using text in Inkscape

Hi Sage,

the font selection via the dropdown in the text tool's tool bar is a bit messed up in the latest Inkscape version.
The trick is to write some text first, and only then to change the font.

Hope this helps,
 Kind Regards,
 Maren

Oh, and the Text and Font dialog has a font preview. Hit Ctrl + Shift + T to open it, after you have selected a text. Then click on the different font faces in the dialog to see the preview change.

 Thank you Maren, That won't solve my problem. My task is to create outlines for a laser cutter. Writing in Roman letters and then getting the correct Hebrew letter will be very difficult. I think I just have to go back to illustrator where the commands are clearer and I can simply use the create outlines function. I got inkscape because it was recommended by the technician at the Laser cutting place and I wanted to avoid the now, cloud based , Adobe system. I just find Inkscape non intuitive , and difficult to use. I can't even change the measurements on the rulers to inches...

Thanks again , Maren,
 Sage

Hi Sage,

if you don't ask the right questions, you won't get the right answers...
All programs work differently, and what is intuitive for one user may be counterintuitive for someone else...

"Writing in Roman letters and then getting the correct Hebrew letter will be very difficult"

So this is not about the font switching back to sans automatically after you have clicked on the canvas with the text tool? I'm not a mind-reader, I need some info to work with. What exactly have you tried (step-by-step) to get what kind of expected result?

Creating an outline from a text is as quick and easy as selecting the text, then doing Path -> Object to Path.

There's a reason why people recommend Inkscape for plotting etc., which is because it's extendable and open source, so people were able to make it work with different plotters.

For the default document unit, which - in additition to the units used in most places in the Inkscape interface - determines the rulers' unit, look into the document properties. File -> Document properties, top right corner.

Kind regards,
 Maren

 Hello Marin,

Thank you again,

This is what happens:
 I select the type tool, I create a box which has a cursor in it. I select Arial Hebrew Font from the font list. ( I have also tried selecting the font first and then making the text box to the same result which follows)
 I try to type, nothing appears in the box and the type box vanishes along with the work area/page/frame, I cannot find the work area/page/frame, the work space or my type box in the window. I make a new type box and the type is again sans serif . Why is there such a vast space around the pasteboard and why does it vanish ? I have tried to center the scroll bars in the vertical and horizontal after losing the type box and there is no frame of the work space to be found. Then I found the work space set in the upper left of the VAST window...
I have tried this numerous times with my computer (iMac) set to both roman and Hebrew keyboards. Nothing has worked to show me the first Hebrew letter. Even in the work space frame, setting a new type box, the type box vanishes at the typing of a first letter. Then the toolbar changes with each subsequent key that I type, running through a variety of different toolbars. This is incredibly frustrating.

if I were to type a roman font, select it and then change to a Hebrew font, nothing would be spelled correctly due to the differences in the alphabets.

 Thank you for pointing to the ruler units, it is in an unexpected place being separate from the list of other properties of the document. OI also found a button buried on the right side of the screen that brings the workspace to the center of the window, I still find the scale of the area it is in unreasonably large.

I typed some of the sans serif Roman letters in a new type box. I found and clicked the Path->Object to Path after selecting the type. Nothing changed on the screen and mysterious things flashed in an 'inspector' in the right side of the window with sections about property, fill and stroke, opacity etc. Shouldn't the letters show outlines and bezier points? I do need to alter one of the letters.

What I need, is a file I can take to my Laser guy so that he can cut the letters out of my metal for prototypes for a piece of jewelry.

I appreciate the time you are taking to help me to use Inkscape, It would be useful if there were some tutorials on type. I will now search YouTube to see if there is anything to help me find some basic thing that I feel stupid about not being able to find or use.

