User Guide

Canvas 12 User Guide
Create Type Style dialog box
Character or
Paragraph
Click a button to specify what kind of style you want to create.
Based on If there are existing styles, choose a style name on which to base the
new style. To disable this feature, choose None (see "Using style
families" on page 608).
Include Select the attributes to save as part of the style. You can include ink
settings (fill and stroke attributes that have been applied to existing
text) in character and paragraph styles. These inks don’t affect the
current inks for vector objects.
For paragraph styles, you can also include font attributes and tab
settings.
If a text selection has a frame or background ink, you can’t include these
attributes in a style. In addition, when text doesn’t have a stroke, you
can’t include strokes in a style.
Style name Type a name for the style.
Using style families
When you base a style on an existing style, the new style “inherits” the attributes of the parent style.
When the parent style changes, Canvas also updates all related styles. In addition to inherited
attributes, the style possesses its own attributes, which you specify.
A style’s own attributes always take precedence over attributes inherited from the parent
style.
You create a style, Body2, based on a parent style, Body1. The fonts are the same, but the type sizes
are different. Body2 uses 10 point type, while Body1 uses 12 point. If you change the font for the
parent style, the font also changes for Body2. However, if the point size changes for the parent style,
Body2 does not change, because Body2’s own attributes take precedence. To make Body2 always use
the same point size as Body1, you must set the point sizes equal, base Body2 on Body1, and save the
style again.
In addition, if you later change Body2’s font, this style will no longer inherit fonts from the parent
style. Body2’s font will override Body1’s font setting.
Careful planning will save you from time-consuming corrections when basing styles on each other. In
some cases, changing a parent style’s attributes may cause unwanted changes throughout the style
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