ADOBE INDESIGN CS2 REVEALED- P10 pptx

Figure 11 shows the same three objects after clicking the Align left edges button.. Clicking the Align left edges button aligns all selected objects with the left-most object.. FIGURE 9

ADOBE INDESIGN CS2

4-1

WORKING WITH

FRAMES 4

chapter

1 Align and distribute objects on a page.

2 Stack and layer objects.

3 Work with graphics frames.

4 Work with text frames.

When you position objects on a page, they

are positioned in text or graphics frames

Chapter 4 focuses on frames and how you

can best work with them

The first lesson gives you the chance to

pause and explore basic options for

align-ing and distributalign-ing frames on the page In

the second lesson, you’ll learn how to

manipulate the stacking order of frames,

and you’ll get a thorough tour of the

Layers palette After going through these

lessons, you’ll feel confident in your ability

to position frames precisely on a page and

to get them to overlap the way you want

them to

The third lesson is an immersion into the world of placing graphics in graphics frames Put on your thinking caps— there’s a lot going on here, all of it inter-esting You’ll learn the specifics of placing graphics—and the all-important difference between the graphics frame and the graphic itself Finally, you’ll finish by working with text frames and exploring the power of autoflowing text in a docu-ment Watch InDesign create dozens of text frames with a click of a button Now that’s a lot of frames!

WORKING WITH

FRAMES

chapter

4

Tools You’ll Use

L E S S O N 1

A fill is a color you apply that fills an object A stroke is a color that you apply

to the outline of an object Figure 1 shows

an object with a blue fill and a yellow stroke

InDesign offers you a number of options for filling and stroking objects The sim-plest and most direct method for doing so

is to select an object and then pick a color from the Swatches palette, shown in Figure 2 The color that you choose in the Swatches palette will be applied to the selected object as a fill or as a stroke, depending on whether the Fill or the Stroke button is activated in the Toolbox

To activate either the Fill or the Stroke button, simply click it once in the Toolbox

The Fill button is activated when it is in front of the Stroke button, as shown in Figure 3 When the Fill button is acti-vated, clicking a swatch in the Swatches palette applies that swatch color as a fill to the selected object(s) When the Stroke but-ton is activated, as shown in Figure 4, the swatch color is applied as a stroke

Once a stroke is applied, you can modify the stroke weight—how heavy the out-line appears—using the Stroke palette

Figure 5 shows the Stroke palette and an object with a 10-pt red stroke Note the Stroke palette list arrow, which you can click to display more stroke options in the palette

In this lesson, you will explore various

techniques for positioning objects in

spe-cific locations on the document page.

ALIGN AND DISTRIBUTE

OBJECTS ON A PAGE

FIGURE 1

An object with a fill and a stroke

FIGURE 2

Swatches palette

FIGURE 3

Viewing the activated Fill button

FIGURE 4

Viewing the activated Stroke button

FIGURE 5

A 10-pt stroke applied to an object

Stroke button is in

front of the Fill button

Fill button is

in front of the Stroke button

Stroke

Fill

10-pt stroke on object

Stroke palette list arrow Stroke weight (in points)

Using the Step and Repeat

Command

Many times, when laying out a page, you

will want to create multiple objects that are

evenly spaced Rather than draw each

object one at a time, it’s often best to use

the Step and Repeat dialog box, as shown

in Figure 6

Before you choose the Step and Repeat

command, you need to decide which object

you want to make copies of, and how many

copies of the object you want to create

After selecting the object, choose Step and

Repeat on the Edit menu In the Step and

Repeat dialog box, you choose the number

of copies You also specify the offset value

for each successive copy The offset is easy

to understand—it is the distance, horizon-tally and vertically, that the copy will be from the original Figure 7 shows an origi-nal 1-inch square frame and the three copies created using the Step and Repeat command Note that the horizontal offset

is two inches and the vertical offset is two inches Thus, each copy is two inches to the right and two inches down from the previous copy

Note that positive and negative offset val-ues create copies in specific directions On the horizontal axis, a positive value creates copies to the right of the original; a nega-tive value creates copies to the left of the

original On the vertical axis, a positive value creates copies below the original; a negative value creates copies above the original Figure 8 is a handy guide for remembering the result of positive and negative offset values

Use the vertical ruler on the left side of the document page to remember positive and negative values on the vertical axis You are used to thinking of positive as up and nega-tive as down, but remember that in InDesign, the default (0, 0) coordinate is in the top-left corner of the page On the

ruler, positive numbers increase as you

move down the ruler

FIGURE 6

Step and Repeat dialog box

FIGURE 7

Results of the Step and Repeat command

FIGURE 8

Understanding positive and negative offset values

Copied squares

Point of origin

2 in.

