Style: Labels

Using the Style pane we can set the text content and the display characteristics of labels in a Labels component. The Style pane has two main parts:

Text pane for label text - The upper part of the Style pane allows entering the text that will appear for labels in the form of a text pattern. It allows using fields and expressions to get text content from fields, or to calculate text content. For a quick guide to specifying text for labels, see the Label Text topic and the 5 Minute Tutorial - Labels from Fields and Expressions video.

Style controls for appearance - The lower part of the Style pane has style buttons similar to those used for styling objects in drawings, that allow rapid choice of stroke color, fill color, font size, font face and more.

Using Style to control the appearance of labels uses style buttons with the same procedures for changing colors and applying thematic formatting as using Style for drawings. Please review the Style: Drawings topic, for information on styling drawings, before proceeding with this topic. Most procedures are so similar they are not repeated in this labels topic.

The Style pane does simple things right away, hiding more controls until they are needed.

Style applies to an entire layer - Change a parameter and it instantly changes style objects throughout a layer. Controls to change the style of individual labels within a layer will appear when we want them.

Change the text used for labels - The text pane shows what text will be used for labels. Field names within square [ ] brackets will take text from the content of the field. Expressions within double square [[ ]] brackets will take text from the computed result of the expression.

Change basic properties quickly, or compose combinations - Dedicated buttons change basic properties instantly. The Total Style button changes many properties at once, composing a new look. We can mix the two approaches.

Style settings applied to labels are also known as formatting. Changing basic style properties, such as fill color or font, lets us create whatever overall effect, called the total style, we want.

Controls

(Tabs)	The Labels tab shows style property controls. The Options tab provides controls for style overrides.
(Label text pane)	The upper part of the Style pane allows entering the text that will appear for labels in the form of a text pattern. It allows using fields and expressions to get text content from fields, or to calculate text content.
Edit Text	The Edit Text button launches an expression builder that helps us modify the text with the assistance of query builder facilities. That lets us include fields from the table used by the labels, or to use SQL functions or statements and clauses in expressions, with a double-click instead of having to manually keyboard them.
	Buttons without any extra sub-icons apply that same setting throughout the entire layer. Clicking the button by default will show a drop down menu providing typical, one-click choices. To see a field choice box allowing choice of a field for thematic formatting, simply click back into the Style pane outside of the drop down menu.
	Buttons that show a small "field" sub-icon have their style property controlled by a field, using thematic formatting. Clicking the button by default will show the thematic formatting arrangement and controls in the Style pane. To get a drop down menu providing typical, one-click choices, simply click the button again.
	Buttons that show a small "box" sub-icon indicate that style property has style overrides enabled, allowing manual setting of style properties on individual objects within a layer.
Total Style	A button showing the combined effect of the other properties to create the illustrated Style for labels. Often simply called Style.
Stroke Color	The primary color applied in fonts, as well as in label options and point styles that use a single color. Important: Setting Stroke color to transparent makes labels disappear completely. To render label symbology without using Stroke color, use the Symbol button to drill into the Symbol menu and set the Stroke width parameter to a very small width, such as 0.1.
Fill Color	The fill or secondary color. Applied to the interior of label options. Also applied as the secondary color in point styles used in label symbology.
Size	The size of labels. May be fractions such as a size of 0.1 or 2.8. The drop down menu provides a range of default choices. Enter a specific value into the box to specify a Size other than one of the default choices.
Font	Choose the font. The initial list provides fonts immediately available and used as standard fonts in most Windows editions. Choose Custom to pick a font from any font installed in the system using the standard Windows dialog. The font size setting from the Windows dialog is ignored in favor of using the Style pane's Size property button.
Symbol	Choose symbology for labels. The drop down menu provides a range of default symbols, with a toolbar that allows configuration of the drop down menu. Press the More... button at the bottom of the drop down menu for the full Symbol dialog that provides more options.

Settings in the Style pane, such as Size, by default apply to all labels in the layer.

If we change the Size from 8 points to 16 points, all labels in that layer will have a size of 16 points.

That makes it easy to change the appearance of every label in a layer, instantly.

Different Styles Within a Layer

There are two ways to vary the formatting for individual labels:

Use thematic formatting to vary style properties per label based on the value of a field in that label's record. A classic use of thematic formatting, for example, is to make the label size for a city larger or smaller depending upon the value of a population field for each city.

In the Options tab of the Style pane, turn on Style: Overrides. We can then specify style properties for individual labels that will override settings specified in the Style pane for the entire layer. For example, we might want to make the font size for the capitol city of a country very much larger than other labels. Style overrides apply only to the display characteristics of labels, and not to the label text. See the Style: Overrides topic.

To apply thematic formatting, we choose a field in the drop down menu that appears when we have formatted some style property, such as stroke color or size, and then we set the desired style for each of the intervals. See the Style: Thematic Formatting topic.

When we use a field to set thematic formatting, such as for the Stroke color above (using the Rank attribute, with 8 breaks and applying the CB Paired palette), the style buttons that use a field will have a field icon added. For the illustration above, we have also used the right-most button to add a very dark gray, almost black, shadow, offset by 1 point.

Change basic properties quickly, or Compose combinations

Style pane buttons support two ways of making quick changes, which can be mixed together for fast workflow:

Make basic changes quickly - Changing basic properties like stroke color or font size is a frequent task. The smaller buttons at the right of the Style pane allow us to instantly change basic properties. Changes in basic properties apply instantly to the layer.

Compose combinations all at once - One change at a time is OK for most workflow, but sometimes we prefer to change many properties at once to get the look we want. The big, Total Style buttons at the left of the Style pane do that for us. They allow us to change all of the style properties at once, using a preview pane to show the combined effect before we commit. The Total Style buttons also show the total effect of any changes made with the other style properties buttons.

When a labels window or labels layer is active, the Style pane shows a single group of style controls, for labels.

The left-most, total Style button is a larger button that shows the total, combined style that results from choices made for basic style properties. The smaller buttons to the right show the basic style properties that make up the total style. Because symbols can be complicated, the Symbol property buttons for choosing a symbol are larger than the properties buttons for colors, size, or rotation.

Areas, lines and points each have a total Style. We compose a Style by choosing Stroke Color, Fill Color, Size, and Symbol properties. Area styles and point styles also have a Rotation property. Line styles do not have a rotation property.

