Small Text When Linked

[jmcw]

I can not figure out why, when i add a new text area in the middle of two text area's that were already linked, and I try to move the link the text in the new text area keeps the styles but the text is super small. Any help would be appreciated. 


 

[thomaso]

Hi jmcw,
Welcome to the Affinity forums!

2 hours ago, jmcw said:

I try to move the link

What do you mean with "move the link"?
Could it have happened that you scaled a text frame by dragging its outer handle in the lower right corner?

[jmcw]

I have a document with existing text areas that linked. I need to add more text in the middle of the existing text areas, so i add a new page and create a new text area. I then drag the text area from the top text area, to the new text area. 

I'm definitely dragging in the lower right corner, so it that changing the scale/font size? 

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, jmcw said:

I'm definitely dragging in the lower right corner, so it that changing the scale/font size? 

Probably. Make a new text frame and size it using the side/top/bottom handle, delete the weird frame and link the new one.

[Seneca]

My 2ç.

To avoid any further confusion what handle to use when manipulating text boxes, Affinity should consider removing the Sizing Handle from ordinary text frames and only leave it in Artistic Text frames.

[thomaso]

13 minutes ago, jmcw said:

I'm definitely dragging in the lower right corner, so it that changing the scale/font size? 

9 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Probably.

Less vague: Definitely.
Just give it a try.

[thomaso]

6 minutes ago, Seneca said:

To avoid any further confusion what handle to use when manipulating text boxes, Affinity should consider removing the Sizing Handle from ordinary text frames and only leave it in Artistic Text frames.

Please Never ever !!!  Why should experienced users lose a feature because less experienced don't know how to handle it?

I'd rather prefer an additional button to reset a frame which got scaled this way back to its initial 100 % size, ideally with a field in the Transform Panel which also shows the current scaling factor.

[Alfred]

36 minutes ago, Seneca said:

only leave it in Artistic Text frames

You can’t leave something that isn’t there! An Artistic Text frame doesn’t have (and doesn’t need) a separate sizing handle.

[thomaso]

14 minutes ago, Alfred said:

You can’t leave something that isn’t there! An Artistic Text frame doesn’t have (and doesn’t need) a separate sizing handle.

Maybe the feature was meant to get moved, based on a conclusion like this:

   1.   If users ask how to use a feature then they would not ask the same questions when the feature doesn't exist.
+ 2.   Since users didn't ask yet how to use the feature with Artistic Text Frames then the feature does not confuse them there.
= 3.   So the best would be to have the feature at Artistic Text frames.

🦄

[walt.farrell]

There are no Artistic Text Frames.

1. There are Text Frames, created by the Frame Text Tool, which hold Frame Text.
2. There is Artistic Text, created by the Artistic Text Tool. Artistic Text does not have a frame, though it does have a Bounding Box (which may happen to look like a frame, but isnt).

 

(There are also

• Shape Text and Curve Text (created by clicking on a shape or curve with the Frame Text Tool) and
• Shape Path Text and Curve Path Text (created by clicking on a shape or curve with the Artistic Text Tool),

but I dont think they are relevant to this discussion.)

[thomaso]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

There are no Artistic Text Frames.

1. There are Text Frames, created by the Frame Text Tool, which hold Frame Text.
2. There is Artistic Text, created by the Artistic Text Tool. Artistic Text does not have a frame, though it does have a Bounding Box (which may happen to look like a frame, but isnt).

What exactly are you talking about – and with what purpose?

This shows an Artistic Text Frame with its visible Frame handles and a frame stroke assigned via the Text Frame Panel:

What comes next? Clarification about the term "Artistic" and it's proper use?

[walt.farrell]

Interesting, @thomaso I didn't realize that the Text Frame panel also applied to Artistic Text. Thanks.

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

... I didn't realize that the Text Frame panel also applied to Artistic Text. Thanks.

With severe restrictions, essentially all you can use is the Stroke and Fill colour.

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I didn't realize that the Text Frame panel also applied to Artistic Text. Thanks.

7 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

essentially all you can use is the Stroke and Fill colour.

... and, of cause, their frame handles.

(even if one might prefer a term like "bounding box handles" (btw: are they really "handles", and is the "box" indeed a box?) ;–)

 

 

[prophet]

Another example of that confounded and confusing scaled text frame issue. We gotta get that fixed soon!

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, thomaso said:

(even if one might prefer a term like "bounding box handles" (btw: are they really "handles", and is the "box" indeed a box?) ;–)

 

So we need to think outside of the boxes?

 

[thomaso]

Just now, prophet said:

We gotta get that fixed soon!

Serif hardly can "fix" an unintended use of a helpful feature.
The only fix I can think of is at the users end, e.g. by experimenting the UI, reading the Help, watching tutorials ... getting experienced.

[prophet]

If the majority of users who use a "feature" do it by accident and end up confused and frustrated, is it really a "feature?" I'm not saying it has no place, but rather it needs a better implementation, documentation, UI, etc.

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Serif hardly can "fix" an unintended use of a helpful feature.
The only fix I can think of is at the users end, e.g. by experimenting the UI, reading the Help, watching tutorials ... getting experienced.

It has been suggested that the UI should at least include some indication that the UI should include some indication that a text frame was scaled, and some way to reset it to an "unscaled" state. That might "fix" the issue.

(Of course, there is one known bug where the issue happens when importing IDML. And enough users have said they did not use the scaling handle that perhaps there is another bug. But so far no one has been able to provide a recipe to recreate it without having scaled the frame.)

[thomaso]

3 minutes ago, prophet said:

If the majority of users who use a "feature" do it by accident and end up confused and frustrated,

What "majority"? Do you mean the ~dozen of forum questions regarding this handle? In my opinion the majority understands how it works.

If users use a feature "by accident" they might "fix" their intention. The UI quite clear shows 2 (in words: two) handles in the bottom right corner. No need to ignore their occurrence just because of a lack of interest.

[thomaso]

18 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

So we need to think outside of the boxes?

If one can handle it: Yes! But it must not go beyond the frame.

[prophet]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:51 AM, thomaso said:

What "majority"? Do you mean the ~dozen of forum questions regarding this handle? In my opinion the majority understands how it works.

If users use a feature "by accident" they might "fix" their intention. The UI quite clear shows 2 (in words: two) handles in the bottom right corner. No need to ignore their occurrence just because of a lack of interest.

Another 2 folks having trouble with the "feature."  Note the key phrases: "maybe I did unintentionally", "I am new affinity user" , "Is there a way to identify the text frames that have been rescaled?"