MS Publisher 97
LAST UPDATED:
08 November 2007 18:18:56 -0600
Changes to this page are IN PROGRESS
"Is there a way to print a list of the names, addresses, and so
forth in my Publisher 97 mail merge list BEFORE I print my
envelopes--just so I can check them?"
Sure: Print your list as labels--but on a regular piece of paper.
Choose File, then Create New Publication; click the Page Wizard tab
and double-click Label. Click Yes three times to accept the defaults;
then click Create it. Click No; the Open Data Source dialog box
appears, and you can select your data file and insert your merge
fields as usual (you may need to choose a smaller type size to fit all
the fields on the label). Finally, choose File Print Merge and print
the labels. You'll have a list, three columns per page, of all the
names in your merge list.
"Is there a way to save a Microsoft Publisher document in a format
that you can e-mail to others to read?"
If the other person owns Publisher--and lots of folks do, as
Publisher is part of Microsoft Office Small Business Edition bundled
on many, many new computers--then you simply ATTACH your Publisher
document file to your E-mail message. Provided the recipient has the
fonts you used in the publication, it should look the same on the
target computer as on yours.
Otherwise, you may want to consider converting the publication to
an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. It's fairly easy to do, but you'll need to
purchase Acrobat--see
http://www.adobe.com
Then anyone with an Acrobat viewer (downloadable free from Adobe)
can open and view the document exactly as it would appear in print.
What would you say if we told you there was a Web site from which
you could download thousands of pictures, animations, and fonts for
NADA? You might say there are PLENTY of sites like that. But what
would you say if we told you this site also lets you create 3D text,
buttons, animated banners, and pictures, AND reduces the size of your
existing Web site images so they load faster--STILL for free? You'd
have to admit we're telling you about a pretty unique site. See it for
yourself at
http://www.mediabuilder.com
and start finding new ways to perk up your Web sites and other
Publisher publications.
Sift through clip-art catalogs, and you'll find all sorts of
beautiful art available in Encapsulated PostScript format. Before you
buy EPS art, you should know two things about it:
You can't print it on a non-Postscript printer. Most inexpensive
inkjet and laser printers are not PostScript printers; in fact,
PostScript printers cost enough so it's hard not to know you have one.
The art appears onscreen as either a low-resolution version of the
actual picture, or a simple placeholder containing the name of the
picture file. This makes it difficult to know exactly what the picture
will look like before you print the publication. The bottom line: If
you DON'T have a PostScript printer (or access to one), you're better
off using clip art in other formats such as Windows Metafile (WMF) or
TIFF. If you DO have a PostScript printer, by all means use EPS
pictures--they'll look fantastic in print.
Ever hear of PaperDirect? This company sells preprinted
papers--letterhead, brochures, business cards, and more--that help you
create professional-looking documents using just about any desktop
printer.
Publisher lets you display an image of these preprinted papers
behind your document so you can better position your text within the
preprinted art. To display the image, choose View, Special Paper;
under Choose A Special Paper, choose the paper for which you want to
design, then click OK. A dialog box appears, telling you that the
image will appear onscreen but will not print (this is the truth);
click OK.
Tip within a tip: If you choose a brochure paper, switch to
landscape orientation before you start working. Choose File, Page
Setup, set Orientation to Landscape, and click OK.
Last time, we told you how to display an image of a PaperDirect
paper behind your publication to make designing for that paper easier.
If you have Publisher 98, you can get even MORE help designing for
PaperDirect papers--with one of Publisher 98's Wizards created
specifically for the task.
Choose File, New. In the Catalog dialog box, click the Publications
By Design tab; under Design Sets, select Special Paper. Choose the
name of the design you want to use. In the right pane, double-click
the layout you want (letterhead, envelope, and so forth). In the
Wizard bar, keep clicking Next until you've answered all the
questions; then click Finish and create your layout by replacing the
text and logo placeholders.
Are you looking for a snazzy newsletter banner? Do you need a reply
form for your postcard--but would rather not go through the trouble of
creating it yourself? Publisher includes a whole passel of Design
Objects you can just drop into your publication and modify with ease.
Just click the Design Gallery (in Publisher 98, Design Gallery
Object) tool, find and select your object, and click OK; Publisher
drops it directly into your document. One BIG reason to upgrade to
Publisher 98 is that it includes many, many more of these handy,
ready-to-use objects than does Publisher 97
Unlike other Windows applications, Microsoft Publisher allows you
to keep only one file open at a time.
If you're used to having multiple files open in your other Windows
applications, such as Microsoft Word or Excel, this one-file-at-a-time
limitation seems like a real annoyance. There is a workaround, if you
have the available memory: Open a separate session of Publisher for
each publication. Again, you must have sufficient memory to do this;
we recommend at least 8MB of RAM over 32MB for each additional
session, and you may want to close all other applications before
opening multiple Publisher sessions. Good luck!
Probably the most common Publisher question we get here is, "Why
can't I set Publisher to save my publications in the My Documents
folder, as Word 97 does?"
You CAN get this to happen--but it involves making a change through
Windows, not through Publisher. Right-click the Windows 95 Start
button and choose Explore from the shortcut menu. Find your Publisher
shortcut (you may have to double-click the Programs folder to find
it). Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties from the shortcut
menu. Click the Shortcut tab; in the Start In text box, type
C:\My Documents
then click OK.
>From now on, when you save a document for the first time, you'll
save it to My Documents--unless you specify another folder.
These days, you can get your hands on just about any kind of font
you want. But for some publications--especially direct mail letters,
important memos, and bulletins--typewriter fonts are still the best;
they give your publication that hot-off-the-newswire urgency. Lots of
typewriter fonts have crossed our desks, but the best we've seen by
far are those from Vintage Type, at
http://www.vintagetype.com
Visit the site to download a FREE sample typewriter font, purchase
one of the reasonable typewriter font collections, or see some of the
other fonts the company offers--including some great telegraph fonts.
After finishing something that you really like--such as cropping a
picture exactly the way you want to crop it--SAVE YOUR WORK.
Nag, nag, nag--during the course of your computing career, you've
probably been advised over a million times to SAVE YOUR WORK
FREQUENTLY. Publisher itself likes to remind you every 15 minutes or
so. However, in OUR opinion, how often you save is not as important as
WHEN you save. So get in the habit of saving:
After doing something that was especially difficult to do, like a
fancy WordArt logo you'd hate to lose. Before you print a document,
especially a long document--just in case printing causes some sort of
computer problem. After doing something that strains your system's
memory, like inserting an object from another application into your
publication. After a Wizard finishes its work. Before previewing a Web
site. Before moving from Publisher to surf the Web, get your e-mail,
or use another application. There are probably hundreds of other good
times, but these will do for a start. Feel free to submit your
suggestions.
Last time, we suggested some smart times to save your Publisher
publication. Once you get into the habit of saving on your own, at
important times, you probably don't need to have Publisher remind you
to save every 15 minutes or even at all. So choose Tools, Options. In
Publisher 98, click the Editing And User Assistance tab, in Publisher
2000, click the User Assistance tab. To make the save reminders less
frequent, increase the number in the Minutes Between Reminders box
(to, say, 60). To eliminate the reminders altogether, deselect Remind
To Save Publication. Then click OK. Publisher will bother you less
frequently, or not at all.
Publisher has several Wizards that help you create publications for
preprinted papers from PaperDirect. Our tip: Even if you DON'T have
the PaperDirect paper, check out these designs. Many of them arrange
your text, logo, and so forth in excellent positions for printing on
plain paper.
To see what we mean, choose File, New. In the Publications By
Wizard tab, click Business Cards; then scroll down and double-click
one of the PaperDirect styles. Run through the Wizard, choosing your
options. When you're done, press Ctrl-M to go to the background. Click
the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle that covers the entire page.
Click the Fill Color tool and choose White; click the Line/Border
Style tool and select None. Now press Ctrl-M again to return to the
foreground. Not only can you see what this business card will look
like on blank paper--you can also choose other PaperDirect designs
(via the Wizard) and see what they will look like on blank paper.
If you want to draw a straight line on a piece of paper, you get a
ruler. If you want to draw a straight line in Publisher, you get a
key--specifically, the Shift key.
Click the Line tool, then hold down the Shift key, and Publisher
draws your line straight--vertically, horizontally, or on a 45-degree
diagonal--no matter how crooked your mouse movements.
FYI, graphic arts types refer to this action as "constraining."
Just thought we'd pass that jargon along.
Sometimes when you're working on a special publication--one with
lots of text columns, long headlines, or pictures much wider than they
are tall--it seems to just CALL OUT for landscape orientation. So
answer the call: Choose File, Page Setup; under Orientation, choose
Landscape and click OK. You'll probably have to relocate some of the
objects on the page, but that's a small price to pay for a layout with
extra "latitude."
In Publisher 98, there's no doubt: When you choose the Open command
on the File menu, the Publisher Catalog appears, and in its right pane
you see a preview of the selected publication file. However, in
Publisher 2000 you have to request this helpful preview: Choose File,
Open, click the Views button, and choose Preview. THEN you can see the
selected file previewed in the Catalog's right pane. Note that
Publisher 2000's previews are larger than Publisher 98's, but also a
lot grainier.
Want to delete a few publications you no longer need? Instead of
winding your way through the Windows folder or Explorer windows, do
your deleting in Publisher's Save As dialog box--which takes you
directly to your Publisher files! Choose File, then Save As (NOTE: IN
PUBLISHER 2000, YOU CAN ALSO CHOOSE FILE, THEN OPEN). Select the file
or files you want to delete, right-click, and choose Delete from the
shortcut menu. Away they go. As you may have guessed from your brief
glance at the shortcut menu, you can also use this dialog box to
rename your Publisher files (although you can only rename them one at
a time).
