Align to Grid Option and Adding Rules in PageMaker

Align to Grid Option:

Sometimes you will have a particular item, such as a table, that uses a different leading from the body text, causing the baselines of type to fail to line up on the leading grid. You can use PageMaker’s Align Next Paragraph to Grid option. This option, when applied to a paragraph (such as a table), will position the following paragraph on the leading grid. You access this option through the Paragraph Specification dialog box, but it is several boxes deep in the Paragraph Rule Options dialog box. On the Paragraph Specification dialog box, click the Rules command button. Then click the Options in the resulting. Paragraph Rules dialog box. Click Align Next Paragraph to Grid option. Next to the Grid Size, type the value of your body text leading (the magic number). Hold down Shift and click OK to close all the dialog boxes.

Adding Rules Above or Below Paragraphs:

You can specify rules as a paragraph attribute so that the rules move and resize with the paragraph on the page. To apply a paragraph rule, select the paragraph (s) you want to edit. Choose Type > Paragraph and click Rules. Click Rule Above Paragraph or Rule Below Paragraph, or both. Define stroke attributes, i.e., choose a stroke pattern and the weight thereof. To specify a weight not listed on the menu, choose Custom and then type the weight from 0 to 800 points. Choose the defined color or tint from the Stroke Color pop-up menu. Choose the stroke width you want, either Width of Text (from the left indent to the line end or right indent) or Width of Column (from the left side of the text object to the right side of the text object, regardless of left or right indents or where the line ends). Set left or right indent for the rule (not for text). Click Options to set the space between the paragraph and the rules. Click Align to Grid to align the baselines of columns in multicolumn text, so that paragraph rules will also align vertically. For rules above the paragraph, PageMaker measures from the baseline of the first line in the paragraph to the top of the rule, adding space before the paragraph as necessary. For rules below a paragraph, PageMaker measures from the baseline of the last line in the paragraph to the bottom of the rule below, adding space below as necessary.

Adding Paragraph Spacing in PageMaker

Adding Paragraph Spacing

You should not press Enter key to insert an extra space between paragraphs. There are several reasons for avoiding blank lines created with a carriage return.

Point 1

If the blank line lands at the top of a column, this extra space will cause the column to start lower than the other columns.

Point 2

The blank lines could possibly throw off the leading grid, so that the baselines of the type do not align.

Point 3

You cannot precisely control the amount of space – one carriage return might not add enough space and two might add too much.

None of these problems arise when you use PageMaker’s paragraph spacing options. In the Paragraph Specification dialog box, you can set the amount of space before and after your paragraphs. Another way to specify the paragraph spacing is in the Control Palette, these fields are marked in figure below.

In determining how much space to add before and after a subhead, you should keep in mind that a subhead, you should keep in mind that a subhead introduces a new topic and should therefore be separated from the text above it and tied to the text below it. You can show this relationship by placing more space above the subhead than below it. The leading of your subhead plus the space above and below it should be a multiple of your magic number. For example, suppose the leading of your publication is 12, and your subhead have 14 point leading. To keep on the leading grid, you should add 10 points of space above the subheads (14 point leading plus 10 points of space equals 24 multiple of the magic number).

Paragraph Formatting - II (PageMaker)

Tips on Formatting:

On a professionally produced page, all textual and graphic elements have depths that are numerically related. They are multiple of a predetermined magic number. If the magic number is 12, all headlines, graphic boxes, and other page elements have depths of 12, 24, 36, 48 and so on. This magic number is the size of the leading for your body text. Do not think your page’s dimension in terms of inches or points. Instead, think of your page as being divided in increments that match your magic number. Designers refer to this as a leading grid. When all your elements are multiples of your magic number, something magical happens – the baseline in one column is exactly line up with the baseline in the adjacent column. Your top and bottom margins are key players in your leading grid, although they do not have to be multiples of your leading. Your goal is to get the active area of your page (your page size minus the margins) to be a multiple of your leading. The exact margin size is the amount left over after subtracting the active page area from the page size. Consider the following example for this purpose:

Step 1

Determine the leading for your body text. It should be a round number that is easy to work with, such as 14 (not 14.4).

Step 2

Decide approximately what margin you want. For instance, you may want about 4 – pica top and bottom margins for your publication.

Step 3

Subtract both of these margins (8 picas) from the vertical page size (51 picas, say) to get the current active page size (43 picas). A landscape letter – size page is 51 picas high – 8.5 inches multiplied by 6 picas per inch.

Step 4

Convert the active page size from picas to points by multiplying 43 picas by 12 to get 516 points.

Step 5

Divide the page size calculated in step 4 by your leading. If the paper size is 516 points and your leading is 14, the result is 36.86. If the number of lines does not result in an integer, continue with steps 6 through 8, else you are done.

Step 6

Take the integer of the number of lines calculated in step 4(36) and multiply it by your leading (14) to get an active page size that is a multiple of your magic number. Your active page size in this example is 504 points. To convert this number back to picas, divide it by 12 (42 picas).

Step 7

Subtract the active page size (42 picas) from the total page size (51 picas) to get the total available for top and bottom margins (9 picas).

Step 8

Divide the total margin (9 picas) by two to get the value of each of the margins (4.5 picas).

