The Choices... window, accessed from the iconbar icon menu, is
shown below.
The settings are grouped into categories which are accessed by
selecting the appropriate tab.
Font styles
The font style settings are shown in the image above.
The six font faces (plain, italic, bold, bold italic, and two
symbol styles) can be set up here. Each of the font faces can be
changed using the menu attached to the menu button to the right of the
font name.
In addition, it is possible to choose whether the text should be
kerned. For most purposes, it is better to switch kerning
on.
The final settings in this tab specify the text colour. The
currently set colours are shown in the small colour patch, and can be
changed by clicking on the popup menu button to the right. This will
show a standard colour picker dialogue. When a different colour is
chosen, the colour patch will change to reflect the new colour.
The text foreground colour is the colour of the actual text. The
background colour is NOT a complete rectangle behind the text. It is
the colour that is used for the font manager anti-aliasing. By default
this is white. However, if the text is going to be placed on a
coloured background, then the background colour should be set to the
same colour. When the text is over any other colour, then a coloured
fringe will be seen around it due to the anti-aliased pixels. This, of
course, also applies if the background is white, and the text is
placed over a coloured background - the text will have a grey/white
fringe.
Text sizes
The text size settings are shown below.
The base, or normal size of text, can be set in units of point,
changed using the adjuster arrows to the right of the value
The next part of the choices dialogue determines how superscripts
and subscripts are dealt with. There are three options.
If you choose Same as base, then all text is in
the same size, as set by the base font size (see above). The Script
and Script-script fields will be shaded.
If you choose Absolute, then the Script and
Script-script fields will become available. The required sizes are set
using the associated bump arrows. The sizes are set in pt.
Finally you can choose to set the Script and Script-script sizes
as a percentage of the base font size, again using
the bump arrows. The advantage of this setting is that if the base
size is changed, the script sizes change in proportion. Using the
Absolute setting means all three settings need to be
changed.
Also in this part of the dialogue is another setting associated
with super/sub scripts, viz. the line shift used to produce
the super/subscript. This is set as a percentage of the font size.
Something in the region of 30-50% usually is suitable.
Miscellaneous
Clear data on viewer close - if this is ticked,
then closing the window will clear the data, so when the viewer is
reopened it will be blank. If the following option is ticked, a
warning will be issued if the data is unsaved.
Warn when unsaved data - if this is ticked, and
the current data has not been saved, then a warning will be issued
whenever the data is cleared or new data is loaded from file. Note
that saving as a draw file does not count as a 'permanent' save.
The action buttons
At the bottom of the window are four action buttons,
Set, Save, Reload
and Cancel.
Set will apply the choices with immediate effect. Any
changes made will last only until Text>Draw is quit.
Save will apply the choices with immediate
effect, and will also save the settings so they will be reloaded when
Text>Draw is run on another occasion.
Reload is a quick way of reverting to the last
saved settings if you have changed and set some for a particular
pupose.
Cancel will simply close the dialogue, and any
alterations made will be ignored.
