Can't change font styles like before

[Piano mom]

I have been using Inkscape for over a year now. In this latest version when I type dialog and then try to change the font style on the left of the screen, instead of the "text box" it will not let me do anything at all. It is like it locks up. I can't select a font and then type either, it will only type in one font. In changing the typing I have to go in the text box/. This wouldn't be so bad but the font styles all show up the same and won't reflect what the actual text style looks like unless I click on the actual text. This is timely. It also is not registering all of the fonts I have loaded in Windows, where it has in earlier versions.

I look forward to your response.

Thanks
Denise

[Piano mom (dmschaef)]

I would like a better explaination than that please. Why the change? By having this changed it has now quadrupled my work time. By using the font list on the left I am able to scan through the desired fonts easily and quickly in designing projects for my clients--for my business. By having to use the text box only now, I have to click on the font to even see what it looks like. Time is money and that feature isn't helpful.

I again look forward to your response
Denise

----- Original Message ----
From: Piano mom <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:18:40 PM
Subject: [Bug 218502] [NEW] Can't change font styles like before

Public bug reported:

I have been using Inkscape for over a year now. In this latest version
when I type dialog and then try to change the font style on the left of
the screen, instead of the "text box" it will not let me do anything at
all. It is like it locks up. I can't select a font and then type either,
it will only type in one font. In changing the typing I have to go in
the text box/. This wouldn't be so bad but the font styles all show up
the same and won't reflect what the actual text style looks like unless
I click on the actual text. This is timely. It also is not registering
all of the fonts I have loaded in Windows, where it has in earlier
versions.

I look forward to your response.

Thanks
Denise

** Affects: inkscape
    Importance: Undecided
        Status: New

--
Can't change font styles like before
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/218502
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in Inkscape: A Vector Drawing Tool: New

Bug description:
I have been using Inkscape for over a year now. In this latest version when I type dialog and then try to change the font style on the left of the screen, instead of the "text box" it will not let me do anything at all. It is like it locks up. I can't select a font and then type either, it will only type in one font. In changing the typing I have to go in the text box/. This wouldn't be so bad but the font styles all show up the same and won't reflect what the actual text style looks like unless I click on the actual text. This is timely. It also is not registering all of the fonts I have loaded in Windows, where it has in earlier versions.

I look forward to your response.

Thanks
Denise

      ____________________________________________________________________________________
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[Piano mom (dmschaef)]

I responded to the original response but the email I think I recieved back had no additional information. I am just trying to understand the change in this feature. If I realized there was a really great reason maybe I wouldn't feel so frustrated right now. If there is some way to have this feature re-instated I would love that even more. I have really loved this product and I am hoping that I can continue using it as easily as before. I depend on it.

Awaiting a reply
Denise

[Rygle (rygle)]

Hi Denise,

Thanks for filing a bug report. Please note that bugs sometimes take a while to be looked at. Since you sound really frustrated, let me remind you that the old version (0.45.1) is still available from the sourceforge download page - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=93438&package_id=99112 - if this still has most of the features you want, but you occasionally want to use a 0.46 feature, you can normally install both on the same machine.

Now to your problem. Sounds like you are trying to use the drop down font menu on the top left, rather than click on the T on the top bar to open the Text and Font properties dialogue, as the latter takes more time. It sounds like the drop down font selection menu is not coming up for you. Is that correct?

I find that using 0.46 the font menu drops down and I can see the font previews. Can you do that much? Note: you need to click on the arrow just to the right of the presently used font name, just to the left of the font size selector.
I do find that the menu kind of locks in the down position after I select a font. I find the pressing Enter will then dismiss the menu.

If my description doesn't sound like your problem, then please explain your problem a little more.

[Piano mom (dmschaef)]

Thank you so much for responding to me. I can get the listing of fonts (from clicking on the down arrow next to the font style listed), I can even scroll through the types of fonts but once I click on a font to either type with or to change my text with--it does nothing. Where as before I would click on the desired font and it would change what ever I had highlighted, etc. Changing the font style in the text box wouldn't be so bad except I don't see what the font style looks like without "clicking" through each font. I design vinyl work for people and when I used the font window on the left side of the screen I could scan a large group of fonts all at once looking for what was needed. The other way has just complicated my work. I am glad to know that I can re-down load the other version. And yes I can have both on the computer. I do look forward to using .46 also, but .45.1 is so much easier at this point. Do you know if this is a glich or a change in
 features? I look forward to hearing back.

