Editing Text

Not all text needs to be in service of buttons or submenusedit and add your own text boxes. The following steps apply to changing the contents of text blocks; in the next chapter, I'll cover more settings such as changing the font and style.

To edit text:

1.	Click once to select a button or title, and then click again to select the text (Figure 20.21). Don't double-click the button, however, because that will either play its movie or go to a submenu. Figure 20.21. Click a button twice (but don't double-click) to edit its text.
2.	Type your text. Hit Return or Enter to break the linean improvement that frustrated me in early versions of iDVD (Figure 20.22). Figure 20.22. Create multi-line text boxes by pressing Return or Enter.
3.	Click outside the text field to deselect it and accept your changes.

To add new text:

1.	Choose Add Text from the Project menu, or press Command-K. A new text block appears (Figure 20.23). Figure 20.23. Add text blocks that aren't buttons or submenus.
2.	Edit the text as described above.
3.	Position the text by dragging it where you want it; unlike the default behavior of buttons and menu titles, which snap to an invisible grid, a new text block can be placed anywhere on the screen. (See the next chapter for more on positioning buttons.)

To delete text:

1.	Click a text block once to select it.
2.	Press the Delete key, or choose Delete from the Edit menu. The text vanishes in a puff of smoke.

To insert special characters:

1.	Click a text block once to select it, then click again to edit it.
2.	Choose Special Characters from the Edit menu. The Character Palette appears.
3.	Select the character you want to use in the palette.
4.	Click the Insert button to add the character to your text.

Tips

• Some televisions don't display everything that you see in iDVD's screen. To make sure your text will appear, choose Show TV Safe Area from the View menu, or press Command-T, and position the text and buttons within the area that's not shaded (Figure 20.24).

  Figure 20.24. Items placed outside the safe area may get cropped out when played back on a television.

  

• If you're working in widescreen mode, choose Show Standard Crop Area from the View menu, or press Command-Option-T, to see where a standard-definition television showing a full-screen image will crop your menu (Figure 20.25).

  Figure 20.25. The edges of widescreen projects can get hacked off by standard-definition TVs, but it won't matter if you use the Standard Crop Area indicator to position your text.