Topics

1

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Some hyperlinks do not export to PDF intact

« on: April 10, 2013, 03:59:45 am »

Hi.  I will report this to NM Support, but in case it is something I am doing wrong and not a NM problem or glitch, I wanted to share it with you.

I have lots of hyperlinks on maps at my sites and periodically hire someone to do link-checking so I can reconnect links that become invalid.  In the last month a number of links on the PDF versions at one of the sites came to her "not found", but when I double-checked from my map, I could follow the links perfectly.  I thought it was a Firefox vs. Safari difference.  However, I decided to check the PDF version hyperlinks and indeed they couldn't be followed.

When I click to edit the hyperlink I see a # symbol somewhere in the address which does not appear when I go to the site.  It gets inserted in the copy and paste.  When I edited it out, the link worked fine from the PDF.  It may have to do with the path I took to get to the page in the first place.  Maybe in other cases, different symbols cause invalidation.  I know when the % is in a link it cannot be followed.

You may all know this stuff.  I am not that experienced with copying hyperlinks and what site software does when links are copied.  But don't make the mistake I did and think that because the hyperlinks work in your maps that they will always work in your PDFs.  Mostly they do but not always.

Anyway, if anyone else has other tips or instruction for me, feel free to share what you know.

Kathy

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NovaMind 5 for Mac / Beta and last NM5 version, which to use?

« on: January 30, 2013, 04:33:10 am »

Hi.  Sometimes I use the beta release -- when I want to make a theme out of a map I am creating.  Usually I use the last version before beta.  I have not had problems with either, and I am not reading about problems with the beta release.

Are all of you just doing everything with the beta version now?

Is a regular update with theme editor about ready to be released generally?

Not a biggie, just find myself deciding all the time which to use.

Kathy

3

General / Happy Holidays

« on: December 11, 2012, 11:05:04 am »

Just a little fun with NM5.  Happy Holidays to you all, whatever and however you celebrate.

http://www.novamind.com/connect/nm_documents/1040


Kathy

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NovaMind 5 for Mac / Two design questions which would help me, other software?

« on: December 02, 2012, 03:56:06 am »

Hi all.  While I use NovaMind a lot, I am pretty ignorant about other software.  Two things that NM5 does not have at the moment would help me, and perhaps there is some other easy-to-use software I can add.

One thing is that I would like to resize map images, especially .jpg images.  I can resize them on my viewer and screen, but the pixels remain the same.  When I move them to one of my websites, they are either too small (thumbnail or small version) or too large (actual size).  Newer site templates allow more size options, but this is an old site I do not want to redesign.  Is there a software which allows me to change the pixels?

The other thing is that I would like to frame some maps to stand out against a background better.  The border at the NM5 print menu is very narrow and hardly shows and I don't think it is saved during exports, anyway.  NM4 offered thicker borders and even shadows via custom selections.  NM5 does not have any options for this and is not actually that much of a priority for me.  But do you know any software that lets me frame an image -- .jpg and .png?

If not, I will just carry on.  I hope my questions are clear.  Thanks.

Kathy

5

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Silly background problem, but I cannot figure it out

« on: September 12, 2012, 08:53:43 am »

So this happens every now and then:

I find a cool background image or texture on the Internet and I want to drag it onto the map.  I open the drawing/fill inspector and click on the background.

When I click on the image and get ready to drag it to the map inspector box, the inspector disappears.  If I click on the map it comes back.  So I go back to my image and click to drag and the inspector box disappears.

I try clicking here and there, almost at random because it isn't logical, and then -- sometimes sooner, sometimes later -- when I click on the image, the inspector remains open and I drag it and -- voila! -- there it is making a nice background.

There must be a logic, but I haven't figure it out.  Can someone explain this or give me clues, anyway?
Thanks.

6

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Is it a floating topic or shape?

« on: August 01, 2012, 09:17:19 am »

Hi.  I am still occasionally mystified when topics fly far to one side, or way up or down, when I let go of a teensy drag of an item.  I have learned things to do, such as be sure layout is ignored with shapes, or all items are moved if the topic to which they are linked is moved.

Floating topics cause much more layout change than "ignored" shapes, but they can look identical.  Both can have text, images, hyperlinks and lines, fills, effects.

Sometimes I pick one and sometimes the other and do my design and then confuse myself when things fly away.  That is when I try after everything else, to see if I have a topic instead of a shape.  I can cut and paste and change it quickly, so that is not an issue.

The issue is that since they look alike, how do I know what I have?  I notice that if I click on one, some show dotted link-type lines and some don't.  Is that it?  Also, if I click on the box, I can add a boundary to a topic, but not a shape, right?

Is there any other way to tell?  Maybe I have already answered my question, but if I missed something, I would love to know.

7

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Two more questions

« on: July 01, 2012, 03:32:47 am »

Two things keep making me nuts.  I figure them out, and then I cannot figure out how I did them.  If someone will answer me here, then I can refer back to the answers the next time I get confused.

1.  The TEXT function of the DRAWING INSPECTOR is at the bottom.  Sometimes I cannot get close to seeing it, let alone alter the text (change color, center it, etc.)  If I close and reopen the INSPECTOR it is still so far down the page that I cannot get to it.  Other times, most times, it is right there, near the center and I can use it. 

What am I doing differently?  How can I get to it?

