Working with Toastmasters templates

working-with-toastmasters-templates.md

Working with Toastmasters templates

The Toastmasters Resource Library contains various branded templates, including Name Tents to identify attendees during a meeting.

The Name Tents Zip file contains two file types:

1. Editable PDF
2. Microsoft Word Template (.dotx extension)

Editable PDF

This contains graphics and an editable field for the attendee's name.

Application support:

• Preview - not supported - editing the file removes the formatting from the name field, export is not editable (see below)
• Sketch - not supported - the name field does not appear
• Pixelmator - not supported - the name field is not editable
• PDF-Form-Filler Lite - not supported - the name field is not editable
• Adobe Acrobat Reader DC - supported

Editing in Preview

Notes from before I realised that Acrobat was a better option:

I decided to edit the PDF in Preview, replacing the text fields with my own.

Generating a usable 'Black' font style

The Toastmasters Brand Manual says that the brand fonts are:

• Headings - Gotham (paid) or Montserrat (free)
• Body copy - Myriad Pro (paid) or Source Sans Pro (free)

I tried both free alternatives with bolding enabled, but could not match the weight of the original name text. Presumably the file uses a Black style, rather than Bold.

I decided to create a font which only had the Black style, converting SourceSansPro-Black.ttf to SourceSansProBlack-Regular.ttf

• Apple Font Book - no editing features
• FontForge - couldn't open the TTF file
• Bird Font - works

Process:

1. Open Font Book
2. Locate the font > Right click > Show in Finder
3. Copy SourceSansPro-Black.ttf to Documents/SourceSansProBlack/SourceSansProBlack-Regular.ttf
4. Right click > Open with Other > BirdFontNonCommercial.app
5. Hamburger Menu > Name and Description
   • PostScript Name: SourceSansProBlack-Regular
   • Name: Source Sans Pro Black
   • Style: Regular
   • Weight: 400
   • Full Name: Source Sans Pro Black Regular
   • Unique Identifier: 2.021;ADBO;SourceSansProBlack-Regular
   • Description: Renamed duplicate of SourceSansPro-Black.ttf, for use in Apple Preview (which doesn't suppport the Black style).
6. Save > SourceSansPro-Black.bf
7. Hamburger Menu > Import and Export > Export Fonts
   1. File Name: Source Sans Pro Black Regular
   2. File Name Mac: Source Sans Pro Black Regular Mac
   3. Formats > TTF
   4. Export
8. Locate font > Double-click > Font Book opens > Install Font

I repeated this process for Montserrat-Black.ttf.

I compared the fonts and found that SourceSansProBlack was more legible.

Layout

Rotating the text requires using two fingers / thumb-finger on the trackpad (!). The toolbar's Rotate button rotates the whole document. After this I noticed some blue artefacts on top of the logos.

Colour pick the colour from the existing text.

There are no measuring tools in Preview. I use XScope which has rules and can measure the gap between two objects.

I couldn't find a way to delete the old editable textbox.

Export

I wasn't allow to Save the original or a duplicate. Finder says that the file has Security: Password Encrypted,

I wasn't allowed to export using the existing file name with appended text.

I saved with a different file name.

Result

The exported file was 134kb smaller than the original file. But my text wasn't editable in the exported file :(

Microsoft Word Template

• Google Docs - not supported - graphics don't appear
• Open Office 4 - not supported - graphics appear squashed or not at all, the name field does not appear