Last time we told you how to send a Publisher publication via
e-mail. Today we pose this query: What if you want to send your
creation to someone who doesn't own Publisher?
The best solution is to "print" your publication by creating a PDF
file, using the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free over the Web).
You can download it at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. And if
you download and install it today (according to the instructions
provided at the Web site), you'll be all ready for our next tip.
If you've downloaded and installed Adobe Acrobat as we told you to
do last time, you're all ready to transform your publication into a
PDF file anyone can view and print (as long as they too have the Adobe
Acrobat Reader, a pretty common piece of software).
Open the publication in question and choose File, Print. From the
Name drop-down menu, choose Acrobat PDFWriter (which should be there
if you installed Acrobat Reader). Click Properties, then the Fonts
tab, and select Embed All Fonts. Click OK, Print. When the Save As PDF
dialog box appears, name your file and click Save. When Acrobat is
done printing, an Acrobat window opens, and you see your new PDF file.
In Publisher, a "story" refers to a body of text contained in a
single, unlinked frame OR a series of linked frames. For example, if
you have a publication with a headline in one frame and body text in
another, you have two stories in the publication; however, if you have
a publication in which text spans three linked frames on three
separate pages, you have one story in the publication.
Why bring this definition up? Tune in next time and see.
In an August tip, "Know Where You Are," we told you how to tell
when you're in the background layer of a publication: "...you're in
the background layer when you see only a single page indicator
containing the letter 'R' (sorry, we don't know what that stands
for)."
"After using so many of your tips, I am proud to provide a bit of
trivia feedback...The 'R' stands for right, as in right-hand page. In
a one-page or nonmirrored layout, the background symbol always
contains an 'R' because you're always on a right-hand page. In a
mirrored layout, you'll see both an 'L' for the left page and an 'R'
for the right page."
Yes, Publisher's Edit Story in Microsoft Word feature is handy
enough, giving access to all of Word's powerful word processing
features from within Publisher. But a few things don't survive the
back-and-forth between Publisher and Word.
Take drop caps, for example. Make them in Publisher, and they
disappear when you switch to Word; make them in Word, and they
disappear when you switch back to Publisher. You're left with two
choices: Suck it up and edit all articles containing drop caps in
Publisher (especially if it's important to know the length and layout
of your articles as you type them), or refrain from adding drop caps
until you've finished writing your article.
The More Colors button seems filled with possibilities, doesn't it?
But when you click this button in one of Publisher's color palettes,
then click the Basic Colors option, sometimes all of the possibilities
are downright confusing. What are all these colors, anyway?
One way to find out more about ANY color in the Basic Colors grid
is to hold your mouse pointer over it for a second or two. A tip
appears onscreen, telling you either the name of the color--Violet,
Emerald, and so forth--or the color's RGB (Red-Green-Blue) value, as
in RGB(0, 204, 51). The latter probably isn't much help, but the
former can clear up a mystery or two.
About half of the colors in the Basic Colors grid have a
recognizable color name.
Here's something we hope you haven't learned by trial and error:
Even though all Microsoft Office programs have a Format Painter
button, you CANNOT use it to copy formats between Office programs. For
example, you cannot use the Format Painter to copy the formatting
you've applied to a table in Microsoft Word, and then paste that
formatting to a table you've created in Microsoft Publisher.
However, note that when you copy text or objects (pictures, tables,
and so forth) from one Office program to another, you copy the
formatting as well.
Serifs are those tiny lines--or feet--that appear at the bottoms of
characters in certain fonts. A font that contains serifs--such as
Times New Roman--is called a serif font. A font without serifs--such
as Arial--is called a sans-serif font.
The conventional wisdom is that serif fonts are easier to read
because the little feet help guide the reader's eye along the lines of
text (especially in closely packed lines of text). However, in some
countries, such as Sweden and Norway, most people find sans-serif
fonts easier to read--because in these countries, sans-serif fonts are
more common then serif fonts.
"Can I change the default font size to 12 in Publisher 2000? I've
researched it extensively and can't find a way." "Is there a way
to 'permanently' change the default margins in Microsoft Publisher for
a new (blank) publication to something other than 1 inch? I prefer
.5-inch margins and would rather not change the margins each time I
create a new publication."
"Is there a way to change Publisher's default New Publication
template?" The answer is no. While previous versions of Publisher
allowed you to do this, Publisher 98 and 2000 do not.
However, you CAN create a document template of your own that
contains these and other defaults. We'll show you how to create and
use such a template next time.
Most folks don't realize that in Publisher you can rotate tables.
Just select the table, click the Rotate tool, and choose your exact
rotation--or hold down the Alt key, grab one of the table frame
handles, and rotate the table by hand. This is a great technique for
making a data table stand out a bit more, for rotating any item you
created from a table (such as a coupon or entry form), or for
decoration (say, rotated checkerboard patterns). Try it out.
How many times have you looked at a character from a dingbat font
and thought, "Hey--that would make a great logo," or "I wish I had
that as a picture?" Well, you can turn ANY dingbat character into a
picture in just a few seconds.
Click the Text tool, hold down the Shift key, and draw a square
text frame anywhere on your publication page. Press Ctrl-E to center
the cursor. Right-click the frame, and from the shortcut menu choose
Change Text, Align Text Vertically, Center; right-click the frame
again, and from the shortcut menu choose Change Text, AutoFit Text,
Best Fit.
From the Formatting toolbar, choose your dingbat font; then type
your character (use the Symbol command on the Insert menu to find out
which key corresponds to which character). If necessary, widen the
text frame so the entire character is visible. Choose Edit, Copy; then
choose Edit, Paste Special. Under As, choose Picture and click OK.
Publisher replaces your text box with a picture of the
character--one you can size, recolor, and crop like any clip-art
picture.
Need to create a one-page, text-only (or text-heavy) layout that
fits into a fairly rigid row-and-column grid? Before you start adding
multiple columns and ruler guides to your page, consider creating a
full-page table instead. Click the Table tool and draw a table frame
that spans your horizontal and vertical margins; in the Create Table
dialog box, specify the number of rows and columns you want in your
layout, then click OK.
Now, instead of creating text frames, just type your text in table
cells! To create larger text areas (say, for a page-wide headline),
merge multiple cells. Use line and shade formatting commands to create
sidebars; you can even snap pictures to the table grid by turning on
the Snap To Guides command on the Tools menu.
Remember: This technique doesn't work well with multipage layouts,
unless your text does NOT flow between pages.
You've seen plenty of Web pages with thumbnails--miniature pictures
that serve as links to a page displaying a full-size picture.
Thumbnails don't require any special genius to create. In fact, if you
can drag the corner of a picture, you can create them yourself.
First move to the page of your Web site containing the picture you
want to thumbnail; right-click the picture and chose Copy from the
shortcut menu. Next, move to the page on which you want your thumbnail
to appear and choose Edit, Paste. Make the picture smaller--and
maintain its proportions--by dragging any corner handle toward the
center of the picture. While you drag, watch the Object Size indicator
in the status bar on the lower right of the Publisher display, and
stop reducing when the picture is about one inch wide.
Finally, with the thumbnail still selected, click the Insert
Hyperlink button and link the thumbnail to the page containing your
full-size picture. You now have a fully functional thumbnail.
When choosing colors for objects in a publication, you've probably
used the Tints And Shades option (in the Fill Effects dialog box) a
thousand times. But do you know what it means?
You create a TINT by adding the base color to white. For example, a
10 percent tint of black is 10 percent black, 90 percent white.
You create a SHADE by adding gray to the base color. A 10 percent
shade of black is 10 percent gray, 90 percent black.
Now you know--and you're the wiser for it.
Last time, we told you that while you cannot change Publisher's
default New Publication template, you can create a template of your
own--containing the features you WISH were in the default
template--and then use it instead of the default template to create
new publications.
To create the template, click the New button to open a new, blank
publication. Next, change whatever you like. To change the default
text size to 12 points (as subscriber Kathe Murphy wanted), choose
Format, Text Style; in the Text Style dialog box click Change This
Style, Character And Type Size, set Size to 12, and click OK, OK,
Close. To change the default margins to .5 inch (as subscriber Richard
Spool wanted), choose Arrange, Layout Guides; set all four Margins to
.5 inch, and click OK.
Once you've made all your changes, choose File, Save As. From the
Save as Type drop-down menu, choose Publisher Template (*.pub); name
your template (for example, My Default) and click Save. To use this
template for your next new publication, choose File, New (do NOT click
the New button); in the Publisher Catalog click Template, then select
your template and click Open. It's not as smooth a process as clicking
the New icon, but it saves you the trouble of repeating steps with
every new publication.
Publisher adds a .1-inch margin to every new text frame you create.
We assume it does this to prevent your text from colliding with
pictures or other objects on the page, but in most cases--especially
when you're trying to position text precisely--the margins are a pain,
and you wind up deleting them in every new text frame you create.
Well, you can do this just once instead of every time: Before you
create your first text frame, click the Text Frame tool and--WITHOUT
DRAWING A FRAME--choose Format, Text Frame Properties. Set all four
margins to 0 and click OK. You've just set the default text frame for
this publication (not for future ones you create); from now on every
frame you create in it will appear without margins. That should save
lots of work.
At least two or three times, we've told you how to turn Publisher
text into a graphic: Select the frame containing the text, choose
Edit, Cut, Edit, Paste Special; then, in the Paste Special dialog box
under As, choose Picture and click OK.
Recently we've had a few folks claim that they couldn't make this
work--that the Picture option does not appear for them in the As box.
