Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 6: Creating Graphics with StarDraw |
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Most drawings include text of some sort that labels or explains the drawing. StarDraw images are not intended to be used for newsletters or other text-heavy projects (although it's certainly possible to use StarDraw for such purposes). Nevertheless, StarDraw includes many text manipulation options.
To add text to a drawing, choose the text tool from the Main toolbar (with a large T on the icon) and click the location in the drawing at which you want the text placed. Then start typing:
To finish entering text, click the mouse somewhere outside of the text field in which you're typing.
To edit the text that you've entered, choose the Text tool again and click on a text field that you've previously typed in. Or just double-click on the text that you've entered using the select tool.
Text in a StarDraw image is not paragraph-oriented. Each line comprises a separate object, each of which can be modified individually (however, you can also modify several objects at the same time by selecting them all before choosing an option).
Enter two lines of text in your sample drawing, as shown in Figure 6.10.
Figure
6.10
Text
objects can be added to any drawing with the Text tool. Text can then be
modified as needed.
After entering the text, select and drag the text objects to the exact position in which you want them.
Now you can modify the text in several ways. To begin, you need to select the text object to be edited, and then select all the text in the object (so that it's all blocked out in black).
With a block of text selected, the Object toolbar changes to display options similar to those you use when you work with text documents: font, type size, alignment, bold or italic, and so on.
You can choose a new font and size to make the type look right. This can be done from the drop-down lists in the Object toolbar, or by choosing Character from the Format menu.
Your revised drawing, with text, is shown in Figure 6.11.
Figure
6.11
You
can format text objects for font, type style, and size, and then position them
by dragging them to the precise location that you choose.
Tip - You can also try the Fontworks item under the Format menu to flow text around curves and objects; or try the Text Animation tab (choose Text from the Format menu). |
Caution - You'll find some items in StarDraw that refer to OLE objects--ignore them. They are left over from the conversion of StarOffice from Windows to Linux (the two versions are identical). |
StarDraw is an impressive, full featured drawing program comparable to CorelDRAW. There is not time here to even mention many of the useful or fun features that StarDraw provides. To continue exploring StarDraw, draw some basic objects and see what features are available on the Edit, Insert, Format, Tools, and Modify menus.
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 6: Creating Graphics with StarDraw |
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