Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage

v2009.268     07/30/09     

Priority: Low     

v2009.268 includes the following:

    * Floating text: Several improvements have been made to left, center, and right aligned text to allow aligned text to be "undocked" from the print/page by simply dragging the text anchor away from the edge.

    * Original Size: Changed the "Original Size" selection in the size dropdown so that the embedded size is always used and the "override embedded size" doesn't interfere.

    * UI: Made some minor improvements to the user interface to make settings/options more obvious in some cases.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

The new floating text functionality works well, including the ability to reset them back to the margins or centre.

The first time I fiddled with the floating text using the new version, the programme hanged. It may be that I first had to "reset" the blue markers to their correct positions relative to the actual text, according to the new version. Once I did this the problem hasn't happened again.

Would it be possible to have markers on the vertical and horizontal rulers relating to moving the floating text position? This would greatly assist accurate positioning. Currently I hold a marked piece of paper on the screen!

PETER

Another option would be to snap the floating text box to the outer edge of border #1 or to the inner edge of border #2.
Working this way the border #2 provides the distance from the floating text to the edge of the print.

Or maybe displaying the distance in mm from the floating text box to the edge of the image print size in the same manner like the manual placement of the selected image. Moving the image inside the print page the distance to the four page borders are visible.

Ahh, these Qimage users, they are never satisfied!    :-*

This is news to me - and I have no clue how to do it - and I sure don't understand what has changed - and I use floating text a lot. How do I move the anchor closer to the text?  The manual says you can do this, but does not say how to do it.  Also - I dont really understand what the change lets me do that I can not already do relative to moving the text itself.  But I'll be happy if some one can tell me how to move the anchor closer to the text - as that would be very useful.

Before v268, if you left, right, or center align text, it could not be moved left or right, period.  It was locked to left, right, or center of either the image or the page.   Now you can drag the text around without it being locked to the left, center, or right side of the image/page while each line of a multi-line text still gets aligned to the other lines as specified.

Mike

Mike - thanks - now I get that.  But still would like to know how I can move the anchor closer to the text. - Thanks - Mel W.

I don't THINK this is specific to the current version (I seem to remember noticing it before, but not being bothered to investigate).

In the batch editor the rating value is not updated to reflect the rating of the image you are viewing. If you move through a queue of images with different rating, it just stay at the same value. So you can't tell by looking at it what the rating was.

If you click on it it does change, and also sets the rating of that image correctly, but now it displays that value for any others in the queue.

It works just fine in the P+ preview screen.

    Mike S

Looks like a good "catch" to me.
Doing the same here too.
It will change the one you reset, but not working correctly at all.
Mike will fix.
Fred

I'll take a look and will fix it in the next version.

Thanks,
Mike

I also had some "remote" text anchors but when I transitioned from 267 to 268 they become attached. Originally I thought it happened when I dragged the anchors slightly but actually it occurred when I right-button edited the text and reset the justification.

Mike: When I have an image which spans all the paper width, any reset right or left justified text (aligned to image) can not be subsequently moved. The respective anchors are half off the page and can not be dragged away from the page edge.

PETER

I tested that pretty extensively before I released it.  If the anchor is half off the page, it means it is also half on the page.  I've tried every way I can think of and I can always grab the text by pointing at the half of the anchor I do see.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Because of your reply I went back and tested again.

Same thing. But I found if I move one of the centre aligned text boxes and then go back to the left or right adjusted boxes I can move it. Put it back by fully left or right aligning ... and same thing.

Points of note regarding my setup conditions:
1/ I'm using a custom page size which uses the length of an A2 page and width of an A3+ printer carriage.

2/ Image is a wide/narrow panorama set as wide as possible for the page size.

3/ The page orientation is portrait and image rotated 90o to fit it.

4/ The left and right aligned text boxes are also rotated 90o and therefore they are aligned to the top and bottom of page as viewed on the screen.

The cause is probably something quirky about my current setup.

PETER