 Kind regards,
 Sage

> On May 7, 2016, at 11:51 AM, Hachmann <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Your question #293353 on Inkscape changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/293353
>
> Hachmann proposed the following answer:
> Hi Sage,
>
> if you don't ask the right questions, you won't get the right answers...
> All programs work differently, and what is intuitive for one user may be counterintuitive for someone else...
>
> "Writing in Roman letters and then getting the correct Hebrew letter
> will be very difficult"
>
> So this is not about the font switching back to sans automatically after
> you have clicked on the canvas with the text tool? I'm not a mind-
> reader, I need some info to work with. What exactly have you tried
> (step-by-step) to get what kind of expected result?
>
> Creating an outline from a text is as quick and easy as selecting the
> text, then doing Path -> Object to Path.
>
> There's a reason why people recommend Inkscape for plotting etc., which
> is because it's extendable and open source, so people were able to make
> it work with different plotters.
>
> For the default document unit, which - in additition to the units used
> in most places in the Inkscape interface - determines the rulers' unit,
> look into the document properties. File -> Document properties, top
> right corner.
>
> Kind regards,
> Maren
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/293353/+confirm?answer_id=3
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/293353
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.

Hi Sage,

ah, now we're getting somewhere :-) I'm glad you took the time to reply.

So, what's happening seems to be this:

- You are creating a flowed text box (mind you: flowed text only works inside Inkscape, it will not show up in browsers, for example. If you would like to know more about the 'why' read this in our FAQ: https://inkscape.org/en/learn/faq/#Flowed_text_doesn%27t_show_up_in_exported_file). You can create a 'normal' text by just clicking at the place where you want to start typing.

- When you go to the top bar to change the font, this will not be recognized by the program in version 0.91, because of a bug. This bug is already fixed in the current development version. You need to start typing, only the font on an *existing* text can be changed at the moment. You can remove any wrong text you've written after the font change, the font will be kept this time - just try it out ;-). You can also set a different default font (this can be done in the Text and Font dialog).

- When you go to make changes in the tool bar for the text tool, the focus (i.e. what Inkscape thinks you're currently working on) changes. It leaves the text (even if the cursor is still blinking), and goes to the general scope, which means that anything you type in right then will be recognized as a keyboard shortcut, not as text that should be typed in. (This is also a bug with current Inkscape, unfortunately not fixed yet...). So to get back to your text, you need to click into it again. Then type.

(It's unfortunate that you've been hitting those two text bugs right as your first experience with Inkscape... Despite those, it's a great drawing tool. If you need proof of that, look into the gallery of artwork created by our users: https://inkscape.org/en/gallery/)

"I also found a button buried on the right side of the screen that brings the workspace to the center of the window, I still find the scale of the area it is in unreasonably large."

- Mmh. Can't imagine what that button might be (maybe 'Zoom drawing if window size changes'?...). There are keyboard shortcuts that can center the page for you, see https://inkscape.org/en/doc/keys091.html#d0e830 . You can zoom in and out using the mouse (hold Ctrl and use the scroll wheel) and several other options.
See also http://vektorrascheln.de/posts/2015/Dec/inkscape-fuer-einsteiger-teil-ii-praxis-en.html#zooming .

" I found and clicked the Path->Object to Path after selecting the type. Nothing changed on the screen"

- That is the purpose :) Things will still look the same after this operation, but a text is then no longer editable as a text, but consists of vector paths. Most plotters cannot engrave texts, as they do not know what to do with a font, but they can follow paths very well.

"mysterious things flashed in an 'inspector' in the right side of the window with sections about property, fill and stroke, opacity etc."

- Yes, as the object changes, it's properties change, too. I'm not sure what you mean by 'Inspector', though. There must be a title in that dialog. Maybe it was the 'Fill and Stroke' dialog that lets you change the color, transparency etc. of an object?...

" Shouldn't the letters show outlines and bezier points? I do need to alter one of the letters."

- They do. If you use the appropriate tool for editing Bezier curves, which is the node tool. Switch to it, then click on a letter. If all shapes in a drawing would always show their handles and paths, an artist wouldn't see the drawing for all those additional infos being displayed anymore. That's why displaying them is limited to when you really need it.

"It would be useful if there were some tutorials on type. "

There are tons of tutorials out there :-) (but many are for the previous version which did not have these exact two bugs you stumbled about).
You could also start with a more general tutorial, like the one I linked for the zoom, which will introduce you to general usage and terminology (this will also make it easier to ask questions and be understood).