The only reason the Picture option wouldn't appear is if you selected
the TEXT within the text frame, instead of the text frame. So, when
turning text into a graphic, do the following:
1) Make sure the text frame contains only the text you want in your
graphic; 2) Click within any blank space on your publication page, and
then click the text frame edge to select the frame. DON'T SELECT ANY
TEXT WITHIN THE FRAME. 3) Cut and paste the text as described above.
It'll work every time.
In previous tips, we've told you how to give an object a
realistic-looking shadow by placing a shape with a gradated fill
behind it. In case you were wondering, you can set up a table to cast
a shadow in the same way. First select any colored cells in the table,
click the Fill Color tool, and click the white cell.
Next, click the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle slightly larger
than the table; position it over the table so that it extends beyond
the table's right and bottom sides. Click the Send To Back icon on the
toolbar (a yellow square behind two small gray squares). Click the
Line/Border Style tool, then click No Line. Click the Fill Color tool
and choose Fill Effects; click Gradients, choose your gradient style,
and click OK. Your table should now cast a beautiful shadow.
These shadows look especially good onscreen--use them to spruce up
tables in your Web sites.
You probably already know that to draw a perfectly vertical or
horizontal line in Publisher, you simply click the Line tool, hold
down the Shift key, and drag the mouse up or down, left or right. The
Shift key constrains the line to 45-degree angles (which means you can
also use this technique to draw perfect 45-degree diagonals).
But you probably didn't know the following: To resize a line at any
angle without changing its angle, hold down the Shift key while you
drag one of the line ends. In this case, the Shift key constrains the
line to its current angle, whatever that might be.
Importing a lengthy Word document into Publisher? If the document
contains footnotes, you may be in for an initial shock: The footnotes
do NOT appear at the bottom of the appropriate pages. But don't
despair: Publisher places them all in an endnote page, at the end of
your publication. You can leave them there or cut and paste them at
the bottom of the pages.
One thing to remember, though--if you delete a footnote in
Publisher, you'll have to update the numbering yourself, both in the
text and in the footnote or endnote page. For this reason, we HEARTILY
recommend not importing your footnoted document into Publisher until
you're absolutely done writing and are ready to design and print it.
It's pretty well known that to create a bulleted list in Publisher,
you need only click the Bullet List button (on the Formatting toolbar)
and start typing. Less well known is that you can start typing bullets
without clicking a thing or lifting your hands from the keyboard.
Type a hyphen, then a space, then your first bullet item text; then
press Enter. Publisher turns the hyphen into a bullet, creates a
hanging indent for your first item, and automatically enters the next
bullet before your next paragraph. You can keep typing bullets until
you want to stop--which you indicate by pressing Enter twice after
your final bullet.
Last time we told you how to make appealing eye space in your
publication without wasting whole lines of space--by adding a
half-line space after every paragraph in a publication.
Well, there is ONE case in which this is NOT such a great idea:
when your paragraphs have a first-line indent. In this case, the
indent identifies each new paragraph, and you don't need spacing after
paragraphs. Note that when you're using bullets or numbered lists with
such paragraphs, you should make sure the bullet or number is indented
at least as far as the first line.
If you're coming over to Publisher from the world of word
processing, you're probably in the habit of adding an extra line
between paragraphs (in other words, pressing Enter twice after each
paragraph). While this may be fine in the world of word
processing--where nobody tends to care much about design--we're not
crazy about it in the world of design (where, as the name indicates,
everyone tends to care about design). For one thing, an entire line of
space is a lot, especially in text arranged in newspaper-style
columns. For another, when you bullet or number paragraphs, Publisher
doesn't make it especially easy to skip a space as you type.
Our solution: Add an extra HALF-SPACE after every paragraph, using
the paragraph-formatting commands. Before you start typing, choose
Format, Line Spacing; set After Paragraphs to .5 li, then click OK.
From now on, every paragraph you type--with or without bullets--has a
half-line space after it. Nice.
You Publisher 98 users may have noticed that your program doesn't
let you format a line as DOTTED. No problem--we have a workaround.
Next time you need a dotted line, click the RECTANGLE tool, and draw a
rectangle instead. Choose Format, Lines And Borders, choose More
Styles, and click the BorderArt tab; under Available Borders,
double-click one of the Basic Dots or Basic Dash styles. Next, adjust
the size of the rectangle, squashing it so that the top and bottom
sides meet--and leaving you with a dotted line! Finish by stretching
the "rectangle" to make your line as long as it needs to be.
Publisher 2000 users have dotted-line creation a lot easier: Click
the Line tool, draw a line, click the Line/Border Style tool, choose
More Styles, and under Dashed, double-click one of the dashed or
dotted styles.
To turn any bulleted or numbered paragraph in a list into a
paragraph without bullets or numbers, simply select the paragraph and
click the Bullets or Numbering button to turn it off for that
paragraph. The remaining paragraphs remain bulleted or numbered. In a
numbered list, Publisher even renumbers the remaining paragraphs to
account for the change.
Next time you need to create a sign--a "For Sale" sign for your
car, a "Business Hours" sign for your storefront--don't rush off to
design it yourself. Instead, let Publisher do the work. Choose File,
New. In Catalog under Wizards, click Signs. In the right-hand pane,
double-click the type of sign you need. If you don't see the specific
type there, just pick the closest one and adapt it to your purpose.
Last time, we told you how to create a sign using Publisher's Signs
Wizard. Today we offer a colorful follow-up: If you want to change the
color of a sign using one of Publisher's ready-made Color Schemes,
choose a scheme with a main (right-most) color in some color other
than black. (There are precious few of these, but you will find a
couple.) In all other cases, the sign color stays the
same--black--because everything in Publisher's sign layouts uses a
scheme's main color.
If you don't find a Color Scheme with the main color you want,
change the color yourself: Choose Format, Color Scheme; click the
Custom tab, set Main to the desired color (using the New box), and
click OK.
Last time, we told you that by holding down the Ctrl and Shift
keys, you can drag copies of an object directly up, down, or to the
left or right of the original. To MOVE an object directly up, down, to
the left, or to the right, hold down the Shift key only, and then
drag.
There's nothing like moving in a straight line, is there?
How often does it happen that you THINK you see an extra space
between two words--but then you try to delete the space, and wind up
deleting a letter instead? Avoid this and other space-related problems
by setting Publisher to display your spaces on the screen. Press
Ctrl-Shift-Y, and Publisher displays your spaces as little dots
between words. It also displays tabs (arrows), paragraph returns
(those backward "P" shapes), and other marks.
If you want to return to seeing no spacing marks between words,
press the same keys again and the option toggles off.
In Publisher 2000, press the Show Special Characters button to
accomplish the above task. If the screen gets too cluttered, just
press the keystroke shortcut or click the button again, and the marks
disappear as fast as they appeared.
Knowing that you want to see as much of your page as possible in
the Publisher display, Publisher lets you remove many of its display
elements--the ruler, the toolbars, the status bar, and so forth. But
if you know the following Windows trick--and if your monitor supports
high screen resolutions--you can see a lot more of your page without
sacrificing any of Publisher's helpful screen elements.
Close any programs you have running, including Publisher.
Right-click any blank area of the Windows desktop, then choose
Properties from the shortcut menu. Click the Settings tab. Under
Desktop Area, slide the slider toward More--say, to 800 by 600 pixels
if you have a standard 15-inch monitor, or 1,028 by 768 pixels if you
have a 17-inch monitor. Then click OK (if necessary, restart your
computer). Next time you start Publisher, all the other elements of
the display look significantly smaller, which may take some getting
used to--but you can see a lot more of your publication page. You can
see a lot more of your work in other applications, too.
Hey, we're all for onscreen guidance, which is why in most cases we
really appreciate the frame edges, margins, table grid lines, and
ruler guides Publisher displays onscreen, even though none of these
guides appear in print. But when you want to get an idea of what your
publication will look like on paper, all this guidance clouds up the
view.
Fortunately, you can remove it all with a single keystroke:
Ctrl-Shift-O. Press it, and all the guides disappear. More important,
press it again and all the guides REAPPEAR. So you can have your
guides and eat them too.
For those of you who hate keystrokes, you can make the same magic
happen by selecting the Hide Boundaries And Guides or Show Boundaries
And Guides command in the View menu.
Why do most people repaint or wallpaper their rooms? For a CHANGE.
If you're getting tired of the color of Publisher's scratch area--the
space surrounding the page in the Publisher display--you can do a
little renovation of your own. Get yourself to the Windows desktop,
right-click any blank area, and choose Properties from the shortcut
menu. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Appearance tab.
From the Item drop-down menu, select Application Background; from the
Color selector, choose another color (choose something light but not
white). Then click OK.
You've just recolored your Publisher scratch area--and, we might
add, the application background color for all your Windows
applications.
When you need a picture of an object--and you have the object, but
not the picture--consider scanning the object. Naturally, this won't
work with ALL objects, but it's great for small ones, such as pencils,
pens, paper clips, and other office and household items that make
great illustrations or buttons for Web sites. Just place the object on
your scanner (carefully--don't scratch the glass scanning surface!)
and close the cover gently; then, in Publisher, choose Insert,
Picture, From Scanner Or Camera, and scan away. You even get a nice
shadow effect.
Want to copy an object from one place to another on the same
publication page? The fastest way is to hold down the Ctrl key, then
drag the object to wherever you want a copy. When you release the
mouse button, the copy appears.
Want to copy an object so it appears directly above, below, to the
left, or to the right of the original? Hold down the Ctrl AND the
Shift keys, then drag. Publisher lets you drag straight up, straight
down, or straight to the left or right only. (This is a great way to
create a quick row or column of repeated objects.)