Sincerely
Denise

----- Original Message ----
From: Rygle <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:24:28 PM
Subject: [Bug 218502] Re: Can't change font styles like before

Hi Denise,

Thanks for filing a bug report. Please note that bugs sometimes take a
while to be looked at. Since you sound really frustrated, let me remind
you that the old version (0.45.1) is still available from the
sourceforge download page -
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=93438&package_id=99112
- if this still has most of the features you want, but you occasionally
want to use a 0.46 feature, you can normally install both on the same
machine.

Now to your problem. Sounds like you are trying to use the drop down
font menu on the top left, rather than click on the T on the top bar to
open the Text and Font properties dialogue, as the latter takes more
time. It sounds like the drop down font selection menu is not coming up
for you. Is that correct?

I find that using 0.46 the font menu drops down and I can see the font previews. Can you do that much? Note: you need to click on the arrow just to the right of the presently used font name, just to the left of the font size selector.
I do find that the menu kind of locks in the down position after I select a font. I find the pressing Enter will then dismiss the menu.

If my description doesn't sound like your problem, then please explain
your problem a little more.

** Tags added: fonts win32

--
Can't change font styles like before
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/218502
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in Inkscape: A Vector Drawing Tool: New

Bug description:
I have been using Inkscape for over a year now. In this latest version when I type dialog and then try to change the font style on the left of the screen, instead of the "text box" it will not let me do anything at all. It is like it locks up. I can't select a font and then type either, it will only type in one font. In changing the typing I have to go in the text box/. This wouldn't be so bad but the font styles all show up the same and won't reflect what the act...

[Rygle (rygle)]

Hi Denise,

This definitely sounds like a glitch. To clarify, is your problem;
* you can see the drop down list with the font names, but no preview?
* you can see the drop down list with the font names, but no preview until you click on the font name?
* you can see the drop down list with the font names and preview, but nothing happens when you click on the font name? (if this, have you tried just hitting enter?)

You might also like to try downloading a development version of Inkscape to see if that works better. Just yesterday a change was made to pango, the helper program that handles fonts in Inkscape, however I think this is more of a menu problem. Anyway, it's worth trying the latest development version snapshot from here - http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/?C=M;O=D (not the one that says dbg near the end, but the latest dated version named like Inkscape0804171843.7z)

You will need to unzip that and run it from the directory where you unzipped it - you may need the 7zip unzip program from here - http://www.7-zip.org. Let us know what happens.

[Mercury (mercury13)]

May I jump in?

WHEN NO TEXT IS SELECTED:
Click on drop-down doesn't work. Enter seemingly works, but when I start typing, it reverts to the previous typeface.

WHEN TSPAN w/o SPECIFIED FONT IS SELECTED:
When I click the drop-down, it reverts to the previous one.

WHEN TSPAN WITH SPECIFIED FONT IS SELECTED:
It works, but the drop-down scrolls and current font becomes away from cursor, this is non-intuitive.

0.46, WinXP SP2.

[Mercury (mercury13)]

I've written a plausible cause of this bug => changing to Critical.

[Mercury (mercury13)]

P.S. When multiple typefaces are selected, it works like TSPAN *with* specified font.

[Marcin Floryan (mfloryan)]

I believe this is all around the bug #168320 issue.

[Rygle (rygle)]

Mercury/Marcin - glad you did jump in.

This does sound the same as the later issues in 168320, but that bug also contains a lot of other stuff, so it might confuse things to mark this as a simple duplicate.

I've found that if I type some text, then highlight and then select the font from the drop down menu, it does change it properly, but on the whole I agree with Mercury's diagnosis above.

Should someone milestone this for 0.46.1?

[Piano mom (dmschaef)]

I am very appreciative for everyone jumping in on this. Thanks!!!!! I didn't understand everything that was mentioned (TSPAN) but I think the gist of it is that on the next update hopefully the bug will be fixed. Is that correct?

