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Ability to set default units for all templates Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I realise the way to change the default units is to create new templates and change the Ruler Units. This seems to make it unusually difficult to switch between Imperial and Metric Units.

In my mind it would be much better to be able to set a global default in the OmniGraffle preferences or even better would be if it was based on the Measurement Units System Default.
 
Agreed. It's really not a very good way to handle this.

Is there really not a simple way to default your units to metric? Most of the world uses metric!

Maybe OmniGroup could supply a set of simple-to-add metric templates to replace the imperial unit ones, so that 1000s of users don't all have to go through the process of converting their own templates.

But, really... this should be a global pref.

Steve C.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevecopley View Post
Most of the world uses metric!
Yes, but Apple domestic computer sales outstrip international sales and that suggests the majority of OmniGraffle users might not be in a metric environment... That's not to say that the proposed change wouldn't be a good thing, just that metric users are quite possibly a minority, not a majority as you suggest.
 
Here's my set of metricized templates. Just unzip the attachment to:
/Users/~/Library/Application Support/OmniGraffle/Templates/

I've converted all inches to cm, all grids to 1cm with 4 subdivisions and the default alignment spacing is 1cm. (I left the inch-based Space Planning templates alone, because there are already metric versions)
Attached Files
File Type: zip Templates.zip (55.9 KB, 1766 views)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
Yes, but Apple domestic computer sales outstrip international sales and that suggests the majority of OmniGraffle users might not be in a metric environment... That's not to say that the proposed change wouldn't be a good thing, just that metric users are quite possibly a minority, not a majority as you suggest.
Before you casually write off the world outside of the USA as a minority, please read this article about how international sales have rescued Apple this year and see the first two quarter sales figures that show how domestic sales only outstrip international sales by 4%.

Article:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ail_slump.html


Sales figures for 2009:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/21results.html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/04/22results.html

It would seem a foolish business practice to alienate the world outside the USA by not making it easier to allow metric measurements - this is the first piece of computer software I have encountered that makes it so difficult - but presumably Omnigraffle have their reasons. Regardless, unless they change their position, they won't be getting any of my money.

:-(
 
I too would like to echo the sentiment that I am frankly amazed that there is not a way to globally change the units from inches to metric units. Visio has had this ability for ages.

Thanks to the user that posted metric templates.

I am evaluating Omnigraffle but I was amazed that I could not find a way to change the units in the preferences. I already have negative vibes towards this application without getting too far. One would hope that the user experience improves or I will stay with Visio in a virtual machine.

I found the templates work around thanks to Google.
 
Isn't this essentially a one-time operation? I know that if I had to choose, I'd rather they didn't implement something that I only had to do once, rather than some other comparably difficult change the absence of which was going to bite me on a ongoing basis.
 
It really is quite an arrogant attitude to write the rest of the world off.
A quick google found that the USA along with 2 other countries (Liberia and Myanmar) are the only ones to still use a non metric system.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_c..._Metric_system
 
Before we bite the hand that feeds us, let us remember how much of the old-world charm and plain good sense of the United States derives from the fact that it skipped the 19th century.

You can see this in the formal manners, the widespread look of puzzlement at the mention of Darwin, and the obviously 18th century banknotes.

In fact it is not widely appreciated that having made such an extraordinary success of the 18th century, bringing forth a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, the US decided to extend that century by over a 100 years, skipping the 19c (and the development of the metric system) altogether.

The US was, of course, tragically dragged into the 20c by the First World War, but took some time to grasp the full implications of that strange and terrible century, and thus managed not only avoid its worst excesses, but actually to provide a new home to many of its casualties.

In my view we should all be profoundly grateful for this unusual historical path, and the fossilised preservation of an imperial system of measurement seems a very small price to pay for it (even if it does produce the occasional technical glitch).

Nor should we exaggerate the uniqueness of the US in this respect. There are two other notable beacons of resistance to an international system of measurement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Non-Metric_User.svg

--

Last edited by RobTrew; 2010-03-04 at 06:16 AM.. Reason: incompatible units
 
Down Under (where I am) we have been metricated for years and the sky hasn't fallen in...but enuf, my main pain at the moment is the need to wrap text - or rather bend text along a curved line. I can't for the life of me see how to do this. I'm using OmniGraffle Pro 5.2.1. If you can help, please do!!

If OGP isn't capable of doing this, what software is, please? And, OPG developers - can this be included, please?

Cheers

VB
 
 


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