Text inside a box
Jeff B
Betatester 🖼️ 39 images Surveyor
I think I know what the answer is going to be but I need to ask. I'm trying to put text inside a polygon on a map I'm doing just like Maidhc O Casain did in his Callum's Curiosity map for the contest. I've read through the tome but it really doesn't say much. I'm guessing that in multi line mode I just have to guess where to put the returns to start a new line to get the text inside the area I want the text to appear, like I did for my contest entry which was only a list and not a couple paragraphs of text.
Is there an easier way to do text?
Comments
Think I figured it out, put the text inside a text file and then have the map open the text file. Way easier to adjust the text to fit into the desired text area.
That DOES sound easier! That bit of my map is actually 4 different multi-line text entries (because a multi-line in CC3+ is limited to a certain number of characters), strung together with a tonne of fiddling with font size, returns, and rewording. That part of the map probably took me longer than any other single bit.
Yes it was still a pain but much easier to edit and adjust the text inside the text file than in the cc3 text editor. As the map I'm working on cannot go into the atlas I'm not worried about the text file but I guess once I have it the way I like it I could just remove the link to the text file and paste the contents of the text file into the multi line text dialog. It should work.
It should work unless you have more text than can fit in a multi-line text entry.
Yes, CC3+'s text handling isn't great unfortunately, in all sorts of respects, but you do get used to its quirkiness after a while.
Unfortunately, multi-line text entries don't allow anything like as much text as you might wish, so in reality, you're better off getting used to what CC3+ is capable of handling by using its text facilities, rather than getting endlessly irritated and frustrated by what it won't easily let you do, and switching to an alternative text editing mechanic.
One trick I've used a few times is to set up a piece of multi-line text, then copy, paste and edit that for the next text segment. That way, you have a text block already on-screen in multi-line format, which gives you a better idea of how long your text lines can be before you need to switch to the next line down, when typing a paragraph. Doesn't always work easily, as most fonts aren't monospaced (= each character occupies the same amount of horizontal space), so that can cause further problems.
Then there's the whole issue of text not staying where you put it at different viewing and rendering resolutions, which is a whole fresh level of "joy and delight" (not!).