Publisher: Text Frame styles? reset?

[Greg deJong]

New text frames will pick up the settings of a recently used/customized/selected text frame, such as columns, inset etc.

Often I want to create a 'basic' text frame, not one inheriting those custom settings. Reverting those settings one by one seems unnecessarily tedious.

Can a text frame be 'reset' to basic settings? Bonus would be to add a text frame style tool, akin to paragraph/character styles.

[MikeTO]

Yes, just choose Edit > Defaults > Revert. There's even an icon for this in the Toolbar.

[Return]

7 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Yes, just choose Edit > Defaults > Revert. There's even an icon for this in the Toolbar.

This will also revert all other recent attributes though.
You can use an asset with a default style and drag drop to the canvas.

[Greg deJong]

13 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Yes, just choose Edit > Defaults > Revert. There's even an icon for this in the Toolbar.

OK thank you. Looks like I should have the object selected before doing this, to be sure.

Looks like I should get acquainted with Assets, as well.

[bbrother]

On 3/22/2024 at 4:44 PM, Greg deJong said:

Often I want to create a 'basic' text frame, not one inheriting those custom settings. Reverting those settings one by one seems unnecessarily tedious.

I agree with you 100%. The concept of remembering the last changes made to a text frame and inheriting them when creating a new one is a solution straight from a poor Word editor. This is not how it should work in a DTP program that claims to be professional.

A DTP program shouldn't remeber the last changes in text frame and use it when creating new one.

Quote

In a professional desktop publishing program, if you want to create several frames with the same settings (frame appearance, paragraph style, etc.), you should use object styles that honor paragraph styles.

 

On 3/22/2024 at 4:44 PM, Greg deJong said:

Can a text frame be 'reset' to basic settings? Bonus would be to add a text frame style tool, akin to paragraph/character styles.

Many years ago, users asked to introduce professional, editable object styles in APub, but without success.😭

[MikeTO]

7 hours ago, bbrother said:

A DTP program shouldn't remeber the last changes in text frame and use it when creating new one.

I agree but to clarify, there are three ways it can work.

1. Always use the app's default formatting. This is a crude and inconvenient approach because for those not using text styles, each time you create a little caption you're going to get Arial 12 Black even though you're making a dozen Times 11 Red captions. Affinity would need a way to explicitly set document defaults instead of setting them automatically based on the last formatting applied. No app does this.
2. Always use last applied formatting - what Affinity is doing. IMO Affinity's approach is good for those not using text styles - make one little caption Times 11 Red and all subsequent text objects will be Times 11 Red. The downside is that after I've made my dozen captions, I can edit some Arial 12 Black text, save the document, restart Affinity, and a week later when I open the document and draw a new text frame, it's Times 11 Red. This approach makes Affinity feel unpredictable.
3. Always use current formatting. This is the way most apps work, including Adobe. Draw two frames and they're Arial 12 Black. Make dozens of Times 11 Red captions. Click in the Arial 12 Black frame and then draw a new frame - it will be Arial 12 Black because the document default is whatever is at the text cursor position.

I would obviously prefer that Affinity switch to the "current formatting" approach like other apps. Making this change would also fix the bugs with updated TOCs suddenly becoming italicized, or inserting a new footnote and it being bold.

[bbrother]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Always use last applied formatting - what Affinity is doing. IMO Affinity's approach is good for those not using text styles...

Choosing this approach as the default in a desktop publishing program, where working with text styles is the essence, is completely incomprehensible.

[tm19]

Thank you for the Edit > Defaults > Revert option. Sorry to keep this going, but I'm just in disbelief that there's not a better solution.

Is there really not a setting to, e.g., create a text frame with character and paragraph set to [No Style]?

I'm coming at this from the old PagePlus product and, during the Dark Ages, Ventura. I never had this problem. MikeTO's Option #1 is the obvious way to go.

Option #2 is my Annoyance #1. Most of the time, all I want to do is create a frame, drop some plain text in it, and apply the appropriate paragraph styles. It should be that quick.

My previous work-around was to copy an "untainted" frame from a similarly-styled document, and switch out the text. I guess that's the equivalent of using an Asset? Whether it's an Asset or a Revert, the extra steps really mess with the work flow.

[bbrother]

7 hours ago, tm19 said:

Is there really not a setting to, e.g., create a text frame with character and paragraph set to [No Style]?

If you would like each newly created text frame to remain [No style] for character and paragraph, despite changes made to the previous one. If that's what you're thinking, there is no such setting or possibility.

 

7 hours ago, tm19 said:

Option #2 is my Annoyance #1. Most of the time, all I want to do is create a frame, drop some plain text in it, and apply the appropriate paragraph styles. It should be that quick.

I'ts a nightmare for me to. That's not how it should work by default.

 

7 hours ago, tm19 said:

My previous work-around was to copy an "untainted" frame from a similarly-styled document, and switch out the text. I guess that's the equivalent of using an Asset? Whether it's an Asset or a Revert, the extra steps really mess with the work flow.

Yes. I think the same.
The user shouldn't be forced to drag text frames from the "Resources" panel just to ensure that the default text style in a newly created frame wouldn't change and stay's how he wants. This is crazy

In APub we have a confusion of the role they have to play, the text frame, the text styles, and object styles.