text spacing issue

[mc_peko]

Quite strange that some have this issue and others not.

I don't have this problem in Notepad, Word or UltraEdit for instance, no.

Also the problem is present on both my computers.

[DPainter]

It seam I was in correct. The OP didn't say the version being used.
The second post that had the image however did.
So using x7 I get the same issue but only when I use Central, anti-alias off. Sharp and smooth are fine and left and right are fine.
My x7 has the SP1 installed just on a word of note.

So for me as well, There is a issue with the text in x7, Central, anti-alias off.

[hartpaul]

Aha Eureka. I got it. And it does work with larger sizes.
So copied the words :

ace ace ace
lead lead lead
to the clipboard.
On a transparent document, chose Text tool, set size to 20 pixels, centre justification and antialias off.

Pasted the words. All OK.
Applied and then had the bounding box. Moving with the mouse, no change in letters, they move as a group.
Then clicked the move spot in the middle to make that active and moved with the arrow keys and watched in one case the c bounce back and forward between the a and e, closer to one then close to the other as they moved and the a was retarded or advanced.
In the other case it was the a between the e and d in lead and then the e between the r and h in frehley.
I did discover though that if you hold the control key down so they move I think 10 at a time then it keeps them together. So it is the 1 pixel moves that cause the problem.

[mc_peko]

DPainter: You mean you have SP2 on X6 right? Latest X7 is SP1.

hartpaul: You're certainly on to something there. I can reproduce what you wrote here. Moving with mouse does not mess with the kerning. Neither does up and down arrows on keyboard, logically. The kerning is messed up already as I type or paste. Do not need to get the bounding box on before that happens. I'm reading, testing and thinking more to see if there's some other information I've left out.

[hartpaul]

Well something else new.
I used the letters
aaaaaabaaa

Text tool, centre justification and antialias off.
Pasted the letter grouping and applied. Switched to Move tool clicked the letters and then used the arrow keys

Text size 11, 12, 14 , 20, 30 no problems.
Unlucky 13
Well it looked like a caterpillar moving across the screen. Can you find any other letter sizes it does this consistently with?

[mc_peko]

I did, just now, actually get a couple of words to have perfect kerning at size 12 and 11, and even keep it when moving with the arrow keys. 13 does seem to be worse than other sizes. Still have the problem with all sizes though, but not with all words everywhere. A white-space or dot for instance can make or brake the kerning. I'm looking for a pattern, but not finding it. I'm considering changing from 13 to 12 on the project I'm working on. I've tried that before, and then it seemed to not help at all. Now it seems to help a little.

[hartpaul]

How about using a smaller or larger size and moving to where you want it and then converting it back to 13 pixels in size when no more movement is required.
Or as someone has suggested perhaps doubling the size of your project and when finished resizing back down. I suspect that at 13 pixels there may be something to do with the pixels making up the font that would place letters on a 1/2 pixel position and so it stays behind in one move and jumps ahead 2 positions in the next step.
I remember back in PSP8 that I had some problems making a crop exactly where I wanted it and nudging the crop a couple of pixels one way or the other made the difference. Of course may be unrelated.
Try setting your pixel size to 5, and typing in some aaaa s and then 6, and then 7 pixels up to 13 and then 20 and 30 and you may see that you are working near the limit of showing actual letters.
For me the letter a is unrecognisable below 8 pixels. You are close to the limit of displaying text properly.

Is there any reason for you wanting to use pixel dimensions so small?

[DPainter]

I tried this in x6 first. Not knowing the OP's version. It was fine. No issues showed up.
But in x7 it did. So there's a problem with x7. Why is a good question considering it's fine in x6.
It is up to Coral to fix this.
Most of us (reading posts through the forum) have more then just x7 installed. I'd suggest you use a earlier version for this. It seams to be only the Central, anti-alias off that has this issue.

There is a simple work around to reset the letters.
In text tool, Highlight the letter in front of the one that is too far away or too close. Use the kerning (top right) to adjust - +. The letters "after" the one highlighted will move as one so start from left to right as you adjust them. You'll find this once you get the idea very quick and easy to do.
Not that you should have to do anything this way will help you quick and easy.

[mc_peko]

Time for me to catch up. You are very dedicated and kind.

I need to use 12 or 13 simply because I want standard size small text. You know, text for reading, not a heading or logo. Like the text on this and most web-sites. 10 and 12 are very standard.

The project I'm working on is 600 DPI, and measures 40" x 24". Here we go: http://flamencopeko.net/kiss.

The problem is not new to X7. It has been around as far as I can remember.

Adjusting kerning for individual letters is a very interesting idea. Default seems to be 0. One keyboard-arrow-down-click sets it to -25. This seems to do the trick perfectly in many cases! And makes the result at least better in other cases. Adjusting kerning to other values to get it as right as possible does not always work as expected. Very often the new value isn't reflected at all.

Thank you so very much DPainter and hartpaul.

Everyone at Corel: This is just an awesome workaround. The bug must be addressed. It is a bug. And the text tool in general is just crazy. For instance selecting multiple text-fields and change properties is a must have.

[mc_peko]

I'm actually implementing this kerning workaround throughout the whole project. As you can see it's kinda on the not very normal side of things to begin with.

When a text field has been "fixed" it stays fixed when moving around with arrow keys too. So yes, this actually works. For now I'm sticking to 0 and -25 as the only values. Also when changing size down to 12 after the fix, it's still good.

UPDATE: For other people using this fix: Always start at top left. It's often the first letter that messes up the kerning for the whole line, and sometimes it will even fix the next line. Use keyboard keys K and S to toggle the bounding box on and off. The bounding box's center circle hides what's happening in the very middle of the field.

UPDATE 2: Copying formatted text from one text-field to another is sadly not possible.

[mc_peko]

Hi again. Incredibly the kerning bug isn't fixed in X9 either. Does someone here even know the bug id# ? There is one cool improvement to text functionality though. We can now change properties for a whole text block, without entering it. Used to be possible only for changing color. So I'm happy about that. Also, respect to Pavan Pique, for swiftly responding to my early micro-review of X9 at my own Facebook page.

[mc_peko]

I've now supplied Paul Gaudaur of the Level 2 team for PaintShop Pro with a video I made and the .PSPIMAGE file used in the video. Progress.

[mc_peko]

Fantastic. 19.0.1.8 is out, with two text issues as main fixes. And still no fix for the kerning. http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=60139

[TimW]

Just for reference & not meaning to be anal, I noticed everyone referred to text sizing in pixels. Text sizes are measured in points not pixels. In the old days when point sizes really meant a physical measure of text height, 1 inch high was 72 points so 12 point text would be 1/6 of an inch high on paper. Of course the actual resolution of your monitor screen plus any zooming will show the actual height visually different, but should print properly. I hope this adds some clarity.

[JoeB]

Just for reference & not meaning to be anal, I noticed everyone referred to text sizing in pixels. Text sizes are measured in points not pixels. In the old days when point sizes really meant a physical measure of text height, 1 inch high was 72 points so 12 point text would be 1/6 of an inch high on paper. Of course the actual resolution of your monitor screen plus any zooming will show the actual height visually different, but should print properly. I hope this adds some clarity.

Actually, it depends on the context, which is why PSP has the option to set your text in pixels or points. Points is the measure for print purposes. Pixels are used in the digital environment when you want to set the text pixel size relative to the pixel size of the digital image elements.