Look at our website to find more (in 'Learn' and its submenus): https://inkscape.org/en/learn/

Hope this was helpful,
 Kind Regards,
 Maren

 Hello Maren,

 The Saga continues.

I got Inkscape to type in Hebrew, even though the type font field reads 'sans-serif'. Another problem is that Inkscape will, even after relaunching three times, only type in Hebrew no matter what font I select. The font list is now displaying fonts in their correct shapes except, of course the three hebrew fonts and all of the others in foreign scripts, they all display, in the list as roman letters. And when I tried to save my file, the title was entered in hebrew characters.

I was able to create paths but I needed to remove two small parts that are necessary to keep the center of a Hebrew letter in place after laser cutting. I made a small box. I needed two of them exactly the same. Control-copy and control paste did not work. I couldn’t find the ‘duplicate’ command in any drop down menu and having watched a couple tutorials, I could not get the contextual menu to appear (Macs have no Right click, and control click, which we use to get the contextual menu doesn’t do it either) where the “duplicate" command was in the video.

In selecting the type I was unable to change the hebrew font to one that I wanted to use. Only one other font was available and all that would happen when changing types, (even selecting Roman letters) was a difference between normal and bold weights in the Hebrew font with a few of attempted changes.

While I was trying to remove parts of the letter that had to be altered, I needed to magnify the image and then bring it back down again; the control-+ works fine art making the image larger but the selected area kept going out of the window so I had to keep scrolling to keep it in sight. When I wanted to bring it back down again nothing happened with the keyboard command, I had to repeatedly go to the View menu, click on Zoom and select the minus. This is incredibly cumbersome. The alternative was to use the zoom ikon with the rectangle in the magnifying glass and then keyboard it back up to a scale where I could see what was happening. Using the control and mouse as you suggested simply enlarged every thing on the screen putting the tools out of reach because the window frames were no longer visible and the image was also out of focus.

I did find, in the tutorials, a bezier editing tool. But without being able to duplicate or copy sets of points it was nearly useless to me.

Inkscape is a powerful app as I have seen in the tutorials. However, it is cumbersome, mysterious and unstable for the simple task have been trying to do. Which is basically saving a file in .svg format.

The visuals are also difficult because I have to launch Quartz first to make it run and Quartz has a menu bar just above the Inkscape menubar, I was inadvertantly clicking on the Quartz bar when I needed to get to the Inkscape file and edit menus. In the tutorial videos the Inkscape frames are black, in 91 they are white like the Quartz.

Thank you for all of your time and attention to my problems.

Sage

Hi Sage,

how do you normally switch between Hebrew and Roman script? (I would need to install a keyboard switcher program, that can switch between different keyboard layouts.)

The font preview lists seems to have a certain selection of letters they will display, which is "AaBbCcIi..." This will probably not change if you change the keyboard/typing mode. May be worth a feature request to change that with the language that is used... (Do you use the English version of Inkscape?)

"Control-copy and control paste did not work. " - Seems you're on a Mac. Please see these instructions:
https://inkscape.org/en/download/mac-os/

Duplicate is Ctrl+D. Could you use a standard mouse with your Mac that has all the keys?

" Using the control and mouse as you suggested simply enlarged every thing on the screen putting the tools out of reach because the window frames were no longer visible and the image was also out of focus."

Oh, that's not good... The shortcut seems to be stolen by your system, and to be used for accessibility zooming. Can that be deactivated on a Mac? The zoom tool can (more quickly) be selected by entering 'z'.

I'm not sure how to change the Inkscape theme on a Mac. I'm on Linux ;)

su_v has been working on other versions for OS/X, which might be easier to use for you, but those are not supported at the moment, as far as I know. You could try them from here: https://launchpad.net/~suv-lp or here: https://inkscape.org/en/~su_v
(I don't know much about them, only that they may solve some problems - you'll have to read the readme files)

(Do you happen to have a Windows or Linux box accessible?)

Kind Regards,
 Maren