhere' features

maybe they could just implement another class of object that is actually a bitmap pure and simple for those of us who need it, and not a fill in a shape container pretending to be one -heck I might even upgrade

[Rob-Xar]

Why? - it should just be fixed... [and I gave examples earlier - I have not got the time to play beta tester anymore]

Because I'm trying to convince those who make the decisions that this is important to have and they would like to see some real examples of this. Saying this is just how something should be isn't going to change anything unfortunately.

[mwenz]

Because I'm trying to convince those who make the decisions that this is important to have and they would like to see some real examples of this. Saying this is just how something should be isn't going to change anything unfortunately.

I'll repeat what I wrote to Kate in another thread...

When Xara thinks it knows better than the people using their software, that should be the first clue you are doing something wrong.

And I mean it. If the PTB have to be convinced that what we do or want to do is "not the way it should be done," then get rid of the PTB and bring in someone with the vision to propel Xara products forward into the 21st century...because it is regressing backwards when it should be moving forwards.

What's next? Limiting fonts to only the dozen web-safe fonts? Not that it would affect me but that would kill any usage of the thing for web work. But as long as you (Xara) are trying to make the application idiot proof, I can come up with a dozen or more ways to try (in the end, that is a fool's errand, though).

I like Gary's thought of a warning as long as it only affects publishing to the web.