Most Frequent Errors Made By QuarkXPress Users

If you are a new user of QuarkXPress, then this article may just point out some of the mistakes you may be making. So read through our list of common errors made by QuarkXPress user and see how many of them you yourself are making!

When creating a new project, many QuarkXPress beginners will pay absolutely no attention to the settings in the New Project dialogue box. These settings are the ones used last time a project was created on that computer. They may or may not be the right settings for the new project you are about to create.

Where does the page actually end? A lot of inexperienced QuarkXPress users mistake the margin guides for the edge of the page. Margin guides should be set when creating the new project and are used to align text and image boxes. These items should be placed on the guides: there is no need to leave any extra space.

Another common error is excessive use of ruler guides. These are created by dragging either the vertical or horizontal ruler onto the page and can be used to align elements using Quark's handy snap-to-guides features. Snapping two elements to the same guide ensures that their edges are aligned. This is a great feature when used in moderation. However, a lot of users create so many guides that it becomes difficult to see which guide relates to which element on the page. In general, guides are quicker to use but measurements are more accurate.

A classic error beginners make when using guides to align objects is as follows. They drag a guide and align it (by eye) with one of the edges of a box then they snap a second box onto the guide. This means that only the second box is actually snapped to the guide. Remember that both boxes need to be snapped to the guide to get the full benefit from them. Since one of the edges of the original box was used as a reference point for the guide, it will be almost aligned but not quite: it just needs to be moved slightly until it actually snaps to the guide. Position the mouse pointer over the appropriate middle handle of the box until the cursor changes to a pointing finger. Click and drag the handle so that it snaps to the guide. (If necessary, move the handle away from the guide and then back onto it to feel the magnetic snap.)

When you create a new project in QuarkXPress, you will notice an option marked "Automatic Text Box". This feature is designed to be used with long documents consisting mainly of text. It's not really meant to be used for short documents or documents consisting of only one page.

The automatic text box feature is great for long documents. However, you will often see QuarkXPress users activating this option when creating short documents or even documents consisting of a single page. They make the assumption that all the feature does is to save them the trouble of creating a text box. In fact, if the text box ever becomes filled with text (which can easily happen as you experiment with different text formats), a new page is immediately generated and your single page document becomes a two page document.

The text box tool can also be a source of confusion among people who have recently started using QuarkXPress. The text box tool is used to create text boxes. It can't be used for anything else. However, you will often see new users attempting to use it to edit the text within the box. In fact, the content tool is the only tool which can be used to edit text.

Confusion between the item and content tools is another common problem for new users. The item tool is to be used for moving elements on the page and for working with grouped elements. To edit the contents of t text or picture box, use the content tool. This confusion eventually will resolve itself for most users, since each time it arises, they will find the right tool sooner or later even if only through trial and error.

Another common Item/Content tool error is that new users will often insist on selecting the Item tool when resizing a box: in fact, resizing works fine regardless of whether the Content or Item tool is selected.

Beginners tend to create a lot more text boxes than they actually need. They'll create a box for a heading, another for the sub heading and so on. Actually, you can change your formatting within the same QuarkXPress text box as many times as you like. There is no need to create a new box each time the format changes. You only really need separate boxes where there are attributes which can't exist within the same box such as the number of columns.

In QuarkXPress, unless a text or picture box is given a frame or background fill, it will not print. Yet many Quark users insist on carefully setting attributes like the vertical alignment of the text within the box. Remember, there is no box there: all that matters is the text inside the box. QuarkXPress has a print preview feature which is obtained by pressing F7. This shows the elements that will actually print and hides all guides and design frames. Using this feature can help to remind new users which elements are printable and which are simply visual aids.

Article Source: Main Articles

Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering QuarkXPress training courses in London and throughout the UK.

This article may be reproduced wholly or in part without written permission provided the byline, resource area, and any hyperlinks remain in order to give proper credit to the author.

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