Text box problems

[karenadams]

Whenever one of my customers starts typing a text box, the background is automatically black. Also, she is not able to enlarge the textbox - even thought the preferences are set for it to be enlarged.

She has tried to take the black background off through the text edit box, but it keeps automatically putting a black background on the text.

Build 117 on Leopard - is this a known problem? :(:(

[JanP]

Hi Karen,

I don't have leopard, I am using Tiger. When I opened a text box I had the same problem. It showed a black background and wouldn't let me change it. This is due to a default setting in Preferences.

If you open Preferences and look under Flipchart Objects you will see at the bottom that under Background Colour to Use when Editing Text Objects the option for Other Colour is selected and the colour is black. This needs to be changed to Page Colour and then it works as normal. Save the changes and then things work as they should.

As to not being able to resize the text box mine resized fine. But as I said I am using Tiger (but don't think this should make a difference!).

Janice

[karenadams]

Thanks so much Janice. I will pass on this info to her. We were playing around with it today and I didn't realize that was a preference.

Much thanks and love to my Scottish friend [clap][clap]
Karen

[scaulfield]

Yes, for some reason, when you install AS on the Mac side, the pref for text box background is set to black as the default. So it needs to be one of the first things you change when you install the software.

[JanP]

Glad I could help Karen. I am just about the only TLA in the UK that deals with Macs on a regular basis so it is nice to get to share with my American friends!

Janice

[karenadams]

I appreciate you and Scott's help. Texas is Dell country so we don't have as many Mac districts.
Thanks again,
Karen

[ictfacilitator]

Thanks this one helped me to. I am now putting together a list of the default changes for Mac: Here is my starter:
Setup Improvements
Change in Preferences
Flipchart Objects “Background color to use when editing text object” set to Page Color
Linked File Hosting: Turn off Web Shockwave and Video
Profile and Resources: Change Shared Docs to the group shared folder on the network (we are using this to get sharing of charts really going)

[jepatton]

Here are some other Preference changes that most of our users have found to be helpful:

Design Mode: Check all of the boxes except (perhaps) Ignore Grid snapping. I leave this one unchecked because I want to see the effects of Grid snapping in Design mode, and you can override grid snapping by moving the object with the freely move handle (the one with the cross).
Flipchart: If your users are working on widescreen laptops, you may want to change the Default Page Preferences to Page Size of 1024 x 768. This is the size of the board. You may also want to uncheck Show new flipchart when Activstudio starts. (It's easy to click on the show/hide flipchart button in the Main Toolbox, which opens a new flipchart if there isn't one already open.)
General: Uncheck Show Object Tags. If this box is checked, every time the mouse (or pen) hovers over any object on the flipchart page, the object's name will be displayed. This can be very annoying. Also, I uncheck Save Autorecovery every: ... If you're working on a large flipchart, the Autorecovery can also be very annoying, as it can take quite a while. Of course, if your users aren't in the habit of frequently saving, they can lose their work if Activstudio crashes.
Linked File Hosting: I also uncheck Show Sound Controller and PDF Documents. The cound controller parks itself right in the middle of the page, and the Activstudio PDF reader sometimes won't open a PDF document.
Tools: I would set the Dice Speed to something near the right side of the slider - but not all the way. At the default dice speed, the dice roll very sloooooooooooooowly. If you set it all the way to the right, they don't roll at all; they just appear.

I have other preference settings that I like, but the ones I've shown above were pretty universally adopted by the 70 people we've trained so far this summer. :):)

[kbogner]

I would add two others to June's list.

The default tool when the Mac software is opened is set to be the Pen Tool. For those used to having the Marquee Select Tool when the software launched, this can be frustrating. You can change this in Preferences.

In Design Mode Preferences, leave the check box next to the Drag a Copy setting un-checked. This turns it off in both modes.

Kathy Bogner
Professional Development

[jepatton]

I would add two others to June's list.

The default tool when the Mac software is opened is set to be the Pen Tool. For those used to having the Marquee Select Tool when the software launched, this can be frustrating. You can change this in Preferences.

I completely agree - we also suggest that to our users.

In Design Mode Preferences, leave the check box next to the Drag a Copy setting un-checked. This turns it off in both modes. Kathy, I just looked at this one, and I"m pretty sure that checking the box next to Drag a Copy turns it off in both modes.....

[kbogner]

Thanks for the clarification, June. Leave Drag a Copy unchecked in Design Mode Preferences.

Kathy Bogner
Professional Development

[bpeskin]

To add to the excellent lists of settings, preferences folks are suggesting -- when I install and get someone started, I hit the show/hide menu bar icon so the menu bar shows.

(also please next mac version can you turn off that black background automatic on text -- it was really a pain! and I know first hand you suffer through fixing it for a while before you figure out it's not you but a setting.... :-))

[ictfacilitator]

See new thread I have just setup for this also on "Best setup/defaults for Mac installs."

[scaulfield]

June - Thanks for your list of preference suggestions. Great tips.

[jepatton]

You're welcome! I'm glad they were helpful!:):):)