Curved text for tc-title

#1

I’m trying to change the default tiddler title to be curved along an SVG path (the top half of a circle). Could someone give me a pointer? I can see how to change the simple CSS properties like the color or font by just updating the CSS for tc-title on a Stylesheet-tagged tiddler, but not how to do something more complex like curving the text along a circle.

Thanks in advance!

#2

Have you seen https://tiddlywiki.com/#Making%20curved%20text%20with%20SVG.
Fun to play with.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks so much! I just needed to make a macro out of this and apply it to the title for the template tiddler

#4

Perhaps use the title cascade to trigger an alternate title when some condition exists such as the field curved-title=yes, or containing the curved title template to use?

Do share back how this looks, and possibly how you did it.

The first thing that comes to mind is any curved title will demand more valuable screen space.

#5

Sure! Here’s what it looks like with Krystal:

Screenshot 2024-07-26 at 19.20.17
Screenshot 2024-07-26 at 19.20.172230×1806 169 KB

  1. The tiddler TextOnPath is tagged $:/tags/Macro and contains the following:
\define textOnPath(text)
<svg width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 150 800 260" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" style="background:white;">
  <defs>
    <path id="MyPath" d="M 100 500 A 300 300 0 1 1 700 500" />
  </defs>
  <use xlink:href="#MyPath" fill="none" stroke="#ffffff"/>
  <text font-family="'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif" font-size="42.5" text-anchor="middle">
    <textPath xlink:href="#MyPath" startOffset="50%">
      $text$
    </textPath>
  </text>
</svg>
\end
  1. I updated $:/core/ui/ViewTemplate so it now looks like
\define folded-state()
$:/state/folded/$(currentTiddler)$
\end

\define cancel-delete-tiddler-actions(message) 
<$action-sendmessage $message="tm-$message$-tiddler"/>
\end

\import [all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/Macro/View]!is[draft]] [all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/Global/View]!is[draft]]

<$vars storyTiddler=<<currentTiddler>> tiddlerInfoState=<<qualify "$:/state/popup/tiddler-info">>>
<div data-tiddler-title=<<currentTiddler>> data-tags={{!!tags}} class={{{ [all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/ClassFilters/TiddlerTemplate]!is[draft]] :map:flat[subfilter{!!text}] tc-tiddler-frame tc-tiddler-view-frame [<currentTiddler>is[tiddler]then[tc-tiddler-exists]] [<currentTiddler>is[missing]!is[shadow]then[tc-tiddler-missing]] [<currentTiddler>is[shadow]then[tc-tiddler-exists tc-tiddler-shadow]] [<currentTiddler>is[shadow]is[tiddler]then[tc-tiddler-overridden-shadow]] [<currentTiddler>is[system]then[tc-tiddler-system]] [{!!class}] [<currentTiddler>tags[]encodeuricomponent[]addprefix[tc-tagged-]] +[join[ ]] }}} role="article">

<!-- Replace title rendering with the SVG text path macro -->
<div class="tc-title">
  <$macrocall $name="textOnPath" text={{!!title}}/>
</div>


<$list filter="[all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/ViewTemplate]!is[draft]]" variable="listItem">
  <$transclude tiddler=<<listItem>>/>
</$list>
</div>
</$vars>
  1. and finally I added .tc-titlebar h2 {display:none;} to the end of $:/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base

so far, so good. (This is the start of a larger project to make my tiddlywiki look like a Kandinsky-esque set of stained glass windows, so these rounded titles will go around the rose stained glass(:slight_smile: )

My only lingering complaints/things I’m still trying to debug:

  1. I somehow the great part of Krystal where it vertically displays the titles of tiddlers open on the side. This works before I change $:/core/ui/ViewTemplate and doesn’t work after I add my code to that template so that is definitely the minimal place where things are breaking.
  2. I need to deal with cases where the title of a tiddler is too long to fit on this semi-circle. I would like it to go on to the next line for a concentric semi-circle but I’m still playing around with how to do this.

(and here’s the website if it’s useful for anyone https://curved-titles.tiddlyhost.com/)

3 Likes
#6

Update – a better way to do this (using ViewTemplate tagging)

  1. (as before) The tiddler TextOnPath is tagged $:/tags/Macro and contains the following:
\define textOnPath(text)
<svg width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 150 800 260" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" style="background:white;">
  <defs>
    <path id="MyPath" d="M 100 500 A 300 300 0 1 1 700 500" />
  </defs>
  <use xlink:href="#MyPath" fill="none" stroke="#ffffff"/>
  <text font-family="'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif" font-size="42.5" text-anchor="middle">
    <textPath xlink:href="#MyPath" startOffset="50%">
      $text$
    </textPath>
  </text>
</svg>
\end
  1. create tiddler: addCurvedText tagged $:/tags/ViewTemplate. Body:
<div class="tc-titlebar">
  <$macrocall $name="textOnPath" text={{!!title}}/>
</div>

  1. Add "addCurvedText " to the start of the list in the list field of $:/tags/ViewTemplate.

  2. (as before) I added .tc-titlebar h2 {display:none;} to the end of $:/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base

(Not only is this cleaner but it also fixes complaint 1 from above)

#7

Personally, I think this breaks the design decisions made for the title field. As the examples show where the buttons and tags appear. Personally I would look at introducing an additional element to the view template, one which works more nicely with the other elements. A bit like a hero image, and I don’t see a problem with displaying the curved title along with the standard title (Even if deemphasised).

  • But this is a personal design sensibility.
#8

That’s fair. That’s part of why I mentioned the Kandinsky-stained-glass part: I think (hope) this curved title will make sense with the rest of the design once I’ve finished. But I’ll post more photos once it’s finished and I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. (:

1 Like