Quickly Make Basic Changes

Changing a basic property is easy: we click the button and choose what we want. Buttons launch a drop down menu with the most popular choices. If we want more, we click More... at the bottom of the drop down menu and then we get even more choices.

Style controls for points are shown above. The Total Style button adds up all effects to preview the combined result. If we want to change the Font or Symbol we can click those buttons in turn and choose what we want.

In the example above, we have picked a darker blue and lighter blue stroke and fill colors, a complex symbol, a Scala Sans Caps Oblique font and a size of 16 points.

With each change, the result is applied immediately to the drawing.

See the Example: Change Point Style topic for a more detailed, step-by-step example of the above, using points styles for the example.

Compose Combinations All at Once

Sometimes we want to change everything at once, using a preview in the dialog before committing changes. That is what the Total Style button allows us to do.

We start with a drawing, called Labels, that provides labels for the names of US states. We want to change the default formatting of small black font to something more dramatic.

We click directly on the total Style button. A drop down menu shows popular choices. If a thematic format has already been assigned to the total Style button, that thematic format arrangement will appear instead of a drop down menu. To get the drop down menu, simply click the Style button again.

We ignore the preset choices and choose More... at the bottom of the drop down menu, to launch the Label Style dialog.

At the present time the Standard list of text treatments has just one choice, using the straight text, so there is nothing else to choose. In the preview box we set the background color to one of the state colors, in this case, the background color for the state of Utah, which we can choose with the eyedropper tool. That provides a realistic background for the preview.

We change the label size to 16 pt and, using the button next to the point size, we change the font to an all-caps, italic font, in this case, Scala Sans Caps Italic. We check the Shadow box to enable a shadow, choose an offset of 1.2 points and choose a medium gray color for the shadow.

We click the Icon tab to add an icon symbol next to the text, called a sidecar icon.

We check the Icon box and set the Fill color to a nice blue color. We change the Stroke to 2 points. To space the sidecar icon further away from the text, we check the Move box and choose 6 points for the offset.

We would also like the icon to have a shadow, so we check the Shadow box, set the offset for the shadow to 2 points, and we change the color for the shadow to the same gray color specified in the Symbol tab for the text's shadow. If we like the effect shown in the preview pane, we press OK, or if we do not like the effect we press Cancel to exit the dialog without applying the changes.

See the Example: Change Point Style topic for a detailed, step-by-step example of using the style dialog with point styles.

Fonts

Clicking the Font button allows choosing a standard font with one click from a list or choosing More... to choose any font on our system.

The illustration above uses Segoe UI font.

To change the font to bold or underline, we press the Font style property button.

In the drop down menu we choose the Georgia font, which is part of the Standard collection since it is found by default in almost all Windows installations. If we wanted to choose a font that is not in the initial list of popular choices, we could click the More... button for a full font picker dialog.

The display immediately updates to use Georgia as the font.

The Style pane also updates to show text in the Georgia font as a sample on the Font property button as well as in 12 point size in the Total Style button.

Symbol Dialog for Labels

Clicking the Symbol button allows choosing a popular preset for label symbology with one click from a list or choosing More... to specify a variety of label symbology options.

The illustration above uses default label symbology, using Tahoma font, with Size of 12 points.

To change label symbology, we press the Symbol style property button.

A drop down menu appears that provides popular label symbology options. To launch the full Symbol dialog we click the More... button at the bottom of the menu. The default configuration for the Symbol dialog appears.

Symbol Tab

Like most styles in Manifold, Labels are composed of three basic building blocks: the Symbol, an optional Icon, and an optional Box. The Symbol dialog organizes the three sets of options into three tabs, so we do not clutter the dialog with options that are not being used.

Every label at least uses a "symbol," so the Symbol tab opens by default when the dialog opens.

"Symbology" for labels means how the text for the label is represented. Most Manifold styles have many choices in pre-built symbology. At the present time, labels only have one choice, the unmodified text for the label with no special formatting applied, so the "Standard" pane which in point styles might be populated with a grid of many options has only one option for Symbology.

Likewise, the Filter box at present is not useful since there is only one choice and thus no need to filter by name from many options. As options expand in future builds for label symbology, it is likely many choices will become available in the Symbology pane.

The primary use of the Symbol tab at present is to choose the three basic options that can be applied to the label text, that is the label "symbol": Move, to shift the placement of the text in relation to the point which anchors the text; Shadow, which applies a drop shadow of the specified color (by default, the top level Fill color); and Halo, which applies an aura of color around the text at the width of the specified Padding using the specified color (by default, the top level Fill color). The use by default for shadows and halos of whatever is the Fill color specified in the Style pane is a convenience: we can change that to any color we like, and most often we will choose a different color.

Symbol Tab Controls

(Preview)	Shows a preview of the total style created by choosing options in the other controls.
	A color box in the upper right corner of the preview pane provides a drop down menu for choosing background color for the preview. This is often set with the Color Picker tool from the drop down menu, picking a typical background color from the map currently in use.
Filter	For future compatibility: not used at present since there is only one choice for symbology. Filter boxes in Manifold dialog allow reducing lists of very many choices to just those whose names match the text in the Filter box. For example, in a color dialog entering blue in a Filter box would show colors named Slate Blue, Gray Blue, Dark Blue and similar.
(Symbology)	Choose basic symbology for labels, with "symbology" in the case of labels meaning how the text is formatted. At present there is only one choice for symbology. More choices are expected in future builds.
Move	Check the Move box to enable shifting placement of the label text relative to the defining point, in the given angle direction to the given offset distance. The Move box has no effect on labels created from areas, since the position of such labels is automatically computed by Manifold. Angle - One of eight possible positions approximately indicated by the compass direction in degrees. An Angle of 0 means to place the text directly North, that is, directly above the defining point. An Angle of 270 means to place the label text directly to the left, that is, directly West, from the defining point location. An Angle of 90 means to place the label text directly to the right of the defining point. See the Style: Label Placement topic for illustrations of how Angle controls the placement of labels. Offset - The distance from the defining point location to shift the label text. There are four ways of specifying offset distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
Shadow	Check the Shadow box to create a drop shadow for the label text, with the shadow shifted relative to the text in the given angle direction to the given offset distance. Angle - The compass direction in which to move the location of the shadow. An Angle of 0 means to move the shadow directly North, that is, directly upward, from the text. An Angle of 270 means to move the shadow directly to the left, that is, directly West, from the text. An Angle of 135 is the default. Offset - The distance from the text to shift the shadow. There are four ways of specifying offset distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Specify the color desired for the drop shadow. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
Halo	Check the Halo box to create a halo, that is, an aura of color, surrounding the text to the width given by the padding. Padding - The distance outwards from the text that the halo extends. There are four ways of specifying Padding distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Specify the color desired for the halo. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
	Buttons without any extra sub-icons show defaults inherited from the main Stroke and Fill color properties in the Style pane.
	Buttons that show a small "box" sub-icon indicate that the default color has been replaced by a user-specified choice.

