• Introduction
• Manual has moved!
• Why use Inkscape?
• Professional Software
• About this Book
• Installing Inkscape
• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Gnu/Linux
• Getting Around in Inkscape
• Interface
• Managing the Workspace
• Drawing with Geometrical Shapes
• Ways of Drawing with Inkscape
• Shape Tools
• The Selector Tool
• Squares and Rectangles
• Circles, Ellipses and Arcs
• Stars and Polygons
• Spirals
• 3D-Boxes
• Freehand Drawing
• Freehand Drawing
• The Pencil Tool
• The Pen Tool
• The Calligraphy Tool
• Boolean Operations
• About Nodes
• Editing Paths
• Stacking Order
• Align and Distribute
• The Node Tool
• Tracing an Image
• The Tweak Tool
• Color
• Colors
• The Color Palette
• The Fill And Stroke Dialog
• Custom Colors
• Copying a Color
• Creating Gradients
• Creating a Mesh Gradient
• Using Patterns
• Modifying Patterns
• Creating Custom Patterns
• Strokes
• Markers
• Ordering Markers, Stroke and Fill
• Customizing Markers
• Text
• Text
• Writing Text
• Styling Text
• Changing Text Color
• Moving and Rotating Letters
• Putting Text on a Path
• Flowing Text into a Frame
• Creating Custom Fonts
• Advanced Techniques
• Beyond the Basics
• Saving Your Work
• Exporting a PDF File
• Exporting a PNG File
• Exporting to other File Formats
• Importing Pictures into a Document
• Importing other File Formats
• Copying and Duplicating Objects
• Cloning Objects
• Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
• Clipping and Masking
• Filters
• Extensions
• Live Path Effects
• Where to Go from Here
• Test Chapter (for trying out styling)

Putting Text on a Path

The adjustment of letters' and words' positions are merely the finishing touch. More often, it is useful to start out by layouting the text as a whole in a drawing. Inkscape offers two options for this, which are accessible via Text > Put on Path and Text > Flow into Frame.

To make a text follow a path's curvature, you need to do this:

• 1. Create a path that will serve as the base line for the words and letters of the text. The path can be created by using the shape tools, and combining shapes with the Boolean operations, or by drawing it directly with one of the tools that draw paths.
• 2. Write the text directly on the canvas, after clicking on it with the mouse. It's not useful to use flowed text in a frame for this.
• 3. With the Selector tool, select the path and the text. Then make Inkscape do the work by selecting Text > Put on Path from the menu.

The result will show up on the canvas immediately. The text can still be edited any time: You can change its contents or its style whenever you like. The path will remain editable, too: You can shape its curves, add or delete nodes, move it etc.