Comments on: Pixel rulers in Visio

by: Noah

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:12:06 +0000

Allen,

My suspicion is that because Visio isn’t a proper layout program, it’s not scaling the fonts at all, and is displaying them at the native size regardless of the document measure and scale. In the work where I discovered this hack, exact font size wasn’t an issue and rough spacing was close enough.

For pixel-perfect diagrams I strongly suggest using OmniGraffle (Mac only), and for interface mockups and wireframes I suggest using Adobe Fireworks. Both programs offer free 30 day trial periods to see if you like them, and both are well documented and supported.

Good luck!
-Noah

by: Allen

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:24:14 +0000

These are new drawings. For example, I create a new file with the units and scale set as you specify. Then I want to put some type in the page. I set the units on type to picas, and when I put the type in the page, I don’t feel like I’m getting any useful information about it. 1 pica type doesn’t look like 1 pixel type whereas the graphics that I’m laying down are pixel perfect.

Once again, thanks for the great suggestion.

-Allen

by: Noah

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:47:24 +0000

Allen,

Are you adjusting existing drawings, or starting fresh? Things get weird when adjusting the scale of existing drawings. I don’t recall having issues with drawings that were scaled this way initially.

Thankfully, I’m using Fireworks for my wireframes these days, so I don’t have immediate recall about the font behaviors.

Cheers, Noah

by: Allen

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:09:28 +0000

How do you deal with fonts? I changed my fonts to picas, but they don’t seem to be responding to the drawing scale changes.

This was a great tip by the way.

by: Shajahan Mohammed

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:29:07 +0000

Thanks, Noah.

This is what I was exactly looking for.