Text tool in GIMP 2.8

A quick word on the text tool in GIMP 2.8. It has been greatly improved over previous versions and is definitely more intuitive and works really how you would expect it to.

Choose the A icon from the Tool Options menu, think of it as a square and click + drag to the size you think you will need, don't worry too much about the size of the text this can be re sized after.

You can also choose dynamic from the Box drop down menu, this will wrap the text box around the text and always keep it to the size needed.

If you would like dynamic by default simply choose the text tool and click on the canvas without dragging.

Start typing some text into the box, click the icon in the Tool Options menu that has Aa then cycle through the different fonts, you will notice the text picks up the changed font immediately and displays it in the preview. It also works with size, color and all of the other options available for text.

When you are finished editing the text simply select a new tool to deselect the text tool.

• Use editor will open an inline editor, this may come in useful if you are typing a lot of text. I am usually only editing a few words so never use this feature but I can see why it would come in handy.
• Antialiasing will smooth out the font for you, zoom in and look at an O, notice when antialiasing is enabled the O looks smooth, and when it is disabled the O looks jaggedy!