If you've subscribed to this tip for any length of time, you know
that you can rotate any object by holding down the Alt key and
dragging any of the object's corner handles to the left or the right.
However, there's another way to get this job done without touching the
mouse: Hold down the Ctrl and the Alt keys, then press the left arrow
or right arrow key. With each press, Publisher rotates the selected
object five degrees in the appropriate direction.
Last month we apprised you of the fact that you can edit a WordArt
object by right-clicking it and opening the WordArt program--thereby
availing yourself of a few conveniences not available when you merely
double-click the WordArt object.
Today we have a related tip. Next time you want to edit a Microsoft
Draw 98 object in your publication, right-click the object and choose
Change Object, Microsoft Draw 98 Drawing, Open. A full Draw 98 window
opens, offering all kinds of features you don't get when you
double-click a Draw object--including vertical and horizontal rulers
and the all-important Zoom capability. You can leave the Draw program
active while you edit some other portion of the publication--pretty
practical.
That means you can format them the same way you would any other
font. Let's say you're using a dingbat character as a logo--you can
rely on the Font formatting commands to add Outline, Engrave, Emboss,
or Shadow effects to the dingbat.
You can also use dingbat fonts in WordArt--which enables you to
format the fonts with special fill and shadow effects, as well as
resize and warp the fonts as you would a picture.
This gives you just another reason (another couple of reasons,
actually) to fill your font list with as many dingbat fonts as you can
find.
One way to add a ruler guide to your page is to do it via the Ruler
Guide command in the Arrange menu. But there is a faster way: Hold
down the Shift key and position the mouse pointer over one of the
rulers--over the horizontal ruler to drop a vertical guide, or over
the vertical ruler to drop a horizontal guide. When the Adjust pointer
appears, click and drag a ruler guide to any position on the screen.
There are lots of great things about the Del key; sometimes the
fact that it deletes just one character at a time is not one of these
great things. To speed up your deleting by deleting ONE WORD AT A
TIME, press Ctrl-Del.
While we're at it, we might as well tell you that you can Backspace
over words, an entire word at a time, by pressing Ctrl-Backspace.
All of which goes to show that there are some great things about
the Ctrl key, too.
"I have created custom BorderArt using my own clip-art images. But
sometimes when I select an image, Publisher displays an error message
saying the art is too 'complex' to use in my border. Can you offer any
guidelines on which types of clip art aren't too complex?"
We can't find anything about the problem on Microsoft's technical
support Web site, so we can only tell you what we've learned from
trial and error: STICK WITH SMALL CLIP-ART FILES. We've had no problem
using any type of file under 50K in size.
If anyone learns any more about this problem--either from a
Microsoft support rep or by trial and error--please let us know so we
can share the information with the rest of our readers.
If we've been asked this once, we've been asked it a thousand
times: How can you work more than one Publisher publication on the
screen at once?
The answer is simple: Open a new session of Publisher for each
publication. Once you open the multiple sessions, you can switch
between them the way you would switch between other applications, copy
objects between publications, and so on.
Of course, there is a catch. Even without any other programs open,
you'll need at least 16MB of RAM for each Publisher session--and
probably more, unless each publication is really small. And if each
publication has lots of pictures, you can probably look forward to
pretty poky screen performance, unless you have 128MB or more of RAM.
Copyright and trademark symbols are important: they help protect a
company's hard-earned ideas and innovations. Unfortunately, copyright
and trademark symbols have always been hard to produce in a word
processor or desktop publishing program, requiring such
hard-to-execute procedures or keystroke combinations that many people
just leave the symbols out.
Well, Publisher makes creating these symbols EASY: To create a
copyright (c) symbol, type
(c)
To create a trademark (tm) symbol, type
(tm)
To type a registered (r) symbol, type
(r)
Publisher's gradient fills are neat--you can use them for
everything from creating metallic effects, to realistic drop shadows,
to page backgrounds. There's just one problem: Sometimes they don't
PRINT as you expected.
If this happens to you--you see little squares or squiggly lines
where you should see a beautiful smooth gradient--choose File, Print.
Click Properties, click the Graphics tab, and under Graphics Mode
select Use Raster Graphics. Click OK. Your graphics may print a tad
more slowly, but your gradients will be smooth as silk.
Click Publisher's Print button, and the program rewards you by
printing your entire publication. Of course, this isn't much of a
reward if you only want to print SOME of your publication.
To print some but not all, pages of your publication, choose File,
then Print--or press Ctrl-P. Under Print Range, select either Current
Page to print the current page (the one displayed on the screen) or,
in the Pages boxes, type the page range you'd like to print.
Sorry--unlike other applications you may have used, Publisher does
not let you specify noncontiguous pages or page ranges in the same
print job.
Printing business cards? Postcards? Miniature brochures? Whatever
they are, if they're smaller than letter-size, Publisher can help you
print as many of them per sheet as possible. Choose File, Print, and
click Print Options. Under Options, make sure Print Multiple Copies
Per Sheet is selected (it usually is, if Publisher calculates that it
can print more than one copy per page), and click Custom Options. In
the Custom Options dialog box, use the Margin and Gap settings to
space your copies so you can fit as many as possible on a page. Then
click OK three times to print your copies--and feel proud knowing
you've done your bit to save some trees.
Publisher's Insert Picture dialog box lets you preview a picture
before you insert it in your document. But some of you may feel the
preview comes at a price--specifically, in Preview mode you can't see
other details about the picture file, such as its size or creation
date.
Actually, you can. To see information about ANY picture file in the
Insert Picture dialog box, just right-click the file name and choose
Properties from the shortcut menu. You'll see a dialog box telling you
the size of the file, its creation and modification dates, its file
type, and more. So you have access to the preview AND file
information, all in one place.
In the past, we've suggested that when you want to resize an object
to a precise size or reposition it to a precise location, you may want
to use the Size And Position command, located in Publisher's Format
menu.
Well, we may have been half right. The command is IDEAL for precise
positioning. But if you use it to resize, it will NOT maintain the
proportions of your object--in other words, if you use it to resize
the object's width, you'll need to do the math yourself to resize the
object's height proportionately. So when proportion is important, you
may prefer to let the ruler be your resizing guide--and increase the
Zoom level to get better precision as you resize.
You want to fill an object with a color. You click the Fill Color
tool and, dissatisfied with the colors shown in the small grid, you
click More Colors. You see more colors, and you find one that's ALMOST
what you want--but you wish it were a shade or two lighter. What do
you do?
Make a TINT of that color--that is, mix it with a little more
white. Click the Fill Color tool again, and click Fill Effects. Under
Color, click the Base Color box and click More Colors. Pick the
closest color and click OK. Then, under Style, choose a tint of the
color--10 percent, 20 percent, and so on. When you've got the tint you
want, click OK.
Want to include a screen picture in your printed publication?
Publisher and Windows make it easy. First display the desired screen
window. Next, press Alt-Print Screen, which copies that window to the
Windows Clipboard. Switch to your publication, click the Insert
Picture tool, draw a frame where you want the screen picture, and
choose Edit, Paste. In pops the picture.
This tip comes with a warning: Don't even bother using this
technique to create screen pictures for your Web pages--they'll look
horrible unless you have a paint or graphics program you can use to
doctor them for Web presentation.
"I publish a Web newsletter for a club. Many members would like to
print out the newsletter, but it doesn't print too well from the
Web--and I can't send a Publisher file, because not all of them have
this program. What can I do?"
You can save and print the publication as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
file. If you don't have the Adobe Acrobat reader, which lets you
create and read PDF files, download it for free at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
Install it, then open your publication and choose File, Print. Set
Name to Acrobat PDFWriter, then click Print. The result is a PDF file
that you can attach to any e-mail message--and that anyone can view
and print using the Acrobat Reader (to which you can kindly direct
them, as we directed you).
Like to draw custom shapes? Like to experiment with fill and line
colors? If your answer to either or both is yes, you've probably
moused hundreds of miles to the Custom Shapes, Line Color, and Fill
Color buttons. Imagine how much less mousing you'd have to do if the
palettes these buttons control ALWAYS appeared on your screen.
Well, imagine no more. Next time you click any of these buttons,
try this: Grab the top bar of the palette that the button displays,
and drag the palette to a location in the Publisher work area. Once
you do this, the palette will remain on your screen--not only in this
work session, but in subsequent Publisher work sessions, until you
remove the palette by clicking the X in its top right corner.
Want to create a GIF picture of your entire Web page (perhaps for
inclusion in a document created with another program)? Here's how:
Click the Rectangle tool, and draw a rectangle that covers your entire
Web page. Click Send To Back; click the Fill Color tool and No Color;
click the Line/Border Style tool and No Line.
Now click the Web Page Preview button, and if necessary navigate to
the page in question. The entire page turns into a GIF graphic (which
explains the long time it takes to load and the jagginess of the
text). Right-click the page anywhere, choose Save Picture As, and save
the file. You've just created a GIF picture of your page.
You Publisher veterans remember that not so long ago, the only way
to create outlined text in a publication was to set the text using
WordArt. Starting with Publisher 98, you can do the job with
Publisher's Font formatting commands. Select the text, then choose
Format, Font. In the dialog box, choose Outline, then click OK.
Note that through this command you can choose almost ANY color for
your outline, but the fill color of the text is always white.
Last time, we told you how to save mouse movements by tearing off
your Custom Shapes, Line Color, and Fill Color palettes from their
respective buttons. Today, we offer another way to save mouse mileage
when drawing multiple copies of the same Custom Shape: FIRST hold down
the Ctrl key, THEN click the custom shape you want to draw. You can
then draw as many items of that shape as you want. When you want to
stop drawing that particular shape, just press Esc.
