I'm working with a script style text and I need to widen the stroke. The fill of thinner lines in the script is getting covered up by the stroke as it expands. Is there a way to widen a stroke away from the edge of the fill?

I've tried to put a copied layer beneath the original text and expanding the stroke but it's creating too many nodes and the file's getting hard to work with.

As you are doing - duplicate the text, and move the duplicate below and set the stroke wider is the easiest way. It shouldn't create nodes, as text doesn't have nodes.

Alternately change the fill and stroke to Unset (It will look black), then clone the text and give it the stroke and width you want, then select the original again, clone it and set the fill to whatever you want!

-Rob A>

Thanks Rob, I've been tinkering with it off and on all day that's pretty much what I ended up doing.

For the text, I'm using Chopin Script (a handwritten style) font and the strokes were overlapping where the letters connected. When I converted it to a path it cleaned it up. It looks nice but that's what created all the nodes and now it's sluggish moving it around.... But I just tried it your way and it looks just fine, the overlapping spots blend fine

I just found Inkscape .... Kinda liking it ..... Thanks again Rob

Gud information RobA. I was facing the same problem now solved with your tips, thanks.

i generally don't use stroke + fill for any fancy text, as the level of control isn't enough that way, e.g. increasing stroke grows the stroke fatter in both directions and starts covering up the fill. usually have the text with fill only and a bigger duplicate (sometimes using outset operation or sometimes just stretch) of appropriate fill color undernearth. that way you control the sizing of the inner color and outline separately.