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Home | Computers & Technology | Software | Php The New Project dialogue window (which appears automatically whenever a new project is created) is often completely ignored by many QuarkXPress users, even if the settings are not the right ones for the project they are about to create. The settings you see are left over from the last project created: if the new project needs different settings, go ahead and change them. Where does the page actually end? A lot of inexperienced QuarkXPress users mistake the margin guides for the edge of the page. Margin guides should be set when creating the new project and are used to align text and image boxes. These items should be placed on the guides: there is no need to leave any extra space. Ruler guides are created by dragging the vertical or horizontal ruler onto the page. As well as providing a visual reference, guides can be used to align elements vertically and horizontally by snapping elements to them like a magnet. For example, if the tops of two text boxes are snapped to the same guide, both boxes will be the same distance from the top of the page. Guides are extremely useful aids but, if over-used (as often happens with new users), you end up with a page covered in confusing green lines. Consider using the measurements palette as well: entering the same x measurement for two boxes will align their left edges and the same y measurement will align their tops. When using QuarkXPress, it's often the case that you want to align a new element with something that's already on the page and, if you are fond of using guides for alignment, you will probably drag a guide onto one of the edges of the existing element and then snap the new element to the guide. Bear in mind when you do this, however, that only the second element is actually properly aligned with the guide, since dragging a guide close to an object doesn't snap the object to the guide; only the reverse is true. To have both elements correctly aligned, you will need to also snap the first element to the guide. Automatic text boxes is another source of confusion for many QuarkXPress users. This option can be activated when creating a new document and allows you to use Quark in a similar way to a word processing package. Each page in the document automatically has a text box on it and once this box is filled with text, a new page is generated, also containing a text box. A lot of inexperienced Quark users conclude that this feature just means that you don't have to create the text box yourself, the program creates it for you. In reality, the automatic text box has a sting in its tail. When it becomes filled with text, it immediately generates a new page, also containing an automatic text box and so on. So, if you use automatic text boxes on single page layouts, you run the risk of having unwanted pages being generated if your text box becomes filled with tex (which can easily happen as you experiment with different typefaces and type sizes. Users new to QuarkXPress will often develop a strange fascination with the text box tool and try to assign it powers that it doesn't in fact possess! For example, they will attempt to edit text by selecting the text box tool and clicking on the text. In fact, the only thing the text box tool can do is to actually create the text box in the first place. Thereafter, the content tool should be used for entering and editing the text. You will also often see new users attempting to edit text or move a picture inside a picture box when the Item tool is highlighted. This is a non-starter since the contents of a box can only be edited with the content tool. Admittedly, most users will eventually realise this if only through trial and error. Another common Item/Content tool error is that new users will often insist on selecting the Item tool when resizing a box: in fact, resizing works fine regardless of whether the Content or Item tool is selected. Beginners tend to create a lot more text boxes than they actually need. They'll create a box for a heading, another for the sub heading and so on. Actually, you can change your formatting within the same QuarkXPress text box as many times as you like. There is no need to create a new box each time the format changes. You only really need separate boxes where there are attributes which can't exist within the same box such as the number of columns. Beginners in QuarkXPress will often spend a lot of time aligning headings within a text box, for example vertically centring, forgetting that, since the box will not print, all that matters is the position of the text itself on the page. A good way of curing this one is to get into the habit of pressing F7 (a shortcut for View - Guides). This keystroke toggles the visibility of the QuarkXPress margin and ruler guides as well as the edges of boxes that have no frames. This means that you are always reminded of which elements will actually be visible when the document prints. Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering QuarkXPress Classes in London and throughout the UK.
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