I look forward to updates.
Denise

----- Original Message ----
From: Rygle <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 5:03:51 AM
Subject: [Bug 218502] Re: Can't change font styles like before

Mercury/Marcin - glad you did jump in.

This does sound the same as the later issues in 168320, but that bug
also contains a lot of other stuff, so it might confuse things to mark
this as a simple duplicate.

I've found that if I type some text, then highlight and then select the
font from the drop down menu, it does change it properly, but on the
whole I agree with Mercury's diagnosis above.

Should someone milestone this for 0.46.1?

--
Can't change font styles like before
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/218502
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in Inkscape: A Vector Drawing Tool: Confirmed

Bug description:
I have been using Inkscape for over a year now. In this latest version when I type dialog and then try to change the font style on the left of the screen, instead of the "text box" it will not let me do anything at all. It is like it locks up. I can't select a font and then type either, it will only type in one font. In changing the typing I have to go in the text box/. This wouldn't be so bad but the font styles all show up the same and won't reflect what the actual text style looks like unless I click on the actual text. This is timely. It also is not registering all of the fonts I have loaded in Windows, where it has in earlier versions.

I look forward to your response.

Thanks
Denise

      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Rygle (rygle)]

Hi Denise. Yes, milestoning this for 0.46.1 means we're indicating that it is a bug in an existing feature that needs to be fixed for the next mini-release. New features will come in the 0.47 release, but this isn't classed as new.

Having said that, this bug may still not be fixed for a while. Some of us have helped diagnose what your problem is, but not all of us are able to fix the problem. It really needs someone who knows the ins and outs of that part of Inkscape. Hopefully the 0.46.1 release will come out in a few months with this fix. But it will probably be fixed before then in the development version, so check back here every now and then and if you see that it's been fixed, try the newest development version (see my previous post). In the meantime, I hope you are still able to use 0.45.1 - even if you need some features from 0.46, you should be able to use it as needed, and 0.45.1 as needed.

I hope this helps - PS: When replying to bugs, it's probably best to delete all the text from previous replies. No big deal, it just reduces confusion.

[Mercury (mercury13)]

Piano Mom,
to see what is TSPAN click "Edit -> XML Editor".
A single text object consists of one or several nested TSPANS.

[Ian Caldwell (inc-inc-omplete)]

I'm on vista and am having this same issue of not being able to select a font at all it just stays the same when I select one from the drop down menu.

[Ian Caldwell (inc-inc-omplete)]

I also get this bug..... dunno if it should be separate or not but I get this weird "!" mark right before the 144 see in the screenshot here..
http://shup.com/Shup/37603/108321213250-New-document-4-Inkscape.png
and also the white box for 144 seems to always be overlapping.

[Bheku (bheku7)]

To Denise,

I have the same problem and I was at a loss because I love Inkscape so. If you are familiar with XML, select the text you want to cha ge. Bring up the XML editor (Shift + Control + X). You should see. You're interested in the attribute called "style" which you can find in the bottom left input box. Replace the font name with the font name you desire and it chages.

It's not pretty but it seems to work on my side. WinXP SP2

[eccie (eccief)]

Hi All,

I believe I've found a solution/workaround to this problem...

Do the following:

1. Select your text and make it BOLD using the button on the toolbar.
2. Now you can change the font and the size of the font...
3. Change your text back to REGULAR.

DONE

[Fresh Fish (twstuff)]

Hi all,

I have ran into the same problem. I can use the Text and Font dialog box to change fonts, but the drop down menu does not work. The only font the drop down menu will use is 'Sans'.
My loss of using the drop down menu seems to have started after I installed and used the ClearType Tuning wizard and changed my system font.
I have Windows XP Home Service Pack 3.

I found by installing Windows Live Mail it would install Windows Vista ClearType Fonts. I installed the Windows Live Mail and yes, the fonts were installed. I used the wizard to turn on ClearType and then went to display properties/appear /advanced and changed the system font to a ClearType.
So..
1. I ran Inkscape. The ClearType system font did not show up. It used a smaller font for the menu bars and such.
2. Gimp would crash. The crash occurred at the splash screen.
3. OpenOffice worked just fine. It had no problems with the new fonts.

