This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Measurements palette
The Measurements palette puts scores of formatting controls for text, pictures, and items front and center. The palette is divided into tabs of related controls along with a Classic tab that consolidates the most frequently used options for formatting both items and contents (Figure 2.10). As with the Tools palette, you will generally keep the Measurements palette open at all times. You can open and close it quickly by pressing F9 or choosing Window > Measurements.
)
Figure 2.10: The Classic tab of the Measurements palette combines the most-often used formatting controls, with item formatting options on the left and content formatting options on the right. When text is selected, as shown above, the left side lets you change the placement, size, and color of the box itself. The right side provides formatting options such as alignment and font.
Reviewing Measurements palette options
The availability of the tabs in the Measurements palette depends on what is selected in the layout—text, a picture, an item, a group, a table, and so on—and what type of layout you’re working on. Tabs include Classic, Text, Paragraph, Character, Tabs, Frame, Runaround, Clipping, Text Path, Space/Align, Export, Grids, and Drop Shadow. Figures 2.11–2.13 show a variety of basic Measurement palette tabs.
)
Figure 2.11: When a picture is selected, the Classic tab of the Measurements palette provides box controls (such as size) at left and picture controls (such as scale) at right.
)
Figure 2.12: When a text box is selected, the Text tab of the Measurements palette lets you control the placement of text within the box, including the number of columns and text inset.
)
Figure 2.13: The Drop Shadow tab of the Measurements palette provides the controls for applying a drop shadow to whatever is selected—text, a picture, or an item.
Displaying Measurements palette tabs
By default, the Classic tab of the Measurements palette displays tabs for the current selection. To select another tab, hover the mouse above the Measurements palette to display the tab bar and select a button. Since you will use the various tabs of the Measurements palette often, you can set the tab bar to always display. To do this, Control+click/right-click the Measurements palette title bar (on the far left side) and choose Always Show Tab Bar (Figure 2.14).
){kind=small}
Figure 2.14: The Measurements palette's context menu lets you control the display of the tab bar, including Always Show Tab Bar, Always Hide Tab Bar, and Show Tab on Rollover (the default). The buttons on the tab bar provide access to the various tabs of options.
Calculating measurements in fields
When you enter values in fields in the Measurements palette—or fields in any dialog box—you can enter math operators so QuarkXPress can calculate values for you. For example, to cut the width of a 3.12" box in half, you can enter /2 next to the value in the Width field. To double the width of the box, you can enter *2. The math operators are: + (plus), – (minus), * (multiply), / (divide).