2.  How do I move a map which is second or third map of a document, onto another map where it becomes the new document.  I know I can rename it and delete it from the original document.  In NM4 we use to drag it to a new map and it would copy itself, and I know it is different in NM5.

Is there a way to do it?

Thanks in advance, especially for the first answer.

8

NovaMind 5 for Windows / Clickable PDFs

« on: July 01, 2012, 02:28:46 am »

In the Mac version, we can share clickable PDFs.  This is wonderful and has allowed me to share maps, and also move hyperlinked maps from NMConnect to two different websites.  I do consultations and can send a map which has clickable hyperlinks to people without NM Software.  I love it.  They love it.  They can do their own research from my link-leads.

This is a vast improvement over NM4 and has turned me from a critic of NM5 into a fan.

Yeah, some maps take forever to export to PDF.  And you must use the inline hyperlink which requires cut-and-paste, not dragging the link on.  But you get more on a map because the hyperlink icon takes up a line and space and the inline hyperlinks take up no extra space.

I haven't tried embedding anything else.
Kathy

9

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Adding frame or border?

« on: June 21, 2012, 02:47:10 am »

Hi all,

If this exists in NM5, I haven't found it.  I am trying to frame some maps, put a border around them, so I can organize images of them a little more easily.  We could do it in NM4 at printing time, but I haven't discovered it in NM5, or perhaps asked the right questions in Help.

If I am missing it, let me know.  I figured out a workaround -- a layout-ignored, unfilled shape, enlarged -- but perhaps there is a simple way to do it.

Thanks.
Kathy

10

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Converted NM4 to NM5 text boxes get heads cut off, and what to do

« on: June 15, 2012, 11:38:15 am »

Almost all the text boxes, upon conversion, crowd the text up from center and hit the top of the box, or even overlap it.  Space is added at the bottom.

No amount of playing with the top boundary of the shape will make enough room for the top line.

By accident I found that just widening the box ever-so-little allows the text on top to fall back inside the box.

Just a little glitch that is easy to fix.

11

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Shadowing lines?

« on: June 14, 2012, 01:49:52 am »

Is it possible to shadow branch or link lines?  I think not, but if I am missing something, can someone clue me in?

Thanks.

12

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Grafting placement of topics

« on: June 11, 2012, 10:37:15 am »

Hi all,

Is there a trick to grafting so the topic ends up where you want it to go?

I graft a topic from one side to the other, but before I let go it appears (by the red icon) as if the topic will end up, say, at the bottom of the topic list on the desired side.  But when I let go, it goes to the top (maybe always, maybe only in some circumstances but I am not sure), and all the topics on that side fly down almost off the page.

I do not know how to graft without totally changing the look of the map.  AND the problem is that I cannot undo this.  Once I let go, there is no escape, or cmd-Z.  I am now saving the map before I graft and if I end up with a workable map, I will use it.  Otherwise, I will go back to the last saved version and try to do something else.

Am I missing something?

Oh, and the maps I am doing this on are NM4 conversions, in case there is some unseen garbage messing it up.  I do not recall even trying it on a new map, so I don't know how well it will work.

Thanks,
Kathy

13

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Text question -- simple size change?

« on: June 07, 2012, 09:49:32 am »

Hi.  Is there an easy way to change the font size of text in, say, a text box or image caption?  Highlighting plus command+ or - affects the view size of the whole map, not just the highlighted font. 

All I know about doing it is to click on some of the text as if to edit it, then open up TEXT from the tool bar or Inspectors and scroll to see what the font size is, and then change it.  It is a lot of work, but I have to do it as I convert my maps from NM4.  Many of the converted text sizes are not right for what I want.  Starting new maps from scratch the default sizes look OK in general.

Anyway, is there a simple way?

Thanks,
Kathy

14

NovaMind 5 for Mac / PDF hyperlinks: problem and workarounds

« on: June 07, 2012, 03:24:19 am »

Hi all,

Maybe you have all figured this out, but in case some of you haven't, sometimes the PDF hyperlinks are clickable and sometimes not.  I now know for sure that when you shadow a topic, or a topic that is shaped, the hyperlinks will not be clickable in PDF format.

However, there are two workarounds.  I like to use a shadowed colored rounded rectangle to highlight an important topic/subtopic.  If I shadow it, the links are not clickable.  But if I create a rounded rectangle boundary and shadow it, the hyperlinks are clickable.  It looks the same.

A more complicated workaround is to drag a rounded rectangle shape behind the topic and shadow it.

Summarizing:

Inline hyperlink not clickable
     Shadowed topic text
     Shadowed topic shape

Inline hyperlink clickable
     Unshadowed text or shaped topic
     Shadowed boundary around topic
     Shadowed shape behind topic

I have experimented a lot.  If I am missing other clickable - not clickable options, please share them.

Kathy

15

NovaMind 5 for Mac / Couple of how-to questions

« on: June 05, 2012, 03:04:27 am »

1.  I saw somewhere that we can select colors for subtopics that alternate between one, two, three, more...  But I haven't found the directions for doing that.  Also, if topics are colored alternating between two colors and I rearrange the topics, will they "re-alternate" or stay with the original colors they had?

2.  Is there a way I can "date-stamp" a map in the margin or corner, etc., so that I can keep my shared versions straight?  I can do this manually, of course, but then I would have to remember to do it!

Thanks,
Kathy