2 in.

Lesson 1 Align and Distribute Objects on a Page INDESIGN 4-7

Aligning Objects

The Align palette offers quick and simple

solutions for aligning and distributing

mul-tiple objects on a page To align objects is

to position them by their tops, bottoms, left

sides, right sides or centers To distribute

objects is to space them equally on a page

horizontally, vertically, or both Using the

top section of the Align palette, you can

choose from six alignment buttons, shown

in Figure 9 Each option includes an icon

that represents the resulting layout of the

selected objects, after the button has been

clicked Figure 10 shows three objects

placed randomly on the page Figure 11

shows the same three objects after clicking

the Align left edges button

Compare Figure 10 to Figure 11 Only the

bottom two objects moved; they moved left

to align with the left edge of the top object

This is because the top object was originally

the left-most object Clicking the Align left

edges button aligns all selected objects with

the left-most object

Figure 12 shows the same three objects

after clicking the Align top edges button

Clicking this button means that the top

edges of each object are aligned

The Align palette is a great feature of

InDesign, one that you will use over and

over again

FIGURE 9

Align Objects section of the Align palette

FIGURE 10

Three objects not aligned

FIGURE 11

Viewing the results of clicking the Align left edges button

FIGURE 12

Viewing the results of clicking the Align top edges button

Align top edges button Align bottom edges button

Align left edges button

Align horizontal centers button

Align right edges button Align vertical centers button

Objects are aligned by their left sides

Align left edges button

Objects are aligned by their tops

Align top edges button

Distributing Objects

You use the Distribute Objects section of

the Align palette to distribute objects As

stated earlier, to distribute objects is to

space them equally on a page horizontally,

vertically, or both

Figure 13 shows three objects that are not

distributed evenly on either the horizontal

or vertical axis Figure 14 shows the same

three objects after clicking the Distribute

horizontal centers button Clicking this

button means that—on the horizontal

axis—the distance between the center point

of the first object and the center point of

the second object is the same as the

dis-tance between the center point of the

sec-ond object and the center point of the third

object

Figure 15 shows the same three objects

after clicking the Distribute vertical centers

button Clicking this button means that—

on the vertical axis—the distance between

the center points of the first two objects is

the same as the distance between the center

points of the second and third objects

Why are the Align and Distribute buttons in

the same palette? Because their power is

how they work in conjunction with each

other Figure 16 shows three text frames

without any alignment or distribution

applied Figure 17 shows the three frames

after clicking the Align top edges button

and the Distribute left edges button

Compare the two figures

FIGURE 13

Three objects, positioned randomly

FIGURE 14

Viewing the results of clicking the Distribute horizontal centers button

FIGURE 15

Viewing the results of clicking the Distribute vertical centers button

FIGURE 16

Three text frames, positioned randomly

FIGURE 17

Viewing the results of clicking the Align top edges button and the Distribute left edges button

Distribute vertical centers button Distribute horizontal

centers button

Aligned at top edge

Even horizontal distribution from left edge to left edge

Lesson 1 Align and Distribute Objects on a Page INDESIGN 4-9

Apply fills and strokes

1 Open ID 4-1.indd, then save it as Orientation.

2 Click the Rectangle Tool , then click anywhere on the page.

TIP When a shape tool is selected in the Toolbox, clicking the document window opens the tool’s dialog box, where you can enter values that determine the size of the resulting object

3 Type 2 in the Width text box, type 2 in the Height text box, then click OK.

4. If the Swatches palette is not visible, click

Window on the menu bar, then click Swatches.

5 Click the Fill button in the Toolbox (if

neces-sary) to activate it.

6 Click Green in the Swatches palette.

The rectangle frame fills with green.

7 Click the Stroke button in the Toolbox.

8 Click Brick Red in the Swatches palette.

9. If the Stroke palette is not visible, click

Window on the menu bar, click Stroke, type

6 in the Weight text box, then press [Enter]

(Win) or [return] (Mac).

10 Press [V] to access the Selection Tool, then

drag the frame rectangle so that its top-left corner is aligned with the top-left corner of the page, as shown in Figure 18.

11 Click File on the menu bar, then click Save.

You created a rectangle using the Rectangle dialog box You then used the Swatches palette to choose

a fill color and a stroke color for the rectangle frame Finally, you increased the weight of the stroke and dragged the rectangle to the top-left corner of the page.

FIGURE 18

Positioning the rectangle frame

Use the Step and Repeat

command

1 Click the green rectangle, click the Stroke

button in the Toolbox, then click the Apply

None button , as shown in Figure 19.