When you nudge an object in Publisher--by holding down the Alt key
and pressing one of the arrow keys--by default, Publisher moves the
object one pixel at a time in the appropriate direction. Of course,
relative to your publication page, that can be a very little way or a
very long way, depending on the current Zoom level. For example, if
you have the Zoom level set to 50 percent, one pixel takes up a lot
more page space than if you set Zoom to 200 percent.
If you want to nudge in REALLY SMALL INCREMENTS, choose a really
high Zoom level before you begin nudging--and vice versa.
You don't need the Format Painter to copy formatting from one
Publisher object to the next--there's an even easier way.
Simply right-click the formatted object and drag to the object you
want to format; from the Shortcut menu, choose Apply Formatting Here.
Publisher instantly applies the formatting to the target object.
Sorry, folks: Unlike fellow Office application Microsoft Word,
Publisher CANNOT create a table of contents (TOC) for your
publication. However, you can create one yourself--and you may get a
head start, depending on the publication, from Publisher's Design
Gallery feature. Turn to the page on which you want to place a TOC,
and click the Design Gallery Object tool. Under Categories, select
Tables Of Contents; then find a style that suits you and double-click
it. You'll have to type (and update, we're afraid) the text and page
numbers yourself, but at least Publisher does the design work for you.
Here are four quick text selection tips it pays to know:
To select a word, double-click it. To select one word (instead of
one letter) at a time in your text, double-click the first word, then
drag to select the other words. To select an entire paragraph,
triple-click any word within the paragraph. To select text one
paragraph at a time, triple-click any word in the first paragraph,
then select the remaining paragraphs. Happy selecting!
"Is there a way to control which installed fonts the Insert Symbol
dialog box includes? Not only does the list include many regular fonts
whose symbols I don't want to use, but it also fails to include many
of my dingbat or symbol fonts."
The dingbats-only Insert Symbol dialog box is another feature
currently in Microsoft Word that hasn't yet found its way to
Publisher; until it does, you'll have to comb through the font list to
find the dingbat font you want. Still, we encourage you to check out
the symbols that come with some regular fonts; Times New Roman in
particular has several handy ones.
As for the failure of particular dingbat fonts to appear in the
list, that's a problem neither we nor the folks at Microsoft have
encountered. If anyone else has had this problem--even better, has
discovered a solution--please write in.
Today we thought we'd tip you off regarding some things you can do
to view as much of your publication as possible onscreen.
1. HIDE THE QUICK PUBLICATION WIZARD. Just click the Hide Wizard
button at the bottom of the Wizard. 2. HIDE THE RULERS. Choose View,
Rulers, and both the vertical and horizontal rulers go away. 3. HIDE
THE STATUS BAR. Choose View, Toolbars, Status Bar. As you may have
noticed while hiding the Status Bar, you could also hide the Standard
and Formatting toolbars--but we would recommend against it. One more
big real estate tip next time!
Last time we told you how to change the line spacing of a paragraph
as you type. Today we'd like to point out that if you want to add a
little airiness to a paragraph, you don't have to do anything as
drastic as double spacing or one-and-a-half spacing. Many professional
typesetters and designers prefer adding just a little more line
spacing--say, 1.1 or 1.2 lines--to eliminate the tension of packed
text without stretching the document to 150 or 200 percent of its
original length.
To adjust line spacing in smaller increments like these, choose
Format, Line Spacing. Set Line Spacing to 1.1 or 1.2, and click OK.
Try it: It works well with any kind of document or publication, from
the shortest letter to the longest report.
Last time, we told you how to apply (and turn off) small caps
formatting using the keyboard. Press Ctrl-Shift-K to toggle small caps
on and off. Today we'd like to offer a couple of tips for making small
caps look their best:
In most cases, don't use capitalization WITHIN small caps. Small
caps look best when they're ALL small--try to forget you have a Shift
key as you're typing them. (When Publisher's AutoCorrect feature tries
to capitalize the first word in a sentence for you, just press
Alt-Backspace to reject the change.)
Try extra character spacing with headlines and subheads in small
caps. After you press Ctrl-Alt-K to activate small caps, press
Ctrl-Shift-right square bracket (]) a few times to increase the
character spacing. The result is a very sophisticated look. (When
you're done with the headline or subhead, press Enter, then
Ctrl-Spacebar to turn off both small caps and character spacing, so
you can type your body text as usual.)
Last time, as you recall, we described one of the benefits of
editing a Draw 98 drawing via the right-click method (as opposed to
the double-click method)--you can work on some other area of your
publication without closing the Draw program. However, before you
switch to this other area of your publication, we recommend that you
choose File, Update from the Draw window. This adds whatever changes
you made in the Draw window to the Draw frame in your publication. By
the way, don't mind the diagonal lines over the Draw frame--they're
simply there to tell you the Draw window is still open.
When you're done drawing, from the Draw window choose File, Exit
And Return (if prompted to save, click Yes). This closes the Draw
window and updates your Draw frame to include your latest changes. It
also removes those diagonal lines.
Last time, we told you that you didn't need the Drop Cap command to
format a drop cap. Today, we're here to tell you that you DO need the
Drop Cap command to DELETE a drop cap--because if you try to delete a
drop cap by simply selecting it and deleting it, the NEXT letter will
become a drop cap, and so on, and so on.
To delete a drop cap, choose Format, Drop Cap. Then click the
Remove button and OK. All gone!
In the past we've told you a few ways to create text headlines that
turn into graphics when you save a publication as a Web site. Here's
another: Add BorderArt to the text frame that contains the headline.
When you save your publication as a Web site, Publisher converts both
the BorderArt and the contents of the frame to a single graphic.
Of course, make sure you pick appropriate BorderArt--stay away from
the pictures and maybe stick with the lines, dots, and so on.
Note that when you put non-BorderArt borders--that is,
lines--around a text frame, Publisher does NOT convert the contents of
the frame to a graphic.
Last time, we told you about the perils of using Microsoft Word to
edit Publisher articles containing drop caps. Today, we offer a drop
cap formatting suggestion: Try an EMBOSSED drop cap. Select your drop
cap--just the drop cap--and choose Format, Font. Under Color, select a
light or medium gray; then, under Effects, select Emboss. Click OK.
It's a simple touch that adds impact to an otherwise common layout
element.
As we mentioned last time, subscriber Richard Spool had three
questions about creating custom BorderArt, one of which we've already
answered (to the best of our ability, which in this case wasn't much).
The remaining two questions:
1. Is there any way to use two pictures to create a single custom
BorderArt, instead of one picture? 2. Is there any way to position the
clip art on the corners ONLY?
Sorry, Richard: The answers are no and no. You can only select one
picture for your custom BorderArt--although you could combine two
pictures into a single picture using a paint or drawing program such
as Windows Paint or Microsoft PhotoDraw. (Make sure the resulting
single photo is not too large--"too complex"--to use as BorderArt.)
And there is no way to position the pictures on ONLY the corners.
Last time we told you how to let Microsoft Publisher's Business
Form Wizard design your business form for you--it can be an invoice,
expense report, or any other item. You should also know that as long
as Publisher is around, you'll never again have to make your own reply
form, either. Instead, choose Insert, Design Gallery Object. Under
Categories, click Reply Forms, then double-click the readymade form
that best fits your publication. It's much easier than creating the
form from scratch, no matter HOW experienced a user you are.
Every time you create a new text frame, by default Publisher adds a
.04-inch margin to each side of the frame. Lots of folks are happy
that Publisher does this: It keeps the text in the frame from
colliding with any border they might subsequently add to the frame.
However, if you don't plan to add borders to your text frames--and if
you want to position your text precisely with respect to margins or
ruler guides--the small margin can present a real annoyance.
Fortunately, you can turn off text frame margins for an entire
publication right from the beginning. Right after you create the new
publication, click the Text Frame tool--but DON'T create a text frame.
Instead, choose Format, Text Frame Properties. Under Margins, change
all four margins to 0; then click OK. From now on, while you're
working in this document, every text frame you create will contain no
margins.
If you've got a late-model laser printer--such as the
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 that continues to run faithfully in our
office--you may have problems printing nonrectangular Publisher
objects with gradient fills. For example, a gradient-filled oval
object may print as a gradient-filled rectangle, with a hint of the
oval's outline inside the rectangle.
This is one of many problems you can solve by setting your printer
to print in RASTER, rather than VECTOR, mode. To do this, choose File,
Print, and click the Properties button. Click the Graphics tab, and
under Graphics Mode select Use Raster Graphics. Click OK, then Print.
Your gradation should come out just fine.
Publisher's tables are, as you know, a great way to arrange text
information in rows and columns. As we've shown in the past, they are
also a great tool for creating design accents for your publications.
Suppose, for example, you'd like to put a bar of alternating colors
at the top of your page. Try this: Click the Table tool, and at the
top of your page draw a very short (1/4-inch) high frame that spans
from the left to the right margin. In the dialog box that appears,
change Number Of Columns to a higher, odd number--say, 15--and click
OK. Click the Fill Color tool and pick a color for the first cell of
the table; repeat this for the third, fifth, and remaining
odd-numbered table cells. In the same way, fill the even numbered
cells with a contrasting color (or leave them white).
Finally, select all the table cells, then change Font Size to 1
point. This will enable you to make the table--and your accent bar--as
short as you like.
Last time, we told you how to win back more room for your
publication page display by removing elements of the Publisher window.
Today, we offer another solution: Increase your Windows screen
resolution. If you have a larger monitor--17 inches or more--you'll
find this an especially effective way to increase your range of
vision.