Plus:
1. I had installed Linotype FontExplorer X Beta for Windows. (note: early on before all this I had used The Font Thing and had some problems with a bug with the NTFS format and time stamps, but no problesm with Inkscape)
2. I uninstalled FontExplorer, Inkscape and Gimp.
3. Reinstalled Gimp and Inkscape.
4. Gimp was fixed. Dropdown menu in Inkscape still did not work, but the system font had changed to the ClearType font.

I then turned off the use of ClearType by using the wizard and then changed the fonts for the system to their default fonts, but no change with Inkscape. The ClearType fonts are still in the windows/font folder.

I probably forgot some step in there and of course there are the extra things of registry cleaning and this and that. Hopefully this will help, unless the fix is somewhere on the forums and I did not know it.

[Wagner de Queiroz (wagnerdequeiroz)]

Hello folks.

My name is Wagner de Queiroz and I´m running the Inkscape 0.46 in Windows XP Professional on acer 5050-3284 Turion64.

I found now this bug named #218502..

when I chose the Font tool in the left toolbar I have in the bar fonts the font named Sans selected. When I click in Bold or Italic buttons, I have no change.
If I try to change the font in dropDown font lists I can See the preview and names of fonts ok. But when I select text and try change the font there not change.

When I press Ctrl + Alt + F dialog its normal to change the same text. Its Very strange this. Sometimes the Fonts DropDown works another times not. (I select text before use the Fonts DropDown in the F8 tool.

[Wagner de Queiroz (wagnerdequeiroz)]

Maybe I solve the problem with this solution:

Question #33771 in Inkscape

I install the Bitstream Vera Sans font in C:\Windows\Fonts and the problem is over.

https://answers.launchpad.net/inkscape/+question/33771

Look this answer:

I had this problem before. In my case, it was because the default font, Bitstream Vera Sans, was missing from the system.

Check your installed fonts. If you don't have Bitstream Vera Sans, you can download the Bitstream font set at http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/

[Dominic (don-gee)]

This didn't solve the problem on my machine. The selection functionality seems to be activated, if I change the font in the font selection dialog over the long and inconvenient way over "Text" menu.

If I set another font as default and try to make a new text field and change the font in the short way, the problem is further on holding. In Inkscape 0.44, the Sans font selection didn't bring up any problems.

[Magnon (sonoftheking)]

WOOHOO!

Thanks Wagner de Queiroz, that solved the problem for me too

This is what I did:
1. downloaded ttf-bitstream-vera-1.10.zip from http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/
http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/ttf-bitstream-vera-1.10.zip
2. Unzipped it
3. Copied all the .ttf files into %SYSTEMROOT%\Fonts (this is C:\WINDOWS\Fonts on my machine)
4. Restart Inkscape... and Voila! it works :-)

-Magnon

[khiraly (khiraly123)]

It solved for me too.

Instead to plain copy to the windows\fonts directory, is more convenient (safe) to install through:
Control panel->Fonts->File->Install new font

And select the folder with bitstream vera.

Now the dropdown list works, I can click on several font, it changes the face to this selected font,
but the dropdown list does not disappear. I need to hit either ENTER, or click on the dropdown flash again.

I tested with:
0.46 and
http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/Inkscape19594-0808061640.7z
too.

Other workaround: use the font dialog in inkscape (the "T" button in the toolbar) it works like a charm.

system: windows xp sp2 and updates.

[Ulferikson (ulferikson)]

Isn't this bug the same as the much older bugs:

Bug 168320 (sf1653924): References to non-installed fonts break text toolbar (can't change font; font size display errors)

Bug 168161 (sf1618490): font name dropdown steals focus, doesn't close after selection is made

I see that this bug has been milestoned.. How is the progress going? Installing a new font shouldn't be needed, but both Inkscape and GTK seems to assume a default font named "Sans". On Windows the current default sans-serif font is "Tahoma".

