Many flowcharts are ordered top-to-bottom, and have large numbers of steps ordered in vertical columns.
If a user wants to make a step wider to accommodate more text, then can make the shape taller, or wider. If they choose wider, they most resize the shape, then re-align the shape with the column. Some sort of modifier key combination (like Shift or Ctrl, but something that hasn't been used) would be nice for making the shape resize about its horizontal center.
Alternatives:
- ShapeSheet cells that specify resizing as normal or center, for both the x and y directions
- Instead of just allowing center resizing, perhaps make it about the shape's pin
This would be a very handy feature indeed. Since you seem to know about as much about Visio as any man (or four men) alive, why don't you do some consulting for MS or something? Some of the ideas in here are simply things that should have been in already. I can't really comment as I am just finding out what Visio is even capable of and I haven't got 2007 installed yet because I am afraid of upgrading in the middle of so much work.
I should not be surprised in MS however, many of the things I thought they would add when they took over have never been added to the tool bar but now I realize that many (like this resizing) have solutions (http://www.visguy.com/2008/04/15/center-sizing-smart-shapes/) - albeit they reauire a 4-year degree and two prgramming languages - but they usually already exist.
I have been waiting forever for some sort of matching office-suite functionality with the copy/paste-special features. I find myself going to AutoCAD often to do things that Visio can't do (or I didn't know about)... I make detailed diagrams on one page and then make 20 pages that allow users to print out a piece of the master. In AutoCAD I can make a paper-space window of a small portion of the main drawing, in Word I can paste a link to another page or document that automatically updates... in Visio I find myself copying and pasting 20 times and redoing it all every time the master changes a little bit.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and getting others together to help the rest of us struggle to catch up!
Shayne