To do it, get to the Windows desktop, right-click any blank area,
and choose Properties. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the
Settings tab; under Desktop Area, slide the slider toward more (if you
have a 15-inch monitor, try 800 by 600; a 17-inch monitor, 1028 by
768; a 19-inch monitor, 1152 by 870). Click OK to see your new
settings (you may have to restart your computer first). You may have
so much more space, you'll want to bring BACK your Quick Publication
Wizard, Status Bar, and Rulers, which you can do easily by repeating
the steps you used to remove them.
The great thing about Publisher's background layer is that you put
things in it once, and they appear on EVERY page. Of course, this very
quality comes back to bite you if you want to exclude one element of
the background from one page in your publication.
The best way to solve this problem: Working in the foreground layer
of the page in question, click the Rectangle tool and draw a shape
over the element you want to cover up. (You could also use the Oval
tool, or a Custom Shape--whichever covers the element most
completely.) Click the Fill Color tool and choose white (or the color
of your publication page); click the Line/Border Style tool and choose
None. You've just masked the unwanted element.
Using light text on a dark background is a proven way to make
titles, headlines, and other text elements pop out visually from the
page. It's also an easy technique to overdo. Here are a few things to
remember when creating light-on-dark text elements:
1. Use light-on-dark text with large type only. We don't recommend
light-on-dark text with sans serif fonts smaller than 14 points or
serif fonts smaller than 18 points. 2. Emboss the text. Select the
light text and choose Format, Fonts; under Effects, choose Emboss;
then click OK. Embossing adds a slight shadow to the text that makes
it pop out from the background even more. Of course, this technique
doesn't work with a black background, which brings us to our third
tip. 3. Stay away from black backgrounds. Every so often a study
concludes that white text on a black background is the single
hardest-to-read text-and-background combination. It was popular in the
early days of the laser printer, when no other effects were available;
there's no excuse for it in today's world of color printers, as well
as black-and-white printers capable of printing limitless gray shades.
Adding pictures to your Publisher-created Web site? No doubt you'll
be tempted to make 'em big. Today we're here to tell you to RESIST
THAT TEMPTATION. In fact, if you care about your audience, you'll want
to make sure your pictures aren't much bigger than 3 inches
square*--so that folks using the lowest possible screen resolution
(640 by 480 pixels) can see the entire picture on their screens
without having to scroll. After all, what good is it to see PART of a
picture?
*This 3-inch-square maximum assumes you'll have other material on
the page along with the picture--such as a bar of navigation buttons
going down one side of the page. If not, you can make the picture as
wide as 4 or even 4.5 inches and still fit it within a maximized
browser window.
In Publisher, the BACKGROUND layer is where you place elements you
want to appear on every page of your publication: logos, watermarks,
page numbers, background designs, and so forth. The FOREGROUND is
where you place everything else.
So how do you tell which layer you're working in?
Just look on the status bar--the lower frame of the Publisher
window. In Publisher 2000, you know you're in the foreground layer
when the dog-eared page indicators appear in the status bar; you're in
the background layer when you see only a single page indicator
containing the letter "R" (sorry, we don't know what that stands for).
In Publisher 98, you know you're in the foreground layer when you
see the page indicator-selector with the page number in it; you're in
the background layer when the dog-eared background page symbol
replaces the page indicator-selector.
And remember, Ctrl-M toggles you between the background and
foreground layers.
We don't blame you--in general, they tend to look MUCH better than
GIFs, without taking up a whole lot more space (because you can
compress them). But you may have noticed that when you place a JPEG in
your Publisher-built Web page, it doesn't look so good on the Web. In
fact, it can look pretty lousy.
The reason for this is that when you save a publication as a Web
page, Publisher turns ANY graphic into a GIF. There's only one way to
stop this: Instead of inserting your JPEG into your publication, LINK
IT to your publication. Here's how: Click the Insert Picture button.
Select your JPEG. Click the arrow next to the Insert button, and
choose Link To File. The file appears in your publication just like
before--but when you save the publication as a Web page, Publisher
does NOT change it to a GIF.
Here's a scenario: You're designing some letterhead. You're trying
out three or four different logos, and you can't decide which one you
like best, so you want to print a sample of each. How can you do this
without making three different publications or three different pages
in one publication?
Use the scratch area--those wide-open spaces around your page. Put
one logo in place on the page; move the others to the scratch area,
and print out the file. Publisher prints only what's on the page; it
doesn't print objects in the scratch area.
The scratch area is also a great place to keep stuff you just
occasionally use in a publication: alternate newsletter banners,
pull-quote frames you've designed,and so on. Put them in the scratch
area, and you'll always have them handy when you need them.
Maybe you want to add some foreign flare to your text; maybe you
need to use the symbol for degrees rather than spell out the word.
Whatever your reasons, at some paint you'll be inserting a special
character.
First position your cursor where you want the special character to
appear. Choose Insert, Symbol. In the grid, find the character you
want and double-click it. It appears in your text, just like that.
WARNING: We do NOT recommend including special characters in your
Web sites--many computers and browsers can't read them correctly.
As you probably know by now--especially if you subscribe to this
tip--Publisher converts any picture on your Web page to a GIF file.
Often this is just fine. But if you've inserted a picture that's
sharper or more colorful than a typical GIF file--such as a JPEG
file--you probably don't want it converted.
Well, you don't have to have it converted. Delete the picture and
reinsert it as follows: Choose Insert, Picture, From File. In the
dialog box, navigate to the picture, select it, and instead of
clicking Insert, click the arrow NEXT TO the Insert button and choose
Link To File. Publisher inserts the picture as usual, but when you
save the page as a Web page, instead of converting the picture,
Publisher creates a link to the actual picture and saves that picture
to the Web folder as well.
What's the largest publication file you can create with Publisher?
That would be 2GB or 65,536 objects, whichever comes first. Each of
the following counts as one object:
One page One "story" (a single or connected set of text frames) One
picture frame (whether it has a picture in it or not) One line or
shape One OLE object frame (filled or not) Note that the file size
limit does not include linked objects--so, you could have a small
publication linked to a 4GB spreadsheet file, if for some reason you
had such a thing nearby.
Go nuts!
Last time, we told you how to change the length of a line without
changing its angle. Today, we have another handy line tip: To change
the length of a line equally from each end--so that the center of the
line remains in place--hold down the Ctrl key and drag one end of the
line. To change the length of a line equally from each end WITHOUT
CHANGING THE ANGLE OF THE LINE, hold down Ctrl-Shift and drag one end
of the line.
That should cover just about anything you'd want to do with a
line--if not, please let us know!
WordArt lets you curve text in a full circle or in a semicircle.
Suppose you want to curve text in a quarter circle--is this possible?
Of course it is. Click the WordArt tool, hold down the Shift key,
and draw a square WordArt frame. Type your text, then type as many
additional spaces as you have letters and spaces in your text. (For
example, if your text was Some Text, you'd type nine spaces after it.)
Click Update Display. If the curve isn't exactly what you want, type
more spaces until it looks as you want it to look; then click outside
the frame to finish.
Publisher has all kinds of little helpful pointers--the little
moving van that appears when you're moving an object, the scissors
that appear when you crop, and so forth. Of course, there's a fine
line between helpful and, well, condescending. Imagine a
desktop-publishing wag watching over your shoulder and thinking,
"Well, a little moving van--what are you, 12 years old?"
To project a more-adult image, set Publisher to use more-adult
mouse pointers: Choose Tools, Options, click the User Assistance tab,
and turn off Use Helpful Mouse Pointers. In the box below, you'll see
the new mouse pointers, which aren't exactly unhelpful. Click OK, and
you won't see the moving van again.
Want to create your own sheet of graph paper?
Here's the quickest way: Create a new publication and click the
Table tool. Draw a table frame spanning the four margins of the page
(start one inch down and one inch to the right of the top corner, and
finish one inch above and one inch to the left of the bottom corner).
In the Create Table dialog box, specify 26 columns and 36 rows and
click OK. Click the Select Cells button (along the top left corner of
the table) to select all the table cells; then choose Format,
Line/Border Style, More Styles. Under Preset, click Grid; under Choose
A Thickness, select Hairline; and under Color, select a light gray (or
some other light color). Click OK, and you've got graph paper.
Here as promised is an alternative (non-WordArt) method for
creating graphic text headlines for your Web page.
Click the Text Frame tool and draw a frame the size you want your
headline. Right-click the frame and choose Change Text, AutoFit Text,
Best Fit. Press Ctrl-E to center the cursor, then type your headline.
Format the text any way you want. Right-click the text frame and
choose Cut. Choose Edit, Paste Special. Under As, choose Picture, then
click OK.
You now have a graphic headline you can size and move around like
any picture--and it looks MUCH better when you convert it for the Web.
There are lots of reasons you might want to get out of a dialog
box: You chose the WRONG command; you selected so many options that
you can't remember whether they're the ones you wanted; or, most
likely of all, you need to go to the bathroom.
Whatever the reason, you can close ANY dialog box without executing
ANY of the options you've selected by simply pressing the Esc key, OR
by clicking the Cancel button, OR by clicking the X button in the top
right corner of the dialog box. Whichever way you choose, you're out
of the dialog box as if you had never opened it in the first
place--even if you've clicked Apply to see the effects of whatever
options you selected.
We're always on the lookout for fonts you can download free from
the Web. Today's find: Ace Fonts at
http://www.acefonts.com
is home to a few hundred free fonts, most of the unconventional
variety. The one drawback to the site is that it organizes the fonts
by name, not category (that is, serif, sans-serif, display), so you
can't narrow your search. Because this site does offer quite a few
gems--and because you can have them all absolutely free--give it a
visit anyway. A little patience pays off.