The controls above apply only to the label text. If we add a halo or a drop shadow, for example, that halo or drop shadow will appear only for the label text and not for any icon or box, if an icon or box element has been added to the label.

Specifying Size in Parameter Boxes

Dialog controls often provide a box that specifies a size of some kind, such as the width of a line, the size of symbol, the padding width of a halo, the offset distance of a shadow or other effect, the length of a dash element in a dashed line, or some other indication of size, width, length. Manifold uses the same style of size specification in all these cases, providing four ways to specify the size. Two of these ways are absolute, without reference to any other parameter. The two other ways of specifying size are relative to some other, controlling size value.

There are four ways of specifying size:

	A number - Entering a number, such as 5, gives a size in points.
	A number with a unit - Entering a number with an abbreviation for a unit, such as 10pt, specifies a size in that unit, for example, 10 points. At the present time, only the pt abbreviation is recognized. Plans for future builds included adding units such as millimeters and inches.
	% sign - A relative size specification, the specified percentage of whatever is the main size factor, for example the main Size factor in the Style pane for point size. 200% specifies a size twice the overall size. 50% specifies a size half the overall size. % specifications are popular with experienced users because they automatically scale the specified size if the overall Size is increased or decreased.
	@ sign - A relative size specification, that adds to or subtracts from whatever is the main size factor. 5@ means five points larger than the main size factor. -3@ means three points smaller than the main size factors.

Examples

We use 1.5 for the Stroke size of a point symbol: If the overall Size for the point is 36 points, or 24 points or any other value, the width of the stroke line used to draw the symbol would be 1.5 points. Using a fixed specification like this is not a good idea if point sizes will vary, because the stroke line will appear disproportionately fat for smaller symbols and disproportionately thin for larger symbols.

We use 5% for the Stroke size of a point symbol: If the overall Size for the point is 36 points, the width of the stroke line used to draw the symbol would be 1.8 points. If the overall size of the point is 24 points, , the width of the stroke line used to draw the symbol would be 1.2 points. Using a % specification for Stroke width is a good idea if point sizes will vary, because then the thickness of the stroke line will be proportionate to the size of the symbol, retaining visual balance.

We use 10% for the Shadow offset size for a point symbol: If the overall Size for the symbol is 36 points, the shadow would be offset 3.6 points. If the overall Size for the symbol is 24 points, the shadow would be offset 2.4 points. Using % for shadow offsets may not produce the desired effect, because shadows are perceived as indicating the distance of the object from some background. Visually, they should be the same displacement for both larger and smaller objects if all objects are in about the same imagined distance from the background. Using a fixed value like 3pt might be a better idea.

We use 300%,200% as the Dashes specification for a border line: If the border line size was 2 points the specification would result in a dash length of 6 points and a space length of 4 points. If the border line size was 3 points the specification would result in a dash length of 9 points and a space length of 6 points,

We use -3@ as the Insert size specification for an "insert" style point symbol: If the size for the point symbol is 10 points, the -3@ specification results in an insert that is 7 points in size. An insert for a point symbol with a size of 36 points given an Insert size of -5@ would be 31 points in size. Negative numbers resulting from use of negative @ specifications are converted to a value of zero.

Icon Tab

The Icon tab allows us to add a sidecar icon to the label. Icons can be symbols like those used for points, taken from the Standard collection of built-in vector symbols, from the built-in Glyphs or Brands collections of vector symbols, from a Font, or even from a bitmap Image. The controls in the Icon tab will automatically adjust depending on what type of symbol we are using, with slightly different controls for vector symbols or bitmap symbols.

We can create labels from points, lines, or areas that use icons in the label. However, line labels using an icon will always be placed near straight line segments. Line labels using an icon will never be curved.

Option controls for icons are the same as used in point styles. See the Style: Points topic for details and useful information.

