PageMaker Components

Understanding the PageMaker Component

About Dialog Boxes

This section provides examples of the three most used dialog boxes in PageMaker.

The Character Specifications Dialog Box

The Character Specifications dialog box is used to define how the text appears. Many of these options are also available as individual choices from the Type menu and the Control Palette.

To open the Character Specifications dialog box:

From the Type menu, select Character. The Character Specifications dialog box appears.

The Paragraph Specifications Dialog Box

The Paragraph Specifications dialog box is used to define paragraph characteristics including indents from the left and right margin and the first line of text. It also defines the amount of space that appears before and after the paragraph etc.

To open the Paragraph Specifications dialog box:

From the Type menu, select Paragraph. The Paragraph Specifications dialog box appears.

The Fill & Stroke Dialog Box

The Fill & Stroke dialog box is used to define the formatting characteristics of elements created with the PageMaker drawing tools. The Fill feature lets you specify patterns and the Stroke feature lets you specify line weight. In this dialog box, you can also control the color of the elements and how they will appear in respect to the background.

To open the Fill & Stroke dialog box:

From the Element menu, select Fill and Stroke. The Fill and Stroke dialog box appears.

Rulers & Guides

PageMaker provides the ruler and ruler guides to help you position or align text . You can choose to display or hide the rulers and guides as your needs change. You can also choose to have objects which are placed close to a guide "snap to" the guide for easy and consistent alignment.

This document gives instructions for the following:

Displaying Rulers

The horizontal and vertical rulers assist you in positioning elements on your page. From the View menu, select Show Rulers.

Changing Ruler Measurements.

PageMaker allows you to choose the system of measurement that will be used in the vertical and horizontal rulers. you can specify different systems of measurement for each ruler according to below given ways:

1. From the File menu, select Preferences » General. The Preferences dialog box appears.

2. From the Measurements in pull-down list, select a measurement system This measurement affects the horizontal ruler only.

3. From the Vertical ruler pull-down list, select a measurement system. 4. Click Ok.

Displaying Ruler Guides

Displaying the ruler guides will help you position elements on your page. However, if you want to view the page with only the items that will print, you can "hide" the ruler guides.

To change the ruler guides display

Press [Ctrl] + [;] This toggles between the Show Guides and Hide Guides option. Or From the View menu, select Show/Hide Guides.

Placing Ruler Guides

New ruler guides can be placed as you need them for alignment. You can place a guide regardless of what tool you currently have selected from the toolbox.

1. To place a vertical guide, click and hold anywhere in the vertical ruler area. 2. To place a horizontal guide, click and hold anywhere in the horizontal ruler area. 3. Drag the guide onto your page A colored line appears. 4. Release the mouse button.

Moving Existing Guides

Note: You cannot move guides if the Lock Guides command is in effect (see Locking Ruler Guides). 1. Select the Pointer tool. 2. Click and hold the guide. Hint: So that you do not select a text or graphic, click the guide in a margin or column gutter. The Pointer turns into a double-headed arrow. 3. To reposition a guide, drag the guide to its new location. To remove the guide, drag the guide into the ruler area.

Locking Ruler Guides

To avoid inadvertently moving guides (e.g., column or margin), you can lock guides in place. From the View menu, select Lock Guides. This option is active if it is checked.

Unlocking Ruler Guides

From the View menu, deselect Lock Guides. This option is inactive if it is not checked.

Removing All Ruler Guides

As your publication progresses, you may find that you have placed a large number of guides. In addition to dragging ruler guides off of your page , you have the option to clear all guides at one time. This option will clear all placed guides; margin and column guides will remain. Note: This option is not available if the Lock Guides command is in effect (see Unlocking Ruler Guides). From the View menu, select Clear Ruler Guides.

Using Snap To

PageMaker offers two options for forcing alignment. You can make objects snap to ruler increments or to guides. This feature makes consistent alignment of multiple objects easy.

Snap to Rulers: Windows Only Snap to Rulers pulls objects to the nearest ruler increment as you move them. From the View menu, select Snap to Rulers. The option is active if it is checked.

Snap to Guides will align objects to a guide when they are placed within three pixels of the guide. The guide does not have to rest on a ruler increment. From the View menu, select Snap to Guides. The option is active if it is checked.

Turning Off Snap To

From the View menu, deselect the Snap to option you want to turn off The option is inactive if it is not checked.