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Can that be changed so that any type units by default in points, not percentages or another random unit, unless the user specifies a different unit of measure? Professional typography is done in points...

 

his also applies to the leading controls in the Paragraph palette. Please set the default pop-up menu to Exactly and unit of measure be points, not line height or anything else...

 

Thanks for all you do @Dave! 

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1

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I completely agree with ronnyb. In-/decreasing text size in percentage doesn't make much sense. Points are the way to go.

 

If you're targeting professionals, then the Leading pop-up should indeed be “Exactly” by default. But then again, once you set it to “Exactly”, it stays like that, which is fine for me – until you create a new document. If it could just keep staying on “Exactly”, all would be well.

 

- - - - - - -

 

And another thing: In the OS X “Fonts”-Panel, you can “Edit sizes” – which is great. I always work with a specific range of sizes (e.g. 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 21, 26, 34, etc.) for a project and almost never with the one provided by the application. What I want to say is: let me define my own set of sizes, or, perhaps as an option, use the one I defined in the OS X panel.

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@DrPocter, I suggested some of these same ideas in this other post, including a custom graduated type scale, for the same reasons. It would also be awesome to associate specific leading to be applied with specific type size as well...

 

All this and more is revealed in the amazing typographic classic, The Elements of Typographic Style. Must have reference and read for serious typographers.

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1

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@ronnyb: I completely agree.

 

As for the leading, either associate a specific leading with a type size or, even better, link them with a factor (as in multiplication). For example, when I use my extended Fibonacci scale, I usually use the next number as the leading (13/16, 26/34, and so on). If I could enter 1,3 I wouldn't no longer have to specify leadings.

 

Bringhurst's book is my bible. Everybody should own a copy.

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DrPoctor, we already have a number of options for leading in the Paragraph panel. The default is to use the value extracted from the font file; that is, the leading that the designer of the font thought was ideal. That's what we call "single spaced". You can also specify a percentage of the font size (eg, 120% on 20pt text yields 24pt), which is what I think you mean by "link them with a factor". And you can force it to an absolute number if you want it to ignore the text size entirely.

 

We don't currently offer Fibonacci scales or user-defined mappings, or preferred pointsizes. I'll have a think about this.

 

Being able to set defaults for new documents is something we're aware we need. It would help with a lot of these choices (I know a lot of people are not keen on Arial as the default font.)

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OK, I've given this area a bit of an overhaul. First, Shift-Cmd-+ and - were sometimes conflicting with the shortcuts for Zoom, so I've changed them to Alt-< and >. This is more consistent with Illustrator anyway.

 

Second, Alt-> now increments the text size rather than scaling it. When the leading type is Exactly, Alt-Down will do the same.

 

Third, for Text Size, Baseline Shift, and Leading, I've made it so that the default increment increases with the size of the text. So for 12pt text you get increments of one point, for 32pt text it is 2 points, and so forth. Given this, I don't think the "Increase More" options are as necessary, so I've replaced them with more precise versions. For example, Cmd-Alt-Down increases leading by a 10th of the default. This is the opposite of what Illustrator does, but generally when I am trying to fit a certain amount of copy text into a particular area, I'd rather have smaller increments and more precision then faster changes.

 

Overall, this should give you rounder numbers of points. If you change the text units to something else, such as pixels, then it all switches to incrementing in pixel values instead.

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Wow! First of all, thank you very much for those changes, Dave. Having such a direct link, not just to the company, but literally to the developer who then implements them, is quite – shocking. Sure, everbody “listens to their customers” and so on, but this is new territory for me. I guess I better be careful what I wish for, you might just do it…

 

I agree that more precision is what you want here. If I need to “increase more”, it's actually much faster to just type in a larger number. On the other hand, if you need precision, a shortcut is what you want.

 

Did I mention that you guys are great?  :)

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It's great to be able to support developers who actually listen to their user base and care :)

 

Being able to add intelligence to the software tools we use will make everyone's job easier and increase the quality of the materials produced...

 

 

@ronnyb: I completely agree.

 

As for the leading, either associate a specific leading with a type size or, even better, link them with a factor (as in multiplication). For example, when I use my extended Fibonacci scale, I usually use the next number as the leading (13/16, 26/34, and so on). If I could enter 1,3 I wouldn't no longer have to specify leadings.

 

Bringhurst's book is my bible. Everybody should own a copy.

 

DrPocter, I just tried the following and it works beautifully!

post-1105-0-92786600-1423977534_thumb.jpg

 

The Affinity team is just awesome!!

 

 

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Sequoia 15.1

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 18.1

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