Icon Tab Controls

(Preview)	Shows a preview of the total style created by choosing options in the other controls.
	A color box in the upper right corner of the preview pane provides a drop down menu for choosing background color for the preview. This is often set with the Color Picker tool from the drop down menu, picking a typical background color from the map currently in use.
Icon	Check to add a sidecar icon to the label. Controls in the tab will not be enabled if this box has not been checked.
(size box)	The size of the sidecar icon. There are four ways of specifying size, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
(color boxes)	Specify the Stroke color and Fill color desired for the sidecar icon. The color boxes are loaded by default with the Stroke color and Fill color from the main Style pane. We can choose transparent color for the Stroke color to make the stroke line disappear, while leaving the Fill color. This is slightly different from symbols used for point object styles, where choosing a Stroke color of transparent makes the entire point object disappear.
	Choose a collection for the symbology pane, from which we can choose a symbol to use as an icon. The Standard, Glyphs and Brands collections provide built-in sets of symbols. A short list of popular Windows symbols fonts are available for quick choices. We can also choose any Font installed on the system as a source of symbols, or load bitmap symbols from any Images on the system that are less than 4 MB in size and less than 1024 x 1024 pixels in extent.
Filter	Filter boxes in Manifold dialog allow reducing lists of very many choices to just those whose names match the text in the Filter box. For example, entering circle in the Filter box would show icons in the Standard collection named Circle, and Circle Insert. Use the Filter box to quickly find a given icon in large collections of symbols. The Glyphs choice, for example, provides hundreds of symbols from which we can choose, each of which has a more or less descriptive name. Enter fire to quickly find the Fire Extinguisher symbol.
(Symbols or Bitmaps)	Click a symbol from the collection shown. It will appear as the icon in use in the preview box.
Insert size / Insert	Appears when we choose a symbol from the Standard collection that includes a small shape within the overall symbol. The small shape is called an insert. Insert size: The size of the insert, 30% by default. There are four ways of specifying insert size, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. Insert: The shape of the insert, auto by default, meaning the same shape as the symbol. The drop down menu provides choices for circle, diamond, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, triangle, rectangle, and rectangle rd, which is a rectangle with rounded corners. (color box) - Set the color desired for the insert. Loaded with the Stroke color from the Style pane by default.
Stroke	The width of the Stroke line used to draw a vector symbol. This option does not appear with bitmap image icons or with font symbols, since the font itself controls stroke width. We can use fractional values if we like, for thin stroke lines. There are four ways of specifying stroke width, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
Width	A value in % from 1% to 100%. The Width option appears for the Standard collection of vector icons and for bitmap Image icons, but not for fonts or other collections. A value of less than 100% squeezes the icon horizontally to make it less wide. 50% width results in an icon that is proportionally squeezed so it is the same height but only half as wide. Useful for creating vertically-oriented rectangles as sidecar icons, or tall, pointy triangles.
Move	Check the Move box to shift the position of the sidecar icon relative to the label text. If the box is not checked the icon appears to the left of the label text with a padding of 3 points. Angle - One of twelve possible positions approximately indicated by the compass direction in degrees. An Angle of 0 means to place the icon directly North, that is, directly above and in the middle of the text. An Angle of 270, the default, means to place the sidecar icon directly to the left, that is, directly West, from label text. An Angle of 90 means to place the icon directly to the right of the text. See the Style: Label Icon Placement topic for illustrations and details. Offset - The distance from the label text to the icon, by default 3 meaning three points. There are four ways of specifying offset distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
Shadow	Check the Shadow box to create a drop shadow for the sidecar icon, with the shadow shifted relative to the icon in the given angle direction to the given offset distance. Angle - The compass direction in which to move the location of the shadow. An Angle of 0 means to move the shadow directly North, that is, directly upward, from the icon. An Angle of 270 means to move the shadow directly to the left, that is, directly West, from the icon. An Angle of 135 is the default. Offset - The distance from the icon to shift the icon's shadow. There are four ways of specifying offset distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Set the color desired for the sidecar icon's drop shadow. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
Halo	Check the Halo box to create a halo, that is, an aura of color, surrounding the sidecar icon to the width given by the padding. Padding - The distance outwards from the icon that the halo extends. There are four ways of specifying padding distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Set the color desired for the sidecar icon's halo. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
	Buttons without any extra sub-icons show defaults inherited from the main Stroke and Fill color properties in the Style pane.
	Buttons that show a small "box" sub-icon indicate that the default color has been replaced by a user-specified choice.

The controls above apply only to the icon. If we add a halo or a drop shadow, for example, that halo or drop shadow will appear only for the icon and not for any label text or box.

We can combine colors for the different elements to get a seemingly infinite range of effects. In the illustration above we have used a symbol from the Standard collection using light blue and black as basic colors. The symbol we have chosen is the Hexagon Insert symbol. For the insert shape we have chosen a triangle shape with an Insert size of 50%. We use white color for the insert. A Stroke width of 2 points is used for the stroke line of the symbol and insert. We have also clicked Move to provide 10 points of space between the icon to the left of the text. We use a Halo of medium brown color that is has Padding for a width of 3 points for the halo, and a Shadow using dark gray that is offset 2 points from the symbol. We have chosen a light brown color for the preview pane background. The result is a sharp icon with a seeming 3D effect.

Choosing Different Icon Collections

The collections picker button provides a drop down menu that lets us pick a collection of symbols to use.

Built-in collections of symbols appear in the upper section of the menu. The Standard collection is a simple set of vector shapes. The Glyphs collection provides a general purpose collection of vector shapes. The Brands collection provides a set of vector shapes implementing logos and trademarks for well known brands.

The middle section of the drop down menu provides one-click access to popular symbol fonts usually found on Windows systems, including Webdings and the Wingdings series of fonts. The Font... choice allows us to choose any font that is installed on our system as a source of icon symbols. The Image choice allows us to choose as a bitmap icon any bitmap image that is less than 4 MB in size and less than 1024 x 1024 pixels in extent. See the discussion in the Style: Bitmap Symbols topic.

Important: For icons we can use symbols from the built-in collections of symbols, like the Glyphs collection, from fonts or from bitmap images. Symbols we use from the built-in collections are always available and will continue to work even if we move the project to a different computer.

Symbols we take from bitmap images will also continue to work if we move the project to a different computer. When we use an icon taken from a bitmap image, the image data for the symbol is encoded and stored into the style within the project. If we save the project to a .map file we can copy the project to a different computer and the style will still appear correctly even if the original image file does not exist on that new computer.

Symbols from fonts are not embedded into the project. They depend on having the font installed in the Windows system we are using. Suppose we choose a symbol from a font such as Meteocons, the font used as an example in the Example: Style Pane Quickstart topic, and we save the project as a .map file. If we move that .map project to a different computer and then open it with Manifold, the style using that symbol will display correctly only if the Meteocons font is also installed in that new computer. If the Meteocons font is not installed, the symbol will not display.

To choose a different collection of symbols we press the collections picker button and choose the collection desired. For example, we can choose the Glyphs collection. That will fill the symbol grid with many icons available in the Glyphs collection.

In the illustration above we have clicked on the Ambulance icon. It immediately appears, by default, to the left of the text at a distance of three points from the text. We have checked the Move box to increase the offset of 10, to provide more space between the icon and the text. We have also set the background color to light gray, and we have chosen bright red color for the icon's Stroke color and white color for the icon's Fill color. Size is still 100%.

We can change the symbol used for the icon without changing the other factors.

For example, we can use the collections picker button to choose a Font.

In the illustration above, we have chosen the Meteocons font, the same font used as an example in the Example: Style Pane Quickstart topic, and we have clicked on one of the symbols in that font. It immediately replaces the ambulance symbol, but the other options remain the same even if they are not used: Stroke color is still red, and Fill color is still white, although it is not used by this font symbol. Move is still checked and the offset is still 10 points. The Stroke option has disappeared, since fonts set their own stroke thickness as part of the definition of the font and choice of font characteristics such as Bold or Regular when choosing a font.