Chapter 3 - Paragraph Formatting - I (PageMaker)

Paragraph Formatting:

Paragraph formatting is about the options that affect the paragraph or group of paragraphs, like centering, justifying, indentation, vertical spacing, hyphenation, paragraph breaks, etc. Most of these options are in the Paragraph Specification  dialog box, accessed by choosing Paragraph from the Type menu, the keyboard shortcut being Ctrl + M. You can also make paragraph formatting changes in the Control Palette. To access the Control palette’s paragraph formatting options, click the paragraph symbol (fig 1). This results in the palette’s paragraph view. To return in the Character View of the control palette, you have to click the capital T.

Aligning Paragraphs:

PageMaker offers four ways to align text: left, right, centered, or justified. The default paragraph alignment is left; that is, the text is lined up at the left edge of the text block. Left-alignment text is sometimes called ragged right because the right side of the paragraph is uneven. To eliminate this ragged look, you can choose justified alignment. With this alignment, small amounts of space are inserted between words so that the right and left ends of the paragraph are even and smooth. The last line of the paragraph is not justified unless you choose the Force Justify alignment option.

The main advantage of justified text is that you can fit more text on the page because more words are hyphenated. On the other hand, left-aligned text is the easiest to read because fewer words are hyphenated, and also as there are no extra spaces between words. When justified text is used, make sure that the Hyphenation option on the Type menu is turned on, so that you do not get large gaps between words.

The other alignment types, centered and right, are usually applied to single-line paragraphs or special text designed to stand out from the rest. The Force Justify option is almost often used on a single line paragraph so that the text spans the entire width of the text block.

You can change the alignment of a paragraph several different ways: by using the alignment submenu, filling in the Paragraph Specification dialog box, pressing keyboard shortcuts, or using the Control palette (for more details on Paragraph Specification click here Formatting Paragraph in PageMaker .

Indenting Paragraphs:

An Indent is extra space on the left or right side of the paragraph. Frequently, the first line of each paragraph of body text is indented. This can be done by specifying a first-line indent. After you set up a first-line indent, you do not have to press the Tab key at the beginning of each paragraph. However,  if the indent is too small, the purpose of the indent is lost – one paragraph is not easily distinguishable from the next.  On the other hand, when a first-line indent is too large, it looks out of place or amateurish. In most cases, a one-pica first-line indent works fine, unless your lines of body text are long, in which cases you might want to go up to two picas. (to know about setting indents click here Setting Indents and Tabs in PageMaker.

Rotating and Flipping Images in Photoshop

Rotating and flipping entire images

The Rotate Canvas commands let you rotate or flip an entire image. The commands do not work on individual layers or parts of layers, paths, or selection borders.

To rotate or flip an entire image:

Choose Image > Rotate Canvas, and choose one of the following commands from the submenu:

·                     180° to rotate the image by a half-turn.

·                     90° CW to rotate the image clockwise by a quarter-turn.

·                     90° CCW to rotate the image counterclockwise by a quarter-turn.

·                     Arbitrary to rotate the image by the angle you specify. If you choose this option, enter an angle between -359.99 and 359.99 in the angle text box, and then select CW or CCW to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. Click OK.

·                     Flip Canvas Horizontal (Photoshop) or Flip Horizontal (ImageReady) to flip the image horizontally, along the vertical axis.

·                     Flip Canvas Vertical (Photoshop) or Flip Vertical (ImageReady) to flip the image vertically, along the horizontal axis.

Chapter 2 - Character Formatting - IV (PageMaker)

Aligning Text Blocks with a Ruler Guide:

When you are positioning text blocks and graphics, you may want to use PageMaker’s ruler guides to align elements in the same way you would use a T-Square or a ruler. These guides can be horizontal or vertical, you are allowed up to 120 ruler guides in any combination of horizontal and vertical. Like the margin guides, the ruler guides do not print.

To insert a vertical ruler guide, click in the vertical ruler and drag the guide to the right. To insert a horizontal ruler guide, click in the horizontal ruler and drag the guide down onto the page. If your rulers are not displayed on the screen, choose Show Guides from the View menu or press Ctrl + ;.

Positioning text blocks is even easier if the Snap to Guides option is turned on. This option creates a magnetic effect between the object you are moving and the various guides on the page (ruler, margin, column). To see if the Snap to Guides option is turned on, choose View menu and check the tick against the said option.

Aligning Text Blocks Automatically:

PageMaker allows another way to align text blocks; with the Element > Align Objects command. Using the Align Object dialog box, shown in fig. 1, you can align objects vertically at the top, center, or button, and / or horizontally at the left, centre, or right. You can also choose to space or distribute the objects by a fixed amount (such as 1 inch apart) or within the boundary of the selected objects. When one of the text blocks is already in position, you may find Align Object command to be faster than using the ruler guides.

Before you issue the Arrange>Align Object command, you should select the text blocks (two or more) that you want to align. When you are aligning text blocks, PageMaker keeps one of the selected blocks stationary and aligns the other selected block (s) with the stationary one. The block which remains stationary depends on which side you are aligning the text block. If you are aligning the blocks at the top, the top-most block is held stationary: if you are aligning at the left, the left-most block is the stationary object. Similar rules are used for bottom and right alignment. For center alignment (horizontal or vertical), no particular block is held stationary.