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Chapter 25
It's not a simple task to describe what makes a shape smart. The problem is that a truly smart shape requires no thought from the user. A door shape snaps into place on a wall. A background sizes to fit a page. The shape simply works as expected. So how do you describe something so transparent? The fact is, shape designers think long and hard about how to improve shape functionality, and often the smartest shapes in terms of the way they're programmed are the easiest to use. That's the SmartShapes conundrum.
However, anyone with a better idea about how a shape should work can make a shape smart. The place to start is in the ShapeSheet window, Visio's built-in spreadsheet for defining all the properties of a shape—its size, position, format, behavior, and interactions with other shapes. This chapter takes you beyond the drawing page and into the ShapeSheet window, where smart shapes are created.