No, Just Kiss Me, at
http://www.justkissme.com
is not one of those Internet personals services you hear about;
it's actually a library of free and/or inexpensive fonts, graphics,
Web buttons, and so on. We liked the Original Fonts section; we
especially liked the exceptionally beautiful dingbats--great for
logos, buttons, accents, borders-- most of which you can download
either free or for a paltry $2. Happy hunting!
"How can I do footnotes in Publisher?"
I'm afraid you have to do them manually. Publisher doesn't have a
footnoting feature like the ones in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or
other word processing programs. You'll have to insert your own
footnote numbers in the text (formatting them with superscript), and
create your own citations at the bottoms of each page; what's worse,
you'll have to change the numbers and move the citations from page to
page as you edit your document. Our recommendation is to use endnotes
(these are just like footnotes, except that the citations appear on a
single page at the end of your publication).
You're more of a designer than a writer; you know how big you want
your headline, but you have no idea yet what the headline text will
be. That's no problem, thanks to Publisher's Best Fit text frames.
Click the Text tool and draw a text frame as large as you want your
headline. Click the Center button; then right-click the frame and
choose Change Text, AutoFit text, Best Fit.
You're all set: When you finally do get around to typing your
headline, it will fit the frame exactly.
Last time, we told you how to make a quick sheet of graph paper.
Today, we'll show you how to create a quick sheet of FANCY graph
paper, with a white grid against a light-gray background.
Create a new publication and click the Table tool. Draw a table
frame that spans the four margins of the page (start one inch down and
one inch to the right of the top corner, and finish one inch above and
one inch to the left of the bottom corner). In the Create Table dialog
box, specify 26 columns and 36 rows, and click OK.
Now for the fancy grid effect: Click the Select Cells button (in
the top left corner of the table) to select all the table cells. Click
the arrow next to the Fill Color tool and select a light gray color.
Next choose Format, Line/Border Style, More Styles. Under Preset,
click Grid; under Choose A Thickness select Hairline; and under Color,
select white. Click OK. Is that a great look or what?
Astute user that you are, you've probably noticed that several of
Publisher's formatting dialog boxes have an Apply button that lets you
see the effects of any changes you've made in the dialog box, right in
your publication, BUT WITHOUT COMMITTING TO THOSE CHANGES.
For example, let's say you've selected some text and chosen Format,
Font to make some formatting changes. You choose another font, another
size, another color; you maybe even add some attributes. All your
changes show up in the preview window--but you'd still like to see
everything in the context of the publication. So you click Apply,
slide the dialog box out of the way, and take a look. If you like what
you see, click OK to accept the changes. If you don't like what you
see, try something else. Easy enough, no?
Looking for a way to perk up a headline or title? Click the Text
tool and draw a text frame where you want the headline to appear.
Right-click the frame and choose Change Text, AutoFit Text, Best Fit.
Click the Fill Color tool and choose a light color. Then type your
text.
Select the text, and choose Format, Font. Set Color to White; then
under Effects select Engrave. Click OK. Your text looks like you cut
it out of the light-colored frame!
"For about a year, I've been trying unsuccessfully to embed fonts
in the Adobe Acrobat PDF files I create from Publisher publications.":
1) Acrobat substitutes fonts for the fonts he embeds; 2) Publisher
crashes while creating the PDF file; 3) when saving a file with the
Acrobat PDF driver selected, Publisher displays an error message
saying it can't find or initialize the selected printer.
You can take three steps to solve most PDF font embedding problems,
thereby ensuring that the fonts you use to create your publication are
the ones that appear in your PDF file:
1. Specify font embedding through Adobe Acrobat, and NOT through
Publisher's Commercial Printing Tools option. 2. Make sure to use
fonts that allow embedding. 3. When possible, use Acrobat
Distiller--as opposed to Acrobat PDFWriter--to create your PDF files.
We'll cover each of these measures in detail in the following tips.
Last time, we told you the first way to avoid problems when
embedding fonts in PDF files is to embed through Adobe Acrobat, and
not use Publisher's Commercial Printing commands (which have no effect
on how PDF files are generated).
To embed fonts using Acrobat PDFWriter, choose File, Print; under
Name, choose Acrobat PDFWriter, then click Properties. Click the Font
Embedding tab, select Embed All Fonts, and click OK, then OK again to
print.
To embed fonts using Acrobat Distiller, click the Windows Start
button and choose Programs, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Distiller.
From the menu, choose Settings, Job Options, and click the Fonts tab.
Select Embed All Fonts and click OK. Choose File, Close. This
technique embeds all of your publication's fonts in the PDF file
whenever you print using Acrobat Distiller.
Most fonts allow embedding, but a few don't. If one of the fonts
you use in a publication does not allow embedding, AND you have set
Acrobat PDFWriter or Acrobat Distiller to embed fonts, you will NOT be
able to create a PDF file from that publication.
The best way to avoid this problem is to avoid fonts that don't
allow embedding. To find embedding information for any font, click the
Windows Start button, then choose Settings, Control Panel;
double-click the Fonts icon. In the Fonts window, find the font in
question, right-click it, and choose Properties. Click the Embedding
Tab. Typically, if the font allows any kind of embedding, you can
embed it in a PDF file.
Our final tip for avoiding PDF font embedding problems is to create
your PDF files with Adobe Acrobat Distiller instead of using Acrobat
PDFWriter. (Typically, you get both when you install Adobe Acrobat
4.0). We make this recommendation because in our experience we've had
much better luck (in general, not only with regard to embedding) when
we create PDFs with Distiller rather than PDFWriter. Also, if you use
Asian fonts, Distiller will allow you to embed them, but PDFWriter
will not.
To print any publication with Acrobat Distiller, from the Publisher
menu choose File, Print, and under Printer select Acrobat Distiller
from the Name list. Then click OK.
Publisher's features for linking text frames are so easy to
use--and so neat to watch in action--that lots of folks forget there's
another, sometimes easier option for making a multicolumn publication:
creating a single text frame with multiple columns.
When you need to create multicolumn text on a single page, click
the Text tool and draw a frame that spans from margin to margin; then
choose Format, Text Frame Properties, set Number Of Columns to the
number you need, and click OK. Now you've got columns--text will flow
automatically between them without your having to do any linking at
all.
Use linked text frames when you need to flow text between pages or
flow text between spaces that don't fit into neat, newspaper-style
columns. Otherwise, multicolumn frames are the way to go.
Need a business form? Before you go about designing the thing
yourself, PLEASE see if Publisher can create one for you. Choose File,
New. In the Catalog list, click the Publications By Wizard tab. Under
Wizards, click Business Forms, then the type of form you want; then
click Start Wizard.
Publisher will create the form on screen. You can use the wizard to
change the design, logo, or personal information, or you can copy
elements from the form onto a new blank document of your own.
Nothing makes a certificate look fancier than a foil seal. And
nothing makes creating a foil seal easier than Publisher's Custom
Shape and Gradient Fill features.
Click the Custom Shapes tool. From the grid, select one of the
circular burst shapes. Hold down the Shift key and draw a burst. Click
the Line/Border Style tool and click None; then click the Fill Color
tool, click Fill Effects, and click the Gradients tab. In the Style
box, click one of the diagonal styles--17th or 18th from the left. Set
the Base Color to a light gray or gold; then click OK. It's a foil
look so lifelike, you can almost see yourself in the reflection! Well,
maybe not.
If you print a small page on a larger sheet of paper, by default
Publisher prints crop marks, designed for cutting the larger sheet
down to your publication size. If you'd rather Publisher didn't print
the crop marks, just do this: Choose File, Print. Click Advanced Print
Options. Under Printer's Marks, turn off Crop Marks. Click OK. The
crop marks will not print again until you turn the option back on.
If you're creating a booklet, here's something you may not have
known you can do: you can create elements that span spreads.
For example, let's say you're creating an eight-page booklet and
you have pages four and five displayed on the screen. You can insert a
picture or a text frame that extends into both pages. Publisher will
print the appropriate parts of the element on each page; when you
assemble the booklet, the parts come together in the appropriate
spread (provided that you fold and staple carefully). This offers a
layout option most folks don't know they have.
A while back, we incorrectly told you that Adobe Acrobat Reader,
which you can download for free, lets you CREATE as well as read PDF
files. That was wrong, and we corrected ourselves a bit later. We also
promised to alert you to any free or relatively inexpensive way to
create PDF files.
Adobe has come through with one: Create Adobe PDF Online. For $9.99
a month, or $99 per year, you can use this Web-based service to turn
any file on your hard disk (up to 50MB in size) into a PDF. The cost,
while not exactly a bargain, is probably less expensive than buying
the product and then upgrading it periodically; plus, if you go the
monthly route, you can cancel whenever you want. For more information
and a FREE trial of this service, visit
http://cpdf1.adobe.com/index.pl?BP=IE
Publisher's default unit of measurement is the inch. Many
professional designers and typographers prefer to measure their
documents in picas (a pica equals 1/6 of an inch). Why this
preference? For one thing, the line spacing for most 12-point type is
one pica. For another, 1-pica gutters between columns, 1-pica margins
around pictures, and 1-pica first-line paragraph indents tend to look
better than 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch versions of the same.
Try picas for yourself: Choose Tools, Options; in the General tab,
set Measurement Units to Picas and click OK.
Here's something most Publisher users don't know: Your bullets
DON'T have to be the same color as your text. Next time you want
bullets in a different color, start them this way: Using the Text
Color tool, choose the color for your BULLETS, then click the Bullets
button to start bulleting. Next, click the Text Color tool again and
choose the color for your TEXT. Start typing your bullets; Publisher
will make the bullets one color and the text the other.