We can use the collections picker button to choose a bitmap sidecar icon from images. See the discussion in the Style: Bitmap Symbols topic.

In the example above we chose the Images... choice and then loaded icons from bitmap images of colored beads. We clicked on the first one to choose it as the sidecar icon. Move is still checked, so It immediately appears to the left of the text, at the Angle of 270 and offset of 10 points. Size is still 100% so the bitmap image icon appears about the same size as the text. Stroke and Fill colors are still red and white, but not used by the image icon. A Width parameter has appeared, just as with the Standard collection, and that is still at 100% as before.

Box Tab

The Box tab allows us to add a box around the label. Boxes of contrasting color that surround text labels can help set off the text for greater legibility. Such effects may be called text backgrounds in ESRI products or a banner text, or a text within a lozenge or similar nomenclature. Manifold simply calls it a box.

We can create labels from points, lines, or areas that use a box in the label. However, line labels using a box will always be placed near straight line segments. Line labels using a box will never be curved.

To add a box around a label, including any sidecar icon if one is used, in the Box tab we check the Use box option and then choose the box desired from the grid pane. At the present time, there are only three box styles available, with more expected to be added in future builds.

In the illustration above we have specified blue and light brown for the Stroke and Fill colors of the box. We have chosen a box with right-angle corners. A Padding of 8 points places the box's border eight points away from the text and sidecar icon. A Stroke of 4 points provides a box border line that is four points thick. No shadow or halo are used.

Box Tab Controls

(Preview)	Shows a preview of the total style created by choosing options in the other controls.
	A color box in the upper right corner of the preview pane provides a drop down menu for choosing background color for the preview. This is often set with the Color Picker tool from the drop down menu, picking a typical background color from the map currently in use.
Box	Check to add a surrounding box to the label. Controls in the tab will not be enabled if this box has not been checked.
(color boxes)	Specify the Stroke color and Fill color desired for the box. The color boxes are loaded by default with the Stroke color and Fill color from the main Style pane. We can choose transparent color for the Stroke color to make the stroke line disappear, while leaving the Fill color. This is slightly different from symbols used for point object styles, where choosing a Stroke color of transparent makes the entire point object disappear.
Filter	Filter boxes in Manifold dialog allow reducing lists of very many choices to just those whose names match the text in the Filter box. The Filter option is not useful in the Box tab given the limited number of choices.
(Boxes)	Click a box style from the collection shown. It will appear as the box in use in the preview box.
Padding	The distance outwards from the label text to the box. There are four ways of specifying Padding distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
Stroke	The width of the Stroke line used to draw the box. We can use fractional values if we like, for thin stroke lines. There are four ways of specifying Stroke width, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes.
Shadow	Check the Shadow box to create a drop shadow for the box, with the shadow shifted relative to the box in the given angle direction to the given offset distance. Angle - The compass direction in which to move the location of the shadow. An Angle of 0 means to move the shadow directly North, that is, directly upward, from the box. An Angle of 270 means to move the shadow directly to the left, that is, directly West, from the box. An Angle of 135 is the default. Offset - The distance from the box to shift the box's shadow. There are four ways of specifying offset distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Set the color desired for the box's drop shadow. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
Halo	Check the Halo box to create a halo, that is, an aura of color, surrounding the box to the width given by the padding. Padding - The distance outwards from the box that the halo extends. There are four ways of specifying Padding distance, as discussed in the section on specifying sizes in parameter boxes. (color box) - Set the color desired for the box's halo. Loaded with the Fill color from the Style pane by default.
	Buttons without any extra sub-icons show defaults inherited from the main Stroke and Fill color properties in the Style pane.
	Buttons that show a small "box" sub-icon indicate that the default color has been replaced by a user-specified choice.

The controls above apply only to the box. If we add a halo or a drop shadow, for example, that halo or drop shadow will appear only for the box and not for any label text or icon.

Position Tab

The Position tab provides parameters controlling the alignment of multiline labels and the placement of curved line labels relative to their anchor lines. It also provides an Align control that controls the horizontal position of text within text frames in Layouts.

In the illustration above we have chosen center for the Align option and have left the Bend option at the default 60 degrees. We have set the background for the preview pane to a medium blue color.

