File under urgent need — is there a way to flow text between multiple text boxes? I hope so, and that I am daft and missing it.
The whole point of a TextBox (or text inside a Shape), is to constrain the text to that area, and to allow text Properties to be set for that area.
I don’t understand how one could “flow” text between multiple TextBoxes (an example diagram might help). If such a facility were to be provided, additional Tools would also need to be provided.
Cheers
I think the pattern in mind may be that of DTP packages, where overflow from one box is given a home in a linked follow-up box.
I suppose it could be scripted in terms of the omniJS interface, but not trivial, I think, to get it right.
I’m hoping to use OG for a multi-page document with text that flows from page to page. I’d like to have organic flow rather than forcing end of paragraphs to align to the bottom of the page — or worse, manually breaking chunks to fall on the next page.
Perhaps you could do the graphics in OmniGraffle, and the text-flow work with linked text boxes in something like Apple’s Pages ?
That is a function of a Word Processor (such as Pages). OmniGraffle is a drawing tool.
I have created documents in OG, that have [I think] what you are seeking. It is chunking, but it is not as ugly as you describe.
- Put the entire text in a single TextBox, and one Canvas
- set the width of the TextBox for the page, etc
- (yes, it will overflow vertically)
- set the Canvas up for the desired page size, etc
- set a Footer or Header with page numbering
- Duplicate the Canvas as many times as you need pages
- On each Canvas:
- Select the paragraphs at the top and bottom that do not belong on that page (Canvas)
- Remove it
Here is an example, of a multi-page article (in the original web page) reduced to two pages in facing-page format. I can produce this kind of doc in OG much faster than in Pages.
Cheers
Useful comments, draft8.
That really should be a Feature Request for OG.
Cheers
I’ve done something similar, but not with these results. Cheers for what you did here. My background is design, which is why I want to do the drawing and the text, naturally. Here’s something ridiculous I did in OG I’m still pushing.
OG is very close to being so much more.
Thanks.
Looks like an interesting game.
No kidding. It could be so much more. I have tried to communicate that, but Ken does not appreciate it.
Eg. Using an awk script, I used to extract Shape info from an OG4 file that contained a formal Data Model, and produce SQL DDL. But with OG5 they changed the record filing system that they use for the OG file (instead of a database), and extraction is no longer feasible.
Cheers
I understood that part :).
