This one is long overdue.
We need to be able to scale letters in Paragraph text. Sometimes you need just that little to fit a lot of text in small space.
OldBob said:...The funny thing is I have never noticed the lack of this ability in CD. Perhaps because I spend so much time bouncing between software and platforms as the customer's files demand. --OB
Hey, Bob, howzit going?
Is the reason you haven't noticed this in CD because of bouncing around in various software? Or the number of times you've used it in any software?
Personally, I don't even do fliers in CD, XDP, AI, DP, etc. I use QXP, PP or ID. I do create the assets in vector applications and/or image editing applications. But I don't do any layout in a vector drawing application. Even so, I cannot remember ever disproportionate scaling in even a layout application that is capable.
I do see what the OP wants, and yes, it is available in, well, about every other vector and layout application. It is solvable by using artistic text or, god forbid, converting text to curves (I hate that option in general).
But face it, CorelDraw has about the worse text engine in any vector application. I know people have done even books in CD, but I would gouge my eyes out if I had to use it for such things.
Actually, the need to do so comes up quite frequently. We do a lot of entire office building projects (ADA-compliant, etc.), and you wouldn't believe the number of times this comes up in a building directory list. And entering each tenant as a separate individual line, instead of a properly indexed (for line spacing) paragraph, would slow us down immeasurably.
Though now that I think on it, that may be why we quit using CD for such projects ages ago.
As for layout, if I am setting it up myself, QXP or ID would be my first choice for anything text-heavy as well. But I have to (try to) deal with what the customer brings us, or requires in return. I've even received (shudder) PowerPoint files on occasion.
--OB
OldBob said:...And entering each tenant as a separate individual line, instead of a properly indexed (for line spacing) paragraph, would slow us down immeasurably...
Did you say line spacing? Add to that paragraph spacing...
I could not work with such imprecision and guess work. I do understand that often times non-critical documents are designed more "by the seat of the pants" and such oddities may not bother some people. But for me it is a big concern.
I've done building signage a few times. In the briefs we've gotten, though, the architects have specified no horizontal scaling. We've just used condensed or ultra-condensed fonts with a moderate x-height (instead of high x-height) for legibility.
I hear ya on having to return things in X format. The worse job I got was having to return a 16-page pamphlet as a Photoshop file back in the mid-1990s. Most of my bread and butter work anymore are catalogs and such, with ancillary materials (product sheets, corp reports, etc). so I am usually banging my head against the wall immersed in XML for the importing. In nearly all cases, graphic assets have to be returned in AI or PS formats—even if I use something else for the actual work.
My main use of CD these days is mostly for screen printers. Not exactly taxing work. I do use it for some things I cannot do easily in XDP, but when it comes down to it, I am not a power user of CD.
Mike
OldBob said: What I find really odd is that CD does not have this function (at least, I can't find it now that I look). Yet I am able to do this in Adobe, in Quark, heck, even in MS Word and Open Office. It really does seem to be a feature whose time is overdue. --OB
What I find really odd is that CD does not have this function (at least, I can't find it now that I look). Yet I am able to do this in Adobe, in Quark, heck, even in MS Word and Open Office. It really does seem to be a feature whose time is overdue.
Finally! I began to think that I'm in the wrong forum.
Ever since ver. 4 I was checking every new version for this option first. For me, it is unexplainable that this was forgotten all this time. And not only for Paragraph text. I remember having a hard time precisely putting some Text on a Path in ver. X3 or X4 (I can't remember anymore). It was on a circle, text had to be on almost full circle, and had to be shrinked by some percent. I've lost at least half an hour tinkering with handles, and got all kind of deformations but not the one I want. Than I did it in Illustrator in about 15 seconds. I can't recreate it in X7 because it handles this stuff better than the old versions.
So, give me independent Font scaling for height and width in Paragraph text and/or Text Properties please. This is not cosmetics, this is basic productivity.
P.S. I consider myself a power user. After 20 years of using CorelDRAW there is very little that I didn't at least tried to do.
yes, this is basic, I hope the next version improvement