So far, this chapter has only scratched the surface when it comes to tweaking type. Printers, graphic artists, and typographers have dozens of methods for arranging and positioning type—and, with TLF text, so do you. These settings determine the space between individual letters, between words, and between lines and paragraphs. There are settings to set margins and to justify or center text. The possibilities may boggle your mind if you're not up to speed with printing jargon. And the fact is, you may never use some of the text tools provided in Flash. Still when you need them, it's helpful to know where the tools are, so here's a subpanel-by-subpanel description of the text properties.
As explained on Text Questions, the top of the Text Properties panel has menus for choosing the text engine (TLF Text or Classic Text) and the text type (Figure 6-20). For every text type except Classic static text, there's an Instance Name box. Give your text an instance name, and then you can refer to it in ActionScript code. This gives you the opportunity to change text properties as your Flash animation runs. In the lower-right corner use the "Change orientation of text" box to change the direction the text flows when you're working with different languages. This option is not available for Classic dynamic text or Classic input text.
For Classic text, you use standard X and Y coordinates to position text on the stage. (For TLF text, use the 3D Position and View subpanel.) The upper-left corner of the text box is the registration point (Creating a graphic symbol in symbol editing mode). The W and H properties set the width and height of the text block. Use the chain link to lock the values and maintain proportions. Changing the width and height doesn't change the font size specification; it distorts the text.
With TLF text, you can control the position of your text blocks in three dimensions. Use the 3D Position and View subpanel (Figure 6-21), where you find controls similar to those used with movie clip symbols. The X and Y properties represent horizontal and vertical positioning. Use the Z property to move the text block toward or away from your audience. As you use the 3D Rotation tool (W) to make text blocks spin around and you automatically change the 3D Position and View: W and H settings. The Perspective Angle setting (camera) changes the apparent angle of the view. The Vanishing Point (X and Y) settings control the orientation of the Z axis by relocating the vanishing point (the point where parallel lines appear to merge in the distance).
Use the Character subpanel (Figure 6-22) for the standard type specifications: Family (font), Style, Size, and Color. With TLF text, you also have the option to set the highlight (background) color. Leading sets the space between lines of text. Tracking sets the distance between individual characters (or glyphs, as the typographers say). Turn on the "Auto kern" checkbox to have Flash automatically adjust the space between certain characters. For example, in some cases auto-kerning pushes the letters A and V closer together to avoid an unsightly gap.
Figure 6-22. Many of the settings on the Character subpanel are shared for both text engines and all types of text. Here you can choose a font family, text size, color, and style.
The Anti-alias settings require a little explanation. It's not always easy to make type look good on a computer screen, especially when displaying a complex typeface at a small size. Antialiasing is one of those fool-the-eye tricks used to make small type look less jagged. Flash gives you a few options depending on the text type you've selected:
Device fonts. This option uses the fonts installed on the computer where the Flash animation is viewed. Usually, these fonts will be readable at most sizes.
Bitmap text [no anti-alias] (Classic text only). This option turns off anti-aliasing because the fonts are converted to bitmap images. This increases the size of the Flash file, and the text may appear jagged when it is resized.
Anti-alias for animation (called Animation for TLF text). As the name implies, this option is good for text that you want to reposition and resize on the fly. Some typographic details, such as alignment and kerning, are ignored to create smoother animation.
Anti-alias for readability (called Readability for TLF text). The best option for large blocks of small text. All the antialiasing tricks are used to make it easier for your audience to read.
Custom anti-alias (Classic text only). If you think you can do a better job than Flash, you can use your own antialias settings, such as sharpness and smoothness. Some additional text styles are available in the Character subpanel, such as buttons that let you toggle superscript and subscript characters, as in:™. As usual, TLF text offers some extra features, like Underline and Strikethrough. Using the Rotation menu, you can rotate characters within the text line. For more details, see Creating Vertical Text Containers on Creating Vertical Text Containers.
TLF text offers more advanced character options than Classic text. In fact, there are enough new features that they get their own Advanced Character subpanel (see the next section). The more modest Classic text features are placed in the Character subpanel, where they've always been. They include these choices:
Selectable. Click to let your audience select text at runtime. This option is always on for input text.
Render text as HTML (dynamic text and input text only). Tells Flash to interpret any HTML code it encounters in dynamic text instead of just displaying it.
Show Border Around Text (dynamic text and input text only). Select to place a border around dynamic or input text to set it off from other text.
The Advanced Character options (Figure 6-23), which are available only with TLF text, change depending on the text type selected. The TLF text types include read only, selectable, and editable. For example, settings used to create hyperlinks aren't available in editable text—it wouldn't make sense.
