=== modified file 'share/extensions/measure.inx'
--- share/extensions/measure.inx	2014-04-02 19:22:44 +0000
+++ share/extensions/measure.inx	2015-05-31 12:16:23 +0000
@@ -11,11 +11,29 @@
 				<_item msgctxt="measure extension" value="area">Area</_item>
 				<_item msgctxt="measure extension" value="cofm">Center of Mass</_item>
 			</param>
-			<param name="format" type="enum" _gui-text="Text Orientation: ">
-				<_item msgctxt="measure extension" value="textonpath">Text On Path</_item>
-				<_item msgctxt="measure extension" value="angle">Fixed Angle</_item>
+			<param name="format" type="notebook">
+				<page name="textonpath" _gui-text="Text on Path">
+					<param name="startOffset" type="enum" _gui-text="Position along path:">
+						<_item value="0%">Start</_item>
+						<_item value="50%">Middle</_item>
+						<_item value="100%">End</_item>
+						<_item value="custom">Custom</_item>
+					</param>
+					<param name="startOffsetCustom" type="int" appearance="full" min="0" max="100" _gui-text="Custom position (%)">50</param>
+					<param name="anchor" type="enum" _gui-text="Text anchor:">
+						<_item value="start">Left</_item>
+						<_item value="middle">Center</_item>
+						<_item value="end">Right</_item>
+					</param>
+				</page>
+				<page name="fixedtext" _gui-text="Fixed Text">
+					<param name="position" type="enum" _gui-text="Position:">
+						<_item value="start">Start of path</_item>
+						<_item value="center">Center of geom bbox</_item>
+					</param>
+					<param name="angle" type="float" min="-360" max="360" _gui-text="Angle (°):">0</param>
+				</page>
 			</param>
-			<param name="angle" type="float" min="-360" max="360" _gui-text="Angle [with Fixed Angle option only] (°):">0</param>
 			<param name="fontsize" type="int" min="1" max="1000" _gui-text="Font size (px):">12</param>
 			<param name="offset" type="float" min="-10000" max="10000" _gui-text="Offset (px):">-6</param>
 			<param name="precision" type="int" min="0" max="25" _gui-text="Precision:">2</param>

=== modified file 'share/extensions/measure.py'
--- share/extensions/measure.py	2015-05-28 10:59:37 +0000
+++ share/extensions/measure.py	2015-05-31 12:16:23 +0000
@@ -137,6 +137,22 @@
                         action="store", type="string", 
                         dest="format", default="textonpath",
                         help="Text Orientation")
+        self.OptionParser.add_option("--startOffset",
+                        action="store", type="string", 
+                        dest="startOffset", default="0%",
+                        help="Text Offset along Path")
+        self.OptionParser.add_option("--startOffsetCustom",
+                        action="store", type="int", 
+                        dest="startOffsetCustom", default=50,
+                        help="Text Offset along Path")
+        self.OptionParser.add_option("--anchor",
+                        action="store", type="string", 
+                        dest="anchor", default="start",
+                        help="Text Anchor")
+        self.OptionParser.add_option("--position",
+                        action="store", type="string", 
+                        dest="position", default="start",
+                        help="Text Position")
         self.OptionParser.add_option("--angle",
                         action="store", type="float", 
                         dest="angle", default=0,
@@ -199,7 +215,7 @@
                     slengths, stotal = csplength(p)
                     self.group = inkex.etree.SubElement(node.getparent(),inkex.addNS('text','svg'))
                 elif self.options.type == "area":
-                    stotal = csparea(p)*factor*self.options.scale
+                    stotal = abs(csparea(p)*factor*self.options.scale)
                     self.group = inkex.etree.SubElement(node.getparent(),inkex.addNS('text','svg'))
                 else:
                     xc, yc = cspcofm(p)
@@ -209,16 +225,28 @@
                     continue
                 # Format the length as string
                 lenstr = locale.format("%(len)25."+str(prec)+"f",{'len':round(stotal*factor*self.options.scale,prec)}).strip()
-                if self.options.format == 'textonpath':
+                if self.options.format == '"textonpath"':
+                    startOffset = self.options.startOffset
+                    if startOffset == "custom":
+                        startOffset = '{}%'.format(self.options.startOffsetCustom)
                     if self.options.type == "length":
-                        self.addTextOnPath(self.group, 0, 0, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit, id, 'start', '50%', self.options.offset)
+                        self.addTextOnPath(self.group, 0, 0, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit, id, self.options.anchor, startOffset, self.options.offset)
                     else:
-                        self.addTextOnPath(self.group, 0, 0, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit+'^2', id, 'start', '0%', self.options.offset)
+                        self.addTextOnPath(self.group, 0, 0, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit+'^2', id, self.options.anchor, startOffset, self.options.offset)
                 else:
+                    if self.options.position == "start":
+                        tx = p[0][0][1][0]
+                        ty = p[0][0][1][1]
+                        anchor = 'start'
+                    else:
+                        bbox = simpletransform.computeBBox([node])
+                        tx = bbox[0] + (bbox[1] - bbox[0])/2.0
+                        ty = bbox[2] + (bbox[3] - bbox[2])/2.0
+                        anchor = 'middle'
                     if self.options.type == "length":
-                        self.addTextWithTspan(self.group, p[0][0][1][0], p[0][0][1][1], lenstr+' '+self.options.unit, id, 'start', -int(self.options.angle), self.options.offset + self.options.fontsize/2)
+                        self.addTextWithTspan(self.group, tx, ty, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit, id, anchor, -int(self.options.angle), self.options.offset + self.options.fontsize/2)
                     else:
-                        self.addTextWithTspan(self.group, p[0][0][1][0], p[0][0][1][1], lenstr+' '+self.options.unit+'^2', id, 'start', -int(self.options.angle), -self.options.offset + self.options.fontsize/2)
+                        self.addTextWithTspan(self.group, tx, ty, lenstr+' '+self.options.unit+'^2', id, anchor, -int(self.options.angle), -self.options.offset + self.options.fontsize/2)
 
     def addCross(self, node, x, y, scale):
         l = 3*scale         # 3 pixels in document units