Smart graphics for visual people
Whether you’re a Visio end-user creating measured drawings, or you’re developing a Visio solution with customized Visio shapes, at some point, you’ll want to know how big your shapes are, and how to precisely resize them.
There are several ways to do this, and many of them allow you to edit the data as well. Today’s post offers a run-down of the many ways that you can edit and view the size of your Visio shapes!
You can quickly create detailed shapes by importing images into Visio. If you don’t have time (or budget!) to make a detailed drawing of that special ThinkPad or iPhone or USB Stick shape that you’ve been craving, you can simply browse for an image, and insert it into Visio!
It’s a fairly simple matter that you can achieve via two ways: Choose the menu: Insert > Picture > From File… or: Copy an image from an image-editor or image-viewing program and paste it into a Visio page. Simple indeed!
But what happens to Visio file sizes when you import images?
Does Visio compress famously-large BMP files on import, or will the .vsd become huge itself? Will we get significant savings by importing JPG or PNG files as opposed to straight-bitmaps?
Well today, we ran a few tests to see what happens!
[Read more…] about Effects of Imported Images on Visio File Size
An old Visio Corporation coworker of mine used to talk about “…being a two-handed Visio user, as opposed to being a one-handed Visio user.”
What he meant was that you can get a lot more done if you learn a few keyboard shortcuts and mouse techniques.
The Visio keyboard shortcuts that we’re sharing with you today will allow you push, pull and prod Visio in a fashion that seems almost natural. By learning them, the drudgery of tasks that you need to perform often will become reactionary, and almost invisible!
[Read more…] about Work Faster With Our Top Visio Keyboard Shortcuts
Today we’re going create a glass effect, using basic end-user features of Visio.
With a few simple techniques, you’ll be able to add pizzazz to your elevation drawings of windows, cabinetry, video monitors, rack-systems.
Now, maybe you’re thinking; Visio is not Adobe Illustrator, and Visio diagrams are supposed to be simple, boring, and utilitarian. A quick glance at this site might bring you to question that notion.
But don’t just take our word for it…
Update: You can now download a Visio drawing with samples shapes at the end of this article
The easy answer to this questions is: two. A single-shape can have two colors in its fill: a Fill Color and a Pattern Color.
If you want more, you have to group separate, differently-colored shapes together. In fact getting more colors is one of the major reasons that shapes become groups in the first place.
But if two were the actual answer, well, this article would over.
You see, Visio-Guy-friend Saveen Reddy has been up to his usual tricks of pushing Visio beyond the obvious and into the intriguing…
[Read more…] about How Many Fill Colors Can You Put on a Visio Shape?
A common question from budding Visio SmartShape developers is: “How do I get my text to resize with the shape?” Well, there are a few typical responses to that question, but this article focuses on a very simple method that you can use for text that does not change. So if you’re building shapes with company logos, digital readouts, or something similar, then read on!
There has been a lot of buzz in the newsgroups about Save As Web hyperlinks not functioning correctly when exporting from Visio 2003 and viewing in Internet Explorer 7. Evidently the problem is only for Visio 2003 and IE7, and when the export uses VML as it’s output.
[Read more…] about Save As Web Link Problem: Visio 2003 & IE7