Position Tab Controls

(Preview)	Shows a preview in the upper left corner of the total style created by choosing options in the other controls. Not very useful for the Position tab since the previewed sample is not multiline text, nor does the sample show how long label text would appear for a curved line with large angles in the line.
	A color box in the upper right corner of the preview pane provides a drop down menu for choosing background color for the preview. This is often set with the Color Picker tool from the drop down menu, picking a typical background color from the map currently in use.
Align	Two boxes that specify in the left box, horizontal justification for multiline text labels, and in the right box, vertical positioning for text within text frames in Layouts. The box at right for vertical positioning is only used in text frames in labels and is ignored in other labels components. Left box (Horizontal justification) center - Center justify all text lines (default): left - Left justify all text lines: right - Right justify all text lines: The horizontal justification Align parameter has no effect on single-line text labels. Right box (Vertical position of text within text frames in Layouts. Ignored within other labels components.) center - Position all text lines at the center of the text frame (default): top - Position all text lines at the top of the text frame: bottom - Position all text lines at the bottom of the text frame: The vertical position Align parameter works with text in text frames in layouts. It has no effect on text labels in labels components.
Overlap spacing	Controls how close individual labels can be to each other before labels are hidden to avoid overlaps. Spacing is in points, with the default being 1 point. Choosing 0 or a very low value like .001 point will clip only labels that actually overlap at the given zoom, and are not just close to each other. If the overlap mode setting for the layer in the Layers pane is layer, the overlap spacing parameter guides the resolution of overlaps for just that layer. If the overlap mode setting is map, the overlap spacing parameter will guide the resolution of overlaps in that layer as well as in any other labels layer in the map that also has an overlap mode setting of map.
Label	Two boxes that specify in the left box, how many labels to place onto a line, and in the right box, how to place labels onto a line. Left box (how many labels) Placing a label onto a line in one per branch or one per record modes prefers positions near the visual center of the branch or line. one per branch - Try to place a single label for each visible branch of each record (default). This applies to visible branches, that is, the visible parts of branches, not physical branches. For example, if a physical branch goes off screen and then returns back on screen, it will produce multiple visible parts and the system will try to put a label onto each such part. The illustrations below use a single line object (a single record) that has five branches. one per record - Try to place a single label for each record: repeat - Try to place as many labels as will fit into each visible branch of each record given the specified spacing between labels on the same branch. Spacing is specified in the Repeat spacing box either in absolute units, for example, 40, meaning 40 points, or in relative units for example, 800%, (default), meaning 8 times the font size: The illustration above uses a Repeat spacing value of 10, for 10 points between repeated labels. The font used is a 12 point font, so a Repeat spacing value of 100% would work out to 12 points between repeated labels, for approximately the same effect. Only one branch is long enough at this zoom level to place repeated labels. Right box (how to place labels) curve - Bend label text to follow the shape of the line (default). The illustration uses a Left / right offset of 100%: straight - Place labels without any bends in the label, with the label oriented in the prevailing direction of the line where the center of the label text appears: straight horizontal - Place labels without any bends in the label, with the label oriented horizontally: straight perpendicular - Place labels without any bends in the label, with the label oriented perpendicular to the direction of the line where the center of the label text appears. Shorter label text is used to fit into the illustration:
Repeat spacing	Applies when repeat has been chosen in the left box of the Label control to specify how many labels should appear. Specifies the spacing between repeated labels on the same branch. Spacing is specified either in absolute units, for example, 40, meaning 40 points, or in relative units for example, 800%, (default), meaning 8 times the font size. The illustrations below use an offset of 100% to move the label next to the line and not directly on top of the line. Repeat spacing 800% (default). With 12 point font that is 96 points between labels: Repeat spacing 200%. With 12 point font that is 24 points between labels: Repeat spacing 16. Specifies 16 points between labels, allowing more labels to fit: The Repeat spacing parameter has no effect if repeat has not been chosen in the left box of the Label control.
Bend	Applies when curve has been chosen in the right box of the Label control to specify how labels should be placed. Bend specifies the maximum angle in degrees that is allowed between line segments to place a curved line label on that angle. 60 is the default. Set a lower Bend parameter to place labels on straighter regions of lines. Specifying 0 for Bend forces the system to place labels only near straight line segments. The illustrations below use an offset of 100% to move the label next to the line and not directly on top of the line. Bend 60 (default). Labels can be placed nearer to the visual centers of lines even if the label must bend up to 60 degrees. Bend 20. Specifying a smaller maximum bend tells the system to move labels away from acute bends and towards regions of the line that are straighter, with less acute bends: The Bend parameter has no effect if curve has not been chosen in the right box of the Label control.
Bend spacing	Applies when curve has been chosen in the right box of the Label control to specify how labels should be placed. When labels are curved to follow the bends in curved lines, Bend spacing adds small amounts of space between individual letters in the curved text at each bend to improve readability. The amount of added space depends on the bend angle: sharper turns get more space. Bend spacing defines the maximum amount of space to add to a single bend. The amount of space is specified either in absolute units, for example, 40, meaning 40 points, or in relative units for example, 50%, (default), meaning half the font size. The illustrations below use an offset of 100% to move the label next to the line and not directly on top of the line. Bend spacing 50% (default). In a 12 point font size, the spacing between characters at a bend can be up to 6 points: Bend spacing 100%. The spacing between characters at a bend can be up to 12 points: Bend spacing 200%. The spacing between characters at a bend can be up to 24 points, leading to an unpleasant effect: Bend spacing is a parameter to be used with moderation.
Smooth tolerance	Labels placed on lines follow the curves of lines. Lines are preprocessed to create smoother curves for the placement of labels and bending labels when curve has been chosen in the right box of the Label control to specify how labels should be placed. The Smooth tolerance parameter specifies a distance in % of the font size used for the label that specifies how far the underlying line can bend and still be considered within the smoothing band. The distance is specified either in absolute units, for example, 40, meaning 40 points, or in relative units for example, 50%, (default), meaning half the font size. The illustrations below use an offset of 100% to move the label next to the line and not directly on top of the line. Smooth tolerance 50% (default): Smooth tolerance 100%. Given the shape of the line, there is a slight change on the left-most part of he label, moving away from the line to a less acute bend. Smooth tolerance 200%. The right part of the label moves further away from the line as if the line were averaged (smoothed) away from the slight bend on the right.
Left / right offset	For line labels, the distance from the line at which to place the label. The default offset of 0 means to place labels directly on top of lines. For offsets greater than 0, the system will try to place labels to either the left or right side of each branch until it finds enough space on one side of the other to place labels on that side, after which it will continue to try to place labels on that side if the Label parameter for number of labels is repeat, meaning to place more than one label. The offset distance is specified either in absolute units, for example, 40, meaning 40 points, or in relative units for example, 50%, (default), meaning half the font size. Greater offsets also result in less acute bends to curved labels, as the effects of bends in lines are averaged away the farther the label is positioned from the line. Left / right offset 0 (default). The label must bend hard at the acute bend to stay on top of the line: Left / right offset 75%. With a 12 point font size, a 75% offset moves the label 9 points from the center of the line. The label can bend slightly less acutely and still stay parallel to the line: Left / right offset 100%. With a 12 point font size, a 100% offset moves the label 12 points from the center of the line. The label now has a visibly smoother bend: Left / right offset 400%. With a 12 point font size, a 400% offset moves the label 48 points from the center of the line. The farther from the line, the more the bend in the label can be averaged over more characters:
Prefer positions above line	When a Left / right offset is specified, instead of choosing the first available side (left or right), try to choose the line side that places labels above the line. Prefer positions above line checked (default). The system will try to place offset labels above lines: Prefer positions above line not checked. The label may appear above or below the line:

Example: Vertical Positioning within Text Frames in Layouts

The Align control in the Position tab provides a horizontal alignment control for center, left, or right justification of multi-line labels as well as a vertical position control that controls the position of text within text frames in layouts, either centered or aligned to the top or bottom of the text frame.

Suppose we have a layout in which we have created a text frame.

We Alt-click the text frame to pick it. That launches the Style tab in the Info pane for that text frame:

To edit the position of the text frame, we click on the total style button for the label text and in the pull down menu we choose More...

