The palette windows contain the tools and options that bring Canvastic to life. Each is described below. You can show and hide individual palette windows by selecting the appropriate menu items in the Window menu. The size and position of palette windows can be locked by checking the Lock Palettes checkbox in the Preferences window. When the palette windows are not locked, you may move them by clicking and dragging their window title.

Lock/Unlock: You can un-lock the palettes for quick changes by using a special key combination and clicking in a blank area of any palette. Blank areas are those without buttons but not on the title bar. Anywhere in the Preview palette will work. On Macintosh, hold down the Control and Option keys while clicking. On Windows hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys while clicking. This feature allows teachers to customize the environment quickly for individual students as needed.

Tools Palette

The Tools palette contains icons for all of the available paint and object tools in Canvastic. All of the paint tools appear in the top row of the palette next to the paint tool indicator . All of the object tools appear in the bottom row of the palette next to the object tool indicator . Click a tool icon to select it. Once selected, click (or click and drag) in the canvas to use the tool. The function of each tool is described on the Paint tools page and the Object tools page in this documentation.

When the palettes are unlocked (see preferences), you may remove a tool icon from the palette window by using the commands for hiding tools in the side menu . You may restore a tool icon to the palette window by using the commands for showing tools in the side menu .

When the palettes are unlocked, you may resize the Tools palette by choosing Tool Size... from the side menu . You may want to enlarge the icons to make it easier for younger users to click them.

Colors Palette

The Colors palette contains columns of standard color choices for line , fill , and text .

Click a color to select it for use. Double-click a color to change it, using the operating system's standard color picker. Add more colors to the palette by using the side menu and choosing Add Color...

When the palettes are unlocked (see preferences), you may resize the Colors palette by choosing Swatch Size... from the side menu . You may want to enlarge the colors to make it easier for younger users to click them.

Transparency

You can adjust the tone and transparency of the colors selected by dragging the small sliders at the bottom of the palette. The top of the slider is totally saturated solid color and the bottom is almost completely transparent with just a hint of the selected color showing. There is a slider for the line, fill and text color choices.

This image shows the same text box object at full color, half transparency, and full transparency.

Graphic objects made with the object tools with transparency applied will allow objects on lower layers to show through. See the Layers section and Object Tools section for more information on these features.

Painted graphics will allow the background layer to show through as this image shows. The pink line was made with the brush tool set to half transparency.

Otherwise the sliders lighten the color’s tone as this image shows. This is the same image but the photo was removed from the document’s background layer.

Some aspects of the Colors palette can be controlled in the preferences:

You can disable the color picker usually accessed by double clicking.
You can link all 3 color choices for very young students who don't use the text or word processing tools.
You can link the line and fill colors for very young students who use the text or word processing tools.
Note: You can un-lock the colors for quick changes by using a special key combination. On Macintosh, hold down the Control and Option keys while double-clicking. On Windows hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys while double-clicking. This allows you to enter the system’s color picker even if the Colors palette is locked.

Choices Palette

The Choices palette allows you to modify the settings for individual tools as you are using them. Drag the Line slider to grow or shrink the line width for the selected object or shape about to be drawn. You may also click on the line to change this setting.

There are additional options for text formatting, including font, size, and style. When changing the size of the text you can either type the number, use the up and down arrows on the left to change the size 1 point at a time, or use the arrow on the right to choose a customary size from a list.

When a Clip Art tool is selected, the Choices palette displays thumbnail pictures of the available clip art that may be added to the canvas.

Preview Palette

As its name implies, the Preview palette displays a preview of what is about to be added to the canvas. It reflects the current selections in the Tools, Colors, and Choices palettes.

Browser Palette

The Browser palette shows small thumbnail images of your open documents. Click on a thumbnail to bring that document to the front. It is a great tool for young users to switch between documents without having to learn to navigate through the Window menu.

Document Palette

The Document palette holds the four shortcut buttons for often-used commands that deal with Canvastic Documents. You can adjust the sizes of the tools by using the side menu button.

New Document tool creates a new, blank document on screen.
Open tool displays the open dialog box so you can find and open a previously saved document.
Save tool displays the save dialog box so you can name and save your document.
Print tool prints your document.