The stroke is removed from the green

rec-tangle With the loss of the stroke, the

rectangle is no longer aligned with the

top-left corner

2. Move the rectangle up and to the left so that

it is once again aligned with the top-left

corner of the page.

3 Click Edit on the menu bar, then click Step

and Repeat.

4 Type 3 in the Repeat Count text box, type 2

in the Horizontal Offset text box, type 2 in

the Vertical Offset text box, then click OK.

Three new rectangles are created, each one

two inches to the right and two inches

down from the previous one, as shown in

Figure 20.

5 Click the top-left rectangle, press and hold

[Shift], click the second rectangle, click Edit

on the menu bar, then click Step and Repeat.

(continued)

FIGURE 19

Removing the stroke from the rectangle

FIGURE 20

Viewing results of the Step and Repeat command Apply None button

Each rectangle is two inches to the right and two inches down from the previous one

Lesson 1 Align and Distribute Objects on a Page INDESIGN 4-11

6 Type 1 in the Repeat Count text box, type 4

in the Horizontal Offset text box, type 0 in the Vertical Offset text box, then click OK.

7 Click the bottom-right rectangle, press and hold [Shift], click the rectangle that is

diag-onally above the bottom-right rectangle,

click Edit on the menu bar, then click Step

and Repeat.

8 Type 1 in the Repeat Count text box, type -4

in the Horizontal Offset text box, type 0 in the Vertical Offset text box, then click OK.

9 Press [W] to switch to Preview, click

any-where to deselect the new rectangles, then compare your page to Figure 21.

10 Click File on the menu bar, click Revert, then click Yes (Win) or Revert (Mac) in the

dialog box that follows.

TIP The Revert command returns the docu-ment to its last saved status

You used the Step and Repeat command to create

a checkerboard pattern, duplicating a single rec-tangle seven times, then reverted the document.

FIGURE 21

Viewing a checkerboard created using the Step and Repeat command

Align objects

1 Press and hold [Alt] (Win) or [option]

(Mac), then click and drag the square in the

top-left corner down to the bottom-right

cor-ner, as shown in Figure 22.

TIP Pressing and holding [Alt] (Win) or

[option] (Mac) when dragging an object

makes a copy of the object.

2 Press and hold [Alt] (Win) or [option]

(Mac), then click and drag the square from

the bottom-right corner up so that its center

point is aligned with the intersection of the

two guides, as shown in Figure 23.

3 Click Window on the menu bar, point to

Object & Layout,then click Align.

4 Press [Ctrl][A] (Win) or [A] (Mac) to

select all the objects on the page, then click

the Align left edges button in the Align

Objects section of the Align palette.

5 Click Edit on the menu bar, then click Undo

Horizontal Align Left.

6 Click the Align top edges button in the

Align palette.

7 Undo the previous step, then click the Align

horizontal centers button .

8 Click the Align vertical centers button .

All three frames are stacked upon one

another, their center points aligned both

hor-izontally and vertically

9. Save your work, then close Orientation.

You used the [Alt] (Win) or [option] (Mac)

key-board shortcut to create two copies of the square.

You then used the buttons in the Align Objects

section of the Align palette to reposition the

frames with various alignments.

FIGURE 23

Repositioning a second copy

FIGURE 22

Repositioning a copy

Original

Copy

Center point is aligned with intersection of guides

Lesson 1 Align and Distribute Objects on a Page INDESIGN 4-13

FIGURE 24

Distributing objects evenly on the horizontal axis

FIGURE 25

Distributing objects evenly on the vertical axis

FIGURE 26

Distributing 5 objects evenly on the vertical axis

Even horizontal distribution from center to center

Even vertical distribution from center to center

Distribute objects

1. Open ID 4-2.indd, then save it as

Distribution.

2. Select the top two yellow squares and the

two red squares, then click the Align top

edges button in the Align Objects sec-tion of the Align palette.

The four objects are aligned at their top edges.

3 Click the Distribute horizontal centers

button in the Distribute Objects section

of the Align palette.

The center points of the two red squares are distributed evenly on the horizontal axis between the center points of the two yellow squares, as shown in Figure 24.

4 Click Edit on the menu bar, click Deselect

All, select the top-left yellow square, select

the two red squares, then select the bottom-right yellow square.

5 Click the Distribute vertical centers

button , then compare your screen to Figure 25.

6. Select the green square, the two red squares and the bottom yellow square, then click the

Align right edges button .

7 Press and hold [Shift] then click the

top-right yellow square to add it to the selection.

8 Click the Distribute vertical centers

button The center points of the five squares are dis-tributed evenly on the vertical axis, as shown

in Figure 26.

9. Save your work, then close Distribution.

You spaced objects evenly on the horizontal or vertical axis.