The Link and Target options are used to create hyperlinks. Type a URL (like http://www.missingmanuals.com) to display text in your finished animation as a clickable link. Target options are used, as they are in HTML, to tell the browser how to open the linked web page: _self (the standard option) opens the page in the current browser window; _blank opens the page in a new window; _parent opens the page in the parent of the current frame; and _top opens the page in the top-level frame of the current window.
The rest of the options in the Advanced Character panel are typographic features.
Figure 6-23. The Advanced Character subpanel works exclusively with the TLF text engine. Using these tools, you can create hypertext links and shape your text like a master printer.
For example, use the Case options to change the text to uppercase, lowercase, or small caps. The Digit Case options change the baseline positioning of numbers. Use the Digit Width options to control the horizontal spacing of characters. This is useful when you want numbers to line up vertically in columns. Printers sometimes use special characters called ligatures in place of letter pairs, like fi, fl, or ae. You have a few choices when it comes to ligatures: Minimum, Common, Uncommon, and Exotic. Use Baseline Shift to change the vertical position of selected text. Positive numbers move the text up above the natural baseline, while negative numbers move text down. The Advanced Character Locale menu is used to choose different languages and their different character sets.
For the most part, the Paragraph subpanel contains the usual suspects. Because TLF text is designed to accommodate several different languages, the nomenclature may seem a little unfamiliar. So, for English and other European languages, "Align to start" lines up text on the left side, leaving the right side ragged. Other options include "Align to center" and "Align to end", which is ragged left and aligned to the right side. There are four justify options, which force the text to fill the line, except for the last line. The options are "Justify with last line aligned to start", "Justify with last line aligned to center", "Justify with last line aligned to end", and "Justify all lines". When you justify text, you can use the Text Justify menu to add spacing between letters (letter spacing) or between words (word spacing).
Using the Paragraph properties, you can set the "Start margin", "End margin", and "First line indent". The two Spacing properties determine the space before and after paragraphs.
The Options subpanel appears only when you've chosen the Classic text engine. (These same hyperlink tools are available to TLF text in the Advanced Character subpanel.) The Link and Target options are used to create hyperlinks. Type a URL (like http://www.missingmanuals.com) to display text in your finished animation as a clickable link. Target options are used, as they are in HTML, to tell the browser how to open the linked web page: _self (the standard option) opens the page in the current browser window; _blank opens the page in a new window; _parent opens the page in the parent of the current frame; and _top opens the page in the top-level frame of the current window.
The Container and Flow settings control some nifty new text features, such as the ability to create multiple columns of text within a single container (text box) and the ability to flow text from one container to another. Using the Behavior menu (Figure 6-24) you can create text containers that are single-line, multiline, or "Customize for Passwords". (For details, see Multiline and Single-Line Text Containers.)
There are two color swatches at the bottom of the Container and Flow subpanel, which you use to select the border and background colors for the text container. Use the Padding settings to create space between text and the edge of the container.
The Color Effect subpanel appears when you choose TLF text. The settings here give you control over the brightness, tint, and opacity of the text and the text container. Choose the color effect you want to apply, and then use the sliders in the panel to make your adjustments. As you'll see in Chapter 17, you can control these same features using ActionScript.
Use the Display subpanel to add and manage blends and other special effects. Blends are created by overlapping images. Flash uses mathematical calculations to create different effects with descriptive names like Darken, Lighten, Multiply, Difference, Add, Invert, Erase, and Alpha. The best way to get a handle on these special effects is to use them. Create a shape or other graphic object with a color fill or a pattern. Then create a text field over that shape. With the text container selected, go to Properties→Display→Blending and choose an option such as Lighten, Screen, or Erase.
Filters perform a number of color effect chores. They work with both TLF text and Classic text. So, if you want to add a drop shadow to separate text from the background, go to the Filters subpanel. Other options include Drop Shadow, Blur, Glow, Bevel, Gradient Glow, Gradient Bevel, and Adjust Color. You can apply multiple filters to your text, so it would be possible to have bevel characters that cast a shadow. As you pile on special effects, keep in mind that someone may want to actually read the text.
In general, you apply filters to the entire text container. If you want to apply filters to individual letters, choose Modify→Break Apart to break the text container into multiple text containers. To turn an individual character into a shape so you can tween it or distort it to the nth degree, select the individual character and then choose Modify→Break Apart again. That turns the character into a shape, just like any other Flash shape. Once you've done that, you can change the stroke and fill color Independently. Use Modify→Transform→Envelope to distort the character. And, of course, you can use the Shape Tween tool to animate these changes.