That launches the Label Style dialog. We click on the Position tab.

In the pull down menu for the right hand Align setting, we choose top.

Press the OK button to apply the new choice.

Back in the Info pane, press the Update Frame button to apply the change to the layout.

The text in the text frame is now aligned to the top of the frame.

If we like, back in the Info pane's Style tab, we can click the Total Style button to once again launch the Label Style dialog, and then in the Position tab we can choose bottom in the right hand Align control. Press OK to apply the change, and then Update Frame to update the frame.

Choosing bottom aligns the text in the text frame to the bottom of the frame.

Label Placement and the Bend Parameter

Lines in Manifold can consist of a single, straight segment between the beginning and end of the line, or they can consist of multiple segments joined end to end from the beginning to the end of the line. When a line consists of many segments placed end to end, the angle between those segments can give the illusion of a smoothly curving line, or of a line that has angular zig zags, or effects in between. Lines can also be created from curvilinear segments, such as splines or circular arcs. When labels are created based on such curvilinear segments, the label will be curved to follow the curved segment.

Lines consisting of curvilinear segments or created from more than one segment are called curved lines in Manifold (whether or not they use curvilinear segments), and labels created for those line are called curved labels.

When curved labels are automatically created and placed at the location of their originating curved lines, Manifold tries to place those labels so that the curves in the line do not force the label to conform to acute changes in direction, to avoid bending the text of the label so much that adjacent characters running into each other creates an unpleasant effect or impedes legibility.

The order of priority for placing line labels is:

Center of the line - Place the label near the center of the visible portion of the line.
Prefer straight segments - Place the label near a straight line segment that is long enough to fit it. If there are multiple such segments, use the segment closest to the center of the visible portion of the line. Text that runs in a straight line is more legible.
Avoid acute bends in the label - If there are no straight segments reasonably available for placing the label, then place the label on multiple segments, but avoid placing the label onto a sequence of segments with high curvature, that is, with angles between adjacent segments greater than the Bend angle specified.
Multiline text, box, or icon - Labels with multiple lines of text, with a box, or with an icon are always placed near straight line segments without curving the label.

The default choice of 60 for Bend provides a reasonable compromise between text legibility and providing opportunities for placing labels on curved lines.

Bend Example

We have a layer with multi-segment lines that has a text field for each line. We create labels from the lines using the text field, and we drag and drop the resulting labels layer into a map.

The illustration above shows one of the lines. The text field has the name of the line (a boundary between administrative zones) in three languages: English, Mandarin, and Greek.

If we Alt-click the line in the lines layer to pick it, we can see small boxes at the ends of each of the segments that make up the line. This particular line is made up of three straight segments: a short segment followed by a longer segment which in turn is followed by another short segment.

At this zoom level, only the longer segment in the middle of the line is long enough for the relatively long label text, so that is where the system places the label. Placing the text label on a straight line segment results in text that is also straight, which is more legible than curved text.

Suppose we now edit the line to add two new coordinates to the long, straight segment, so what was a long straight segment becomes three shorter segments with acute angles (large "bends") between them. None of the proposed new segments is long enough to fit the entire text of the label at the current zoom.

All of the angles between the new segments are greater than the default maximum Bend parameter of 60 degrees. If we do not increase the maximum Bend parameter in the Position tab, the system will avoid placing the label text so it overlaps those acute angles.

When we commit the edit, the system must reposition the label to avoid the acute angles. There are no straight segments long enough to fit the entire label text at this zoom, so the system tries for next best and place the label to overlap two segments that have a bend between them, but where the bend is acceptable, less than the default 60 degree maximum Bend angle.

We unpick the new line (Alt-click anywhere outside of the line) to see how the label has been moved to avoid bends that are more acute than allowed.

Labels and Curvilinear Segments

Lines in Manifold can use straight segments or curved segments or a mixture of straight and curved segments. Curved segments can be circle arcs, ellipse arcs, or splines.

When a line label is positioned on one or more line segments, the system will prioritize placing the label on a straight segment that is long enough at the current zoom to fit the label's text. If there is more than one such straight segment, the system will use the segment closest to the middle of the line as it is displayed onscreen. If there are no straight segments long enough to fit the label's text, the system will position the label over curved segments as well as straight segments.

If a label is positioned over a curved segment it will follow the curve of the curved segment.

Consider the label seen above. It has been created from a line that consists of a single straight segment. The label has been created from a text field that has a relatively long text string in it.

We can Alt-click the label to pick it, which picks the line from which it was created, showing it in the display to allow us to edit it.

We can click one of the two ends to place the picked line into editing mode, and then we can right-click anywhere on the line to call up a context menu of editing choices. We choose Convert to Spline to convert the segment to a spline. We can then move the editing handles for the spline (not seen in the illustration above, as they are higher and lower than the view) to form the spline curve seen above.

Saving changes and then unpicking the label, we see that the label text follows the spline curve.

Options Apply within the Tab

The various options provided with tabs are compartmentalized to those tabs. We can tinker with the appearance of labels within the Symbol dialog by choosing a tab and changing the settings within that tab, without altering the settings in other tabs.

For example, in the illustration above we have clicked on the Symbol tab and then we have checked the Shadow box, changed the offset to 1 and have specified white color for the shadow. The result as seen in the preview is a drop shadow that is applied to the label text, but not to the sidecar icon or to the box. Other characteristics of the style, including settings for the icon and box and the other settings for the label text (the "symbol") have not been changed.

In the illustration above, we have clicked on the Icon tab and have checked the Halo box, using a Padding of 3 points and a halo color that is the same light brown as the background of the box (we picked it with the eyedropper tool) but made an even lighter tone of brown with the More choice.

Total Style Button

We can specify all properties at once using the total Style button. Suppose we have a label style that we have previously specified which uses a sidecar icon.

We click the total Style button. A drop down menu appears that provides popular label symbology options.

To launch the full Label Style dialog we click the More... button at the bottom of the menu. A typical configuration for the Label Style dialog appears below:

The dialog is very similar to the label symbology dialog shown above, except that it has four additional controls below the Preview pane, which duplicate the Stroke Color, Fill Color, Size and Font properties controls from the main Style pane. A Shadow using darker brown color with an offset of 2 points has been applied.

