How-to's for Desktop Publishing

Computers in Communication
Boston University College of Communication
Copyright © 1996 by Professor Jim Lengel

How to...

Create a multi-column layout
Select Columns from the Format menu. Enter the number of columns you want. Adjust the "space between columns" setting - which is automatically set by the computer - only if you want a special effect. When you click OK, you will see the column guides in your document.

Create a masthead.
A masthead should be a graphic element, not a text element, if you want it to span several columns, or to appear in reverse type. A masthead appears only on the first page of a newsletter or report. It is different from a header (see below) which appears at the top of every page.

Create a header.
A header appears at the top of every page of your work. It is usually the document title and perhaps a page number, and can span the width of the page regardless of the number of columns. The same text must appear in the header on every page. To create a header, use Insert Header in the Format menu. Your header will appear on the page; type into it the text you want. Align it with the alignment buttons as necessary. (To make a title that appears only on the cover page, create a graphic masthead (see above) rather than a header.

Create a footer.
A footer appears at the bottom of every page, just like a header. See the instructions for creating a header, above.

Create reverse (white-on-black) text.
The best way to do this is to create two graphic elements, a black rectangle and some transparent white text, and then to place the text over the rectangle.

To make a black rectangle, use the rectangle tool, available from the graphic toolbox, which you get by pressing the ? icon at the bottom left of the ClarisWorks window. Choose the rectangle tool. Click and drag to draw a rectangle of the size you want. To fill in the rectangle with color, use the color tool under the paint bucket.

Next, create some white text as a graphic element. Type your text in the Notepad. Select and copy it. Back in ClarisWorks, select the paintbrush tool. Paste the text onto the page. It will appear as a graphic element with handles. Use the handles to stretch the text box to fit the place you want the text to appear.

The text box will be opaque when you create it; to make it transparent, use the pattern tool
?
under the paint bucket, and select the transparency square
?.
Next, Choose the text tool (A). Select the text in the box you just made by clicking and dragging over it. Now you can use the Font, Size, and Style menus to adjust the text. To make the text white, select it, then use the Text Color item from the Style menu to set it to white. You should have white text on a black background.

To create headlines.
You will have more flexibility if you create headlines as graphic elements, and then place them exactly where you want them after the body text is formatted. It's best to keep the body text all of the same point size, so it lines up properly column-to-column. As you set the body text, leave ot the eadlines, but use returns to allow enough blank space for the headlines.

To tweak the location of grapic elements.
Use the arrow tool to select the graphic so its handles are showing. On the keyboard, use the arrow keys to move the graphci up, down, left or right one pixel at a time.

To align (justify) text.
Select the text you want to align. Use the alignment buttons on the ruler
?
to align left, center, right, or force-justify to both margins.

To make text wrap around a graphic element.
Use the arrow tool to select the graphic element. Choose Text Wrap from the Optons menu. Choose the type of text wrap you want. Now the body text will wrap around the graphic element, no matter where you move it.

To adjust line spacing (leading).
Select the text you want to adjust. Choose Paragraph from the Format menu. Change the unit from lines (li) to points (pt) using the pop-up button. ?
Then set the line spacing to the point value you desire. (If you are using 12-point text, for instance, normal line spacing would be 14 points, or 20% more than the height of the letters. For more leading, use a line spacing of 50% more than the text size.)