Frame text auto width

[chris.bannu]

Hi guys,

When using Frame Text, is it possible to have it simply resize to the words content horizontally? Like simply keep one line, and have the text go as much as you want horizontally, without having to drag the text handler to make the frame wider, to avoid the text going on a new line.

Thanks,

Chris

[toltec]

Why not just draw the text frame across the whole width of the page ?

 

[Alfred]

If you don't want the text to be constrained to a frame width, don't use Frame Text! Use Artistic Text instead.

 

[chris.bannu]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your replies.

My problem is not that exactly. My problem is that if I design a button, I would like the text frame width to resize according to the width of the actual text. It's annoying that whenever I have to change the width of the text every time I create a new button from another button and I have to resize the width to a smaller width. It's simply a few extra steps that are unnecessary. That's the main reason I don't use Photoshop, the UX is full of unnecessary actions, and that simply means you work a lot more on the same on a project that could be done faster in another app.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I find it a little bit annoying

 

Yeah I guess I'll use artistic text for buttons from now on, although I think frame text should support this

[Alfred]

15 minutes ago, chris.bannu said:

It's annoying that whenever I have to change the width of the text every time I create a new button from another button and I have to resize the width to a smaller width. It's simply a few extra steps that are unnecessary.

 

Even if you insist on using Frame Text for this, it's not really that many extra steps! If there's too much text to fit on one line, start by dragging out the right-hand edge of the frame until the text no longer wraps to the next line. Once you've done that, double-click the bottom centre handle to make the frame height adjust to the new text height, and then double-click the right middle handle to make the frame width fit the text snugly.

[chris.bannu]

Hi Alfred,

Thank you so much for the tip, I didn't know about the double click thingie. That solved my problem

 

[Alfred]

7 minutes ago, chris.bannu said:

I didn't know about the double click thingie.

 

That very useful feature is new in version 1.6.

 

[chris.bannu]

Yeah it sure is  I'll have to read the help file at some point. But this app is so intuitive, it's 90% pointless. I'm gonna read it at some point, but only for this sort of tips

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, chris.bannu said:

My problem is that if I design a button, I would like the text frame width to resize according to the width of the actual text. It's annoying that whenever I have to change the width of the text every time I create a new button from another button and I have to resize the width to a smaller width.

Maybe I have misunderstood your workflow or something, but if you want to use Frame text why not start by creating one button & creating a child Text frame layer for it that is the same width & height as the button? (Snapping makes this easy.) Set the Frame Text to Center Aligned & Center Vertically on the Context menu. Duplicate the parent button layer as needed for your other buttons & edit the text in each Frame Text child layer as needed.

 

With these alignment options the text will always stay centered in the frame.

[chris.bannu]

Hi R C-R, thank you for replying

The buttons could have different widths, they don't have to be the same width, only the padding would differ (e.g. 15px left, 15px right, depending on the width of the text). But Alfred gave me the solution, double clicking on the left/right handles does the trick, and it resizes the frame to the text width. I really need to read the help file to learn these tips, even though I absolutely detest reading

 

What do you mean by child layer btw? Are you referring to grouping them in a group or ion a layer group?

 

[R C-R]

16 minutes ago, chris.bannu said:

The buttons could have different widths, they don't have to be the same width, only the padding would differ (e.g. 15px left, 15px right, depending on the width of the text)

If you set the justification & centering options I suggested the button width won't matter. Center Aligned automatically centers the text horizontally in the text frame. So if you change the width of your button copy (not its Frame text child layer) the text will remain centered in the text frame. 

 

18 minutes ago, chris.bannu said:

What do you mean by child layer btw? Are you referring to grouping them in a group or ion a layer group?

No. A parent/child layer relationship is different from a group relationship. See for example the Layer clipping help topic or the Affinity Designer - Lock Children video tutorial.

[chris.bannu]

Oh, with layer clipping, got it, thanks