We've just implemented some new features to the UI in Cartographica's Map Layout intended to make it easier to work with it, especially for first-time users. The features include placing a toolbar on the top of the window (user-configurable, of course) and introducing the ability to "draw" a new item onto the Map Layout by clicking and dragging. More details in this article, including the beta link.

We've just implemented some new features to the UI in Cartographica's Map Layout intended to make it easier to work with it, especially for first-time users. The features include placing a toolbar on the top of the window (user-configurable, of course) and introducing the ability to "draw" a new item onto the Map Layout by clicking and dragging. More details in this article.The key feature additions are the toolbar and its corresponding drag-to-create features.Now, instead of having to use control-click to bring up the contextual menu (still available for those who are familiar with it), you can click on the small icon that denotes the type of feature you want to add (Text, Map, Scale, Compass, or Legend) in the tool bar, and then click in an empty place on the page and then drag the box to the size that you want.

Additional changes to Map Layout include:

• Delete item added to the contextual menu
• The ruler in the layout window now reflects the layout area correctly (previously, the layout area was offset by about a quarter of an inch).
• An error message that would pop up when creating an empty map view no longer shows up

We encourage anyone interested to check out the beta (it'll be short, since we're going to roll this to release quickly).

We hope that you find these new features useful and look forward to your feedback as you use them.