I'm very new to Inkscape though I do have some (very limited) experience of using svg programs before. I'm slowly learning, but inputting text is proving an impossible task. I'm redrawing a logo to replace a bitmapped original with an svg. The log has some text along a circular path, but I can find no way of inputting intelligible text, and all the HowTo's I've found are strong on adding special effects, but extremely weak on actually getting the text in there in the first place! All I seem to be able to achieve is to input what can best be described as various shapes that seem to be tacked one on top of another. not filling the text box I've created It's extremely frustrating that something as rudimentary as basic text entry is so unfathomable. I know that Inkscape is a vector graphics program and not a word processing program, but many logos include a small amount of text.

Apart from the above, I can see that Inkscape has many features, and is a powerful program, but intuitive it isn't, but then it's open source!

Parts 10 & 11 of my tutorial series in Full Circle Magazine might be worth looking at: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11981

Set line spacing to 1?
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17927

Thanks for the prompt responses - will persevere and get to know what I'm doing. I want to transfer to using free and open source software as a matter of prinicpal.

Xav wrote:Parts 10 & 11 of my tutorial series in Full Circle Magazine might be worth looking at: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11981

Off Topic: Xav, you say in your article " Don't use the SVG format to transfer files to other systems...." - do different browsers read .svg files differently when it comes to text?

Rather than dragging out a text box, with the Text tool, just click once on the canvas, and start typing. These 2 techniques create different kinds of text. The text box technique creates "flowed text", while just click and type creates regular text. Flowed text does not work well if you're planning to put it on a web page.

Note that's an extremely short version of what Xav's tutorials cover. If you have time, they are well worth the read

Janne wrote:

Xav wrote:Parts 10 & 11 of my tutorial series in Full Circle Magazine might be worth looking at: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11981

Off Topic: Xav, you say in your article " Don't use the SVG format to transfer files to other systems...." - do different browsers read .svg files differently when it comes to text?

You've quoted me somewhat out of context there. The specific issue is that the target machine may not have the same fonts as the original, so using the SVG format may lead to different fonts being rendered. The part you quoted went on to suggest rendering to PNG or converting to paths as alternatives if you want to ensure that the text looks identical between machines (at the expense of losing the ability to edit as text).

The problem isn't that different browsers read .svg files differently (though there are definitely rendering differences in some cases), it's just that the viewer may not see exactly what you think they do. In the case of a comic strip, for example, it can lead to text that spills outside the speech bubbles even though it looks fine on the local machine.