You probably know you can quickly recolor any picture in your
publication by right-clicking the picture and choosing Change Picture,
Recolor Picture from the shortcut menu. What you may not know is that
you can use the same technique to recolor WordArt.
Next time you want to change the color of a WordArt object,
right-click it, choose Change Object, Recolor Object from the shortcut
menu, and select a new color.
This is especially convenient because it saves you the trouble of
switching to WordArt and using its sometimes cryptic coloring tools.
The only downside is that shades of the single color you select apply
to the ENTIRE WordArt object. If you want multiple colors in your
WordArt, this technique won't work.
Last time, we told you how to use Publisher's Coupon Wizard--and
mentioned that the Wizard could add a dotted-line-with-scissors border
to your coupon. In fact, you can add the same border to just about any
RECTANGULAR Publisher object: Select the object, click the Line/Border
Style tool, choose More Styles, click the BorderArt tab, and under
Available Borders double-click the Coupon Cutout Dashes or Coupon
Cutout Dots style.
Can't find the right picture for a logo or Web button? Use a
dingbat font character as clip art. Click the Text tool, hold down the
Shift key, and draw a square text frame about 1.5 inches square.
Right-click the frame, and from the shortcut menu, choose Change Text,
AutoFit Text, Best Fit. Finally, press Ctrl-E to center the cursor.
Next, choose Insert, Symbol. From the Font list, choose a Dingbat
or Picture font (such as Wingdings or Sports MT). From the grid, find
a picture you like, select it, and press Enter. The character fills
the frame. Use the Font formatting commands--Shadow, Emboss, Colors,
and so on--to enhance the character. It's not exactly like a
picture--you can't distort it by resizing the frame, and you can't
wrap text tightly around it--but it'll do in a pinch.
Need to know the exact size of an object? In any version of
Publisher, it's as simple as selecting the object and reading its
dimensions in the Object Size indicator, located on the status bar in
the lower-left corner of the Publisher display.
If you're using Publisher 2000, you can also display the new
Measurements toolbar, which tells you the size, location, and all
kinds of other things about any selected object--and lets you change
many of those items, too. To display the Measurements toolbar, choose
View, Toolbars, Measurements.
It's easy enough to change the size of text in Publisher: Select
the text; then, in Publisher's Font Size box on the Formatting
toolbar, choose--or type--the text size you want. But for an even
easier option (provided you don't need to make the text TOO much
bigger or smaller), try this: To increase the font size by one point,
press Ctrl-close bracket (]). To decrease the font size by one point,
press Ctrl-open bracket ([).
Changing type size as you type--what will they think of next?
Next time you want to change your margin guides, try this: Press
Ctrl-M to move to the Background layer, hold down the Shift key, and
use the mouse to drag your margin guides wherever you want them to be.
(Use the ruler to position them precisely where you want them.) When
you're done, press Ctrl-M again to return to the foreground layer of
your publication.
You've just used Publisher's handy Align Objects command (on the
Arrange menu) to center several objects relative to each other and to
the left and right margins. Suddenly, you realize that you need to
make one of the objects wider or narrower. How can you do this without
having to recenter the object?
Hold down the Ctrl key, grab one of the object's side handles, and
drag. However much you move one side of the object, Publisher moves
the other side in the opposite direction the same distance--keeping
the object centered. We LOVE this feature.
You're picky--and that's why you love to use Publisher's Size And
Position command instead of your mouse to size and position objects
precisely on your publication pages. Which is why you have most likely
noticed, not without pain, that ONCE YOU ROTATE AN OBJECT, YOU CAN NO
LONGER SIZE IT USING THE SIZE AND POSITION COMMAND.
Can you do anything about this? No--not unless you're willing to
resort to the manual method of dragging a corner or side of the object
with your mouse, then monitoring the size in Publisher's status bar as
you work. It's all you can do.
Even though Publisher's calendar styles are pretty slick, you'll
probably want to modify them from time to time--change the fonts,
number alignment, size of the date squares, and so forth. Just don't
make these changes until you're sure the calendar has the dates you
want, because if you change the dates after making design
modifications, you'll eliminate those modifications. The calendar will
revert to Publisher's original design, and you'll have to redo all of
your work.
Need a button? We can show you how to make one in a few simple
steps.
First hold down the Ctrl key and click the Oval tool; then hold
down the Shift key and create two circles, one somewhat smaller than
the other. Click the larger circle and click Send To Back. Select BOTH
circles and choose Arrange, Align Objects; set both Left To Right and
Top To Bottom To Centers, and click OK. With both objects still
selected, click the Line/Border Style tool and choose None.
Select the top (smaller) circle, click the Fill Color tool, click
Fill Effects, and click the Gradients tab. In the Style box, chose the
dark-top-to-light-bottom style (11th from the left) and click OK.
Select the larger circle, click the Fill Color tool, click Fill
Effects, and click the Gradients tab. In the Style box, chose the
light-top-to-dark-bottom style (12th from the left) and click OK.
Finally, select both shapes and click the Group button. You've got
your button.
Yes, Publisher comes with SOME Web page backgrounds. And yes, there
are plenty of places on the Web where you can get more backgrounds for
free. But suppose you come across a background in a Web page that you
REALLY like, but you can't find it in Publisher's collection or free
on the Web?
No problem--just borrow the one you like! In your Web browser, go
to the Web site with the background you seek. Right-click any blank
area of the page. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose Save
Background As. Then save the file to a folder (or to your desktop).
Next, open your Web page in Publisher and choose Format, Color And
Background Scheme. In the Standard tab under Background, choose
Texture. Find the background you just saved and double-click it. Click
OK to close the Color And Background Scheme dialog box. You've made
your new background!
In the course of researching a reader's questions about creating
custom BorderArt, we stumbled upon a great technique of our own: Try
using textured background clip art on your border. It works as
follows.
With your border selected, choose Format, Line/Border Styles, More
Styles. Click the BorderArt tab, Create Custom, and Choose Picture.
When the Clip Gallery catalog appears, double-click the Backgrounds
symbol. Choose your background--the perfectly square ones work best.
Right-click it and choose Insert. Back in the BorderArt tab, click OK,
then OK again. You have one slick border!
We've told you how to make a "line" of BorderArt characters by
simply applying BorderArt to a "flat" rectangle. Now we'll show you
how you can expand upon that trick to create another type of accent
for your publications.
For example, suppose you want to repeat a graphic along the left
margin of your page. Click the rectangle tool and use it to draw a
line--a rectangle with no width--along the left page margin from top
to bottom. Choose Format, Line/Border Style, More Styles. Click the
BorderArt tab, select one of the BorderArt designs, and set Size to 72
pt. Select Don't Stretch Pictures To Fit, and click OK. The border
appears.
Note that you can also use this technique to create a border from a
clip-art image; just follow the instructions above, but instead of
selecting one of the BorderArt styles, click Create Custom and choose
the appropriate image.
Since the world switched from typewriters to PCs, we've been pretty
much overrun with single-spaced text. It's a shame, really;
one-and-a-half-spaced and double-spaced text can be a lot easier on
the eyes. Next time you're feeling nostalgic for some extra line
spacing, try these shortcuts:
Press Ctrl-2 to change the current paragraph (or selected
paragraphs) to double-spaced text. Press Ctrl-5 to change the current
paragraph (or selected paragraphs) to one-and-a-half-spaced text.
Whenever you want to return to single-spaced text, just press Ctrl-1
to change the current paragraph (or selected paragraphs).
Always remember that the changes you make in a dialog box aren't
final until you click OK or Close (or press the Enter key). To stop
any change from happening--even after you've clicked Apply--just click
Cancel or press Esc. Publisher forgets the changes--or if you've
already clicked Apply, it undoes them!
By now you probably know about Publisher's ability to AutoFit your
text to a particular size frame so you can make sure your text fits in
a place you absolutely cannot enlarge.
Today we're letting you know that when you use it on a Web page,
autofitting can create some unexpected results. For example, suppose
you use the AutoFit feature to squeeze some text into a tight space
(right-click the text frame, choose Change Text, AutoFit, Best Fit
from the shortcut menu). To do the job, Publisher decreases the text
from 10-point size to 9.5-point size. Well, the Web doesn't understand
9.5-point text, and when Publisher saves the publication as a Web
page, it will reduce the text to 9 points--noticeably smaller than you
expected.
Our point? For the most reliable text appearance on a Web page,
avoid AutoFit and try shortening your text the old-fashioned way: Edit
it.
Last time we told you how to curve text in a quarter-circle. Today
we use WordArt to create an effect you otherwise couldn't create: a
circle with a dotted-line border! Click the WordArt tool, hold down
the Shift key, and draw a square WordArt frame on your page. On the
WordArt toolbar, change the shape to Circle (Curve). Then, in the
Enter Your Text Here dialog box, delete the sample text and click
Insert Symbol. From the character grid, select a dot character (it's
usually under the lowercase U) and click OK; the dot appears in the
text box. Select the dot, press Ctrl-C to copy it, then press Ctrl-V
repeatedly--at least 20 times. Click Update Display to see your
dotted-line circle. If you want, press Ctrl-V to insert more dots;
when you're finished, click outside the WordArt frame.
This works with other characters, too--try hyphens, the tilde
character (~), and carets (^) in particular.
Last time, we told you WordArt doesn't look so good ON SCREEN when
it's in an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file. Well, there's also another place
it doesn't look so good--in Web pages. In fact, when converted to a
GIF file (which is what Publisher does to WordArt when you save your
publication as a Web page), WordArt gets downright blurry--and looks
VERY unprofessional on the Web.
So what CAN you do when you want to create a graphic headline for
your Web page? We'll tell you next time.
In the past, we've recommended Adobe Acrobat as a