The additional controls make it possible to configure label style entirely within the dialog, getting a sample of what the total label style will look like. For example, we can click the Font property button and change the Scala Sans Caps Italics font to a Segoe UI Bold font. We instantly see the change in the preview pane. If we like the total style thus created, we can click OK in the Label Style dialog to apply it. If we do not like the effect, we can click Cancel.

The Icon and Box tabs in the Label Style dialog allow us to alter those characteristics as desired.

The Icon tab allows us to choose a sidecar icon for the label, if desired. In the illustration above we see that the Circle symbol from the Standard collection is used, with blue Fill color and black Stroke color, using a Stroke width of 2 and an icon size that is 100% in size in comparison to the label text. A Shadow for the icon has also been applied, using the same brown color used for the shadow on the text. The icon has been moved 6 points to the left to provide more space between the sidecar icon and the text.

See the Style: Label Icon Placement topic for illustrations and details on how the Angle setting controls the placement of the sidecar icon into one of twelve possible relative positions.

The Box tab allows us to add a box around the label and to control the appearance of the box. In the illustration above we have added a box with rounded corners using a dark brown Stroke color and a very light brown fill color. A Stroke width of 2 points provides a broader border for the box, and a Padding of 8 points provides space between the icon and text parts of the label and the surrounding box. A black color drop shadow with an offset of 1 point provides a subtle sense of three dimensionality to the box.

In the illustration above the Stroke color and Fill color for the box are based on the same color used for the preview background. We used the eyedropper color picker tool to first choose the same color as the preview background, and then we used the More... command when choosing colors to darken or to lighten the color that was picked. The resulting colors are the same tone as the background color but darker or lighter, which provides visual compatibility.

Label Symbology Examples

Following are typical examples of combinations of Symbol, Icon and Box tab settings using black as the Stroke Color for the font, Tahoma as the Font and Size value of 12. Option examples use a variety of colors for Stroke color and white for Fill color.

	Choosing default text in the Symbol tab with no other effects produces straightforward text.
	In the Box tab,choosing the Circle box, with a Stroke width of 2 and Padding of 6. with a Stroke color of green for the box. The Circle box is not well suited for long text labels since the circles become too big, but it can be a good choice for single letters or numbers.
	The Rectangle box choice, with a Stroke width of 2 and Padding of 6, using a dark brown color for the box's Stroke color.
	The same Rectangle box, but using transparent color for the box's Stroke color and Padding of 3. Using transparent color for Stroke makes the box's border disappear, leaving only the white fill color, while a smaller padding makes the white background box smaller.
	The Rounded Rectangle box choice, with a Stroke width of 2 and Padding of 6, using blue Stroke color for the box
	The same Rounded Rectangle box, with a Stroke width of 1 and transparent color for the box's Fill color.
	In the Symbol tab we check the Shadow box to apply a drop shadow with an Angle of 135 and an Offset of 10%. The color for the shadow is a darker shade of the light brown color that is used as a Fill color for areas in the Regions drawing.
	The same Shadow choice, but instead of using a black Stroke color for the label text, using a lighter shade of the background color for the Stroke color for the text.
	The same Shadow option, but in the Icon tab we have chosen a sidecar icon using a castle symbol from the Glyphs collection. The icon that uses black Stroke color and green Fill color, with an Icon size of 150%. The Move option for the icon has been checked, using an Angle of 270 and an offset of 2 points, to provide more space between the icon and the label text.. Once again, we have used black color for the Stroke color of the label text in the Symbol tab.
	In the Symbol tab we have checked the Halo option, using white as the halo color and a Padding width of 1.5 points for the halo.

Notes

Nomenclature - The word format is traditionally used in GIS to mean display characteristics. A more contemporary word is style, hence the name of the dialog in Manifold. In this documentation we normally use the words style and format as interchangeable synonyms.

Multiline Labels - If the text in the text box contains multiple lines, the label will appear with multiple lines as well.

Styling fields in Tables - The text taken from table fields for use in labels will be formatted based on the style, if any, assigned to that table field in the table window. We can change the format, that is, the style, for how fields are displayed in tables by right-clicking the column head for the field and choosing Style. That allows us to choose different ways of displaying dates and times, or different styles for latitude and longitude numbers, such as decimal degrees or degrees, minutes, and decimal seconds. See the Styling Table Fields topic.

Videos

5 Minute Tutorial - Labels from Fields and Expressions

Since the videos below were created, the Style pane has acquired a label text section that gives the text pattern for creating labels. However, all information shown in the videos below on how to format labels in terms of colors, symbology, sizes and so on are exactly the same so the videos are still a great help in learning how to format labels.

Manifold 9 - Style Pane Quickstart - Points - A fast and easy introduction to the new Style and formatting capabilities for Pionts in Manifold Release 9 and Viewer. Learn how to rapidly change colors, symbology, sizes and rotations including the use of vector symbols, fonts and even bitmap images. The new system is "always on" and immediately shows changes in the main workspace for rapid, easy choice of exactly the visual effect we want. This video gets right to the basics used every day.

Manifold 9 - Style Pane Quickstart - Lines - Learn how to use the spectacular new style capabilities for lines in Manifold Release 9 and Manifold Viewer to create an endless variety lines quickly and easily. See how to add arrowheads or other symbols to the ends of lines, how to customize lines with repeating symbols, how to start lines with custom symbols and how to add accessory left and right lines for exactly the right effect.

Manifold 9 - Style Pane Quickstart - Areas - New area style capabilities in Release 9 and Viewer make it easy to rapidly create spectacular visuals that get the story across with clarity and compelling effect. Learn how to use point and click controls to fill areas, control borders, draw "inner area" effects and "outer area" effects for a seeming infinite range of options, all available with a rapid click of the mouse. Use bitmap images for area effects too!

Manifold 9 - Style Pane Quickstart - Labels - Recent builds of Release 9 have added extensive new style facilities for labels, making it easy to choose a wide variety of effects, including sidecar icons, box frames, drop shadows and many others. This video shows how fast and easy point-and-click dialogs make it easy to create exactly the label look you want. Works for the free Manifold Viewer, too!

Manifold 9 - Bitmap Styles - A quick, first look at very extensive additions to Style, enabling use of bitmaps for styles, inner and outer area hatches, left and right line style additions and many other new features.