text blocks on new release for MAC?

[cappy]

So excited to have the new release! Mac users have sticky notes now too! Yay! I have a problem, though. Maybe it's a bug or maybe it's me. When I click on text blocks in an attempt to edit them, their backgrounds keep changing to black. Though the check box for background appears unchecked, the background shows black, making the black text and the black background an imposing black rectangle on my page (see jpg attached. All I have on this page is a single text block). I can check the box and then uncheck the box to get the transparent background back but I was hoping not to have to go through the extra steps each time. Could anyone duplicate this issue to confirm that this is indeed a bug so I can quit trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong?

[jepatton]

Hi Cappy --

Did you create the text box in 3.0 or 3.6? I tried it both ways. First I created a text box in 3.0 (also in 40 point Palatino in black) and then I opened it in 3.6 (I have both installed on my machine, for reasons I'll explain in a minute.) Then I created a text box in a flipchart in 3.6, also in 40 point Palatino black. I couldn't duplicate what you found with either one, whether I tried to edit the text boxes immediately, or exited and reopened Activstudio and tried to edit them then.

I have a different text problem that perhaps you could look at. I'm a math teacher, so I use a lot of symbols, whether from the Activstudio symbol palette, the keyboard, or the Apple character palette. I noticed when I opened a flipchart that I made with 3.0 with symbols in the text boxes, that text boxes with certain symbols in them would simply disappear. More troubling, when I made text boxes with those symbols in 3.6, saved and exited, and tried to reopen the flipchart with 3.6, the software hangs, and won't open at all. When I try to open the very same flipchart in 3.0, it opens just fine.

So, I made a couple of flipcharts. The first is a flipchart with a bunch of individual text boxes, each with one symbol in it. They're in three groups. Right next to each group is a picture of the text objects as they appeared in V3.0. When I open that flipchart in 3.6, about 40% of the symbols simply aren't there. I've attached a screen shot so you can see what I'm talking about.

When I made that flipchart in 3.6, it wouldn't open at all in 3.6, but opened just fine in 3.0.

Has anyone else noticed this with symbols?

[flamingc]

Cappy,
This also happend to me also. I was so excited to not crash all the time that I excepted that it was going to be that way until I thought about going into the ActivStudio Preferences. I think this is what I did to correct the text box going black;

1)Go to ActivStudio Preferences
2)Choose Flipchart Objects
3)Look at "Background color to use when editing text" and change to Page Color"

Not sure if that will work for you but I think that is what made the difference for me.

Cheryl:-/

[cappy]

Yes! I found the preferences too! I was just about to post a reply! This works for me as well! Thanks so much!

As for JEPatton's problem with symbols, I was able to replicate the issue with 3.6. (FYI I'm only running 10.4.11, not Leopard.) I made a flp that had text blocks with symbols from the AS symbol palette on the third page only. I could launch the flp but I got the spinning beach ball of death when I tried to turn from page two to page three where the text blocks with symbols were.

Then I made another flp using symbols from the mac keyboard. As long as I needed no more than the shift key to create the symbols, the flp opened and displayed properly. However, when I went back to add some symbols that require the option key, the flp opened but changed the option key symbols, obviously still a problem. Maybe someone else can chime in here!

I don't have 3.0 installed any longer so I can't test that.

Everybody, thanks for your help!

[meyers-sam]

I , too, have a problem with symbols. I have a macbook 10.4.11 running studio 3.6. When I insert a symbol from the text edit box, save it, and reopen it, the symbols change to something else (pi goes to 1, radical goes to 2a). When I open the edit box to fix it, it fixes itself and goes back to the pi and radical. Anyone find a fix yet? It's nice that the sub and superscripts are finally fixed!!

[jepatton]

I hope they find one soon. Since I'm a math teacher, I've gone back to running 3.0 :mad:

[magistra]

I'm a language teacher and having the same problems with accents. I finally uninstalled the update.


Michelle Vitt

[cappy]

Could someone in on the "inside" give us an idea when a patch for Mac 3.6.114 might be available? I'm a Spanish teacher who needs the special characters but I love having stickies too. I'm trying to decide whether to revert to the previous edition as others have done. Even if it's going to be six months, knowing the time frame would be very helpful!

Thanks!

[Peter Lambert]

Hi Cappy,
Its available now. Go to your dashboard and click check for update. This patch fixes the text problem with accents etc.

[meyers-sam]

It looks like this update is finally fixing the text/symbol issues. I've only tried it for a day, but it looks good so far and now I will feel more comfortable encouraging others to update. Thanks!

[cappy]

Thanks so much, Peter! I'm good to go! I went back to the flipcharts I had created prior to the patch and with the text tool open, I clicked on all the text blocks that had special characters. They instantly showed the correct characters and, with the patch installed, I had NO trouble saving the textblocks as they had been created.

Thank you for being SO responsive to our pleas!

[Peter Lambert]

When we can, we will!