[Kuenstler (hans-juergen-stoffels)]

I just got the program and tested it. As a Corel user since version 2 (now using X4) I am used to such a prorgam. It is a good one for common use, but there is a bug, I guess. For it is the font list at the left? To choose a font exact? So, as in Corel, I mark a part or the whole sentence and then choose a font, but clicking to a fond does nothing at all!!!!!! No, not any of them. It may be for me using Vista. Maybe. Then I found here the suggestion to us Ctrl, Shift + T and the Textbox comes up. I can choose a fond there, but blind as in the Adobe software for so long (illustrator etc. - how boring!), but in here it works and after that box clicking on the fonds leftside works either. But then marking another part of the sentence, to mark a diferent word, does leave the list standing there like a little girl whose expression says: "I won't do anything, no!"

So there is something severely wrong with this program and its use of fonts. Maybe under Vista.

Regards Hans
Graphical Artist

[landarchgirl (sdonovan-96)]

Hi I'm an inkscape user, I was using it on XP, but I just started using it under vista. I had the same problem (the text scroll bar on the left was giving me trouble, though ctrl +shift+ t was working, but the text scroll bar is much easier). The default font was "sans" and wasn't letting me change it to any other font. Like someone said a few posts above, I download the Bitstream Vera Sans font (click on the .zip file)

http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/

I installed it, and it solved my problem.

[benjoseph (giacomo-benjoseph)]

Hi, I have found the problem with the font menu quite annoying. Just by trying several option I found out that by clicking three times until the name of the font gets highlighted, and by pressing the arrow on the right and side, dose the trick. But unfortunately it is a hit and miss situation. Anyway I would like to thank all those who have made this program (Inkscape) so successful. I would be more than happy to have this bug fixed in the near future.

[SLeipsner (sleipsner777)]

Hi I was having the same problem in the Ctl-Shf-T panel and could not get the font to change. I realized later that at the very bottom of the page (and it doesn't readily show up on my screen) is an "apply" button that I was not seeing before. After I hit the apply button, Hakuna matata (no worries), it changed. Yeah!

[benjoseph (giacomo-benjoseph)]

GREAT, thank you very much. God Bless you.

2009/5/25 SLeipsner <email address hidden>

> Hi I was having the same problem in the Ctl-Shf-T panel and could not
> get the font to change. I realized later that at the very bottom of the
> page (and it doesn't readily show up on my screen) is an "apply" button
> that I was not seeing before. After I hit the apply button, Hakuna
> matata (no worries), it changed. Yeah!
>
> --
> Can't change font styles like before
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/218502
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[goldsaturn (goldsaturn25)]

Installing the Bitstream Vera Sans font in Windows XP fixed this problem for me. Thank you landarchgirl.

[Pablo Trabajos (pajarico)]

Kuenstler: you should not change bug status unless you know what you do :P Invalid is used for reports which are not bugs after all, not for bugs we don't agree with :P

[Pablo Trabajos (pajarico)]

This bug is very lengthy so I didn't read it entirely. But skimming through it, it seems to me that the problems were fixed for the upcoming 0.47 (too bad some people who commented on this report didn't tell what version they were using). Please test with a newer release:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/files/

[benjoseph (giacomo-benjoseph)]

Thank you for your help

2009/10/21 Pablo Trabajos <email address hidden>

> This bug is very lengthy so I didn't read it entirely. But skimming
> through it, it seems to me that the problems were fixed for the upcoming
> 0.47 (too bad some people who commented on this report didn't tell what
> version they were using). Please test with a newer release:
>
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/files/
>
> --
> Can't change font styles like before
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/218502
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Not reproduced with Inkscape 0.47 on OS X 10.5.8 when launching Inkscape with a minimal font configuration that does not include 'Bitstream Vera Sans' (the default font for the text tool).

Does this bug still happen on linux and win32 with Inkscape 0.47?

[su_v (suv-lp)]

As mentioned in comment #9, this is the same issue as bug #168320 “References to non-installed fonts break text toolbar (can't change font; font size display errors)”, which is fixed in Inkscape 0.47 (SVN revision 21527).

[benjoseph (giacomo-benjoseph)]

Many thanks. [?]