Chapter 14
When Text Met Graphics
IN THIS CHAPTER
Working with text wrap
Anchoring items within the text
Making items “float” alongside text
One of the important ways a page layout application such as QuarkXPress is better than a word processing application such as Microsoft Word is in how you can position items in relation to each other. In this chapter, you see how to make pictures and text boxes push other text out of the way. You also find out how you can anchor items inside the flow of text so that they travel along with the text, or outside the flow of text to create callouts. And if you think that your layout may ultimately become an e-book, you’ll find it essential to know how to anchor items to text.
Wrapping Text around Other Items
When laying out a page with multiple pictures and text boxes, QuarkXPress’s text runaround feature can be both efficient and creative. Text runaround is efficient when you’re moving page items around because if the item you move extends over part of a text box, the text in the text box can automatically move out of the way. Without this feature, you would be constantly rearranging and resizing text boxes to accommodate new or moved page items.
You can also use text runaround in creative ways, such as making the edge of a text block follow the contours of a person or product. Or, you can drop a picture on top of the margin between two columns of text and have the text wrap around it.
QuarkXPress takes the text runaround feature to the limit: You can set a different text offset distance for the top, bottom, left, and right side of every item, and optionally include the item’s drop shadow in the runaround. When running text around a picture, it can run around the outside edge of the picture, the shape of the main subject in the picture, or anything in between.
When you want text to wrap around a page item, you apply text runaround to that item. Text runaround works only when the item being run around is in front of the box containing the text.
The controls for text runaround are in different places on a Mac and in Windows. On a Mac, all the controls are in the Runaround tab of the Measurements palette. In Windows, you choose Item ⇒ Runaround or Item ⇒ Edit ⇒ Runaround to get to these controls.
Running text around text boxes
When working with multiple text boxes, some may overlap others. You can use text wrap creatively, to cause small text in a story to move out of the way of a box containing big text, such as a callout. You can also use text wrap on a small “continued on …” box to force the story to jump past the “continued on …” line to another page.
To make text run around the outside of a text box (so that the text in boxes behind it will wrap around it), select the text box and follow these steps:
- In Windows, choose Item ⇒ Runaround; on a Mac, click the Runaround tab in the Measurements palette, as shown in Figure 14-1.
- Choose Item from the Type drop-down menu.
- Enter values in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right fields to outset or inset the runaround area. (If the text box is not rectangular, only one Outset field displays.)
FIGURE 14-1: The Runaround tab of the Measurements palette for a text box.
Running text around pictures
When running text around a picture box, QuarkXPress lets you run text around the outside of the box or around a shape inside the picture. Just remember that the picture box must be in front of any text boxes you want to wrap around the picture.
Running text around the outside of a picture box
To make text run around the outside of a picture box, select it and follow these steps:
- In Windows, choose Item ⇒ Runaround. On a Mac, click the Runaround tab in the Measurements palette, as shown in Figure 14-2.
- Choose Item from the Type drop-down menu.
- Enter values in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right fields to outset or inset the runaround area. (If the text box is not rectangular, only one Outset field displays.)
Running text around a shape in a picture box
QuarkXPress gives you several ways to make text run around a picture shape. If the picture happens to have an embedded path or alpha channel, you can use the path or channel. However, that’s not usually the case — so QuarkXPress can find the subject area of a picture on a (near) white or (near) black background and create a runaround path for you. Here’s how:
- On a Mac, click the Runaround tab in the Measurements palette, as shown in Figure 14-2; in Windows, choose Item ⇒ Runaround.
- Make a choice from the Type drop-down menu:
- Auto Image: Creates a Bézier clipping and runaround path based on the picture’s nonwhite areas. For more on creating and using Bézier paths, see Chapter 3.
- Embedded Path: Runs text around a path embedded in an image by an image-editing application (such as Photoshop).
- Alpha Channel: Runs text around an alpha channel embedded in an image by an image-editing application such as Photoshop. An alpha channel is a saved selection inside an image that can be used for removing backgrounds, printing spot varnishes or foils, or for other situations in which a portion of a picture needs to be defined.
- Non-White Areas: Creates a runaround path based on the picture’s subject. Depending on the value in the Threshold field, the runaround path will outline a dark figure within a larger white or near-white background (or vice versa).
- Same As Clipping: Sets the text runaround path to the clipping path selected in the Clipping tab.
- Picture Bounds: Runs text around the rectangular canvas area of the imported picture file. The canvas area contains the original picture boundaries. Because QuarkXPress lets you enlarge the picture box beyond the edges of the picture, this option tells QuarkXPress to ignore the picture box and use the original picture boundary instead. Enter values in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right fields to determine the outset or inset of the text from the picture’s boundaries.
- Choose among the following options to fine-tune the runaround path:
- Outset field: Adjusts how far the path extends from the edge of the subject. Negative values move the path inside the subject.
- Invert: Makes the text flow inside the shape, rather than outside.
- Outside Edges Only: Prevents “holes” from appearing inside the subject.
- Restrict To Box: Prevents the runaround path from extending beyond the edges of the picture box.
- Noise: Determines the smallest allowable closed path. Use this option to remove unwanted small paths.
- Smoothness: Controls path accuracy. A lower value creates a more complex path with a greater number of points. A higher value creates a less accurate path.
- Threshold: Determines how “white” is defined. For example, if the Threshold value is 15 percent, and a pixel’s gray value is below or at 15 percent, the pixel is considered “white” and excluded from the runaround path.
FIGURE 14-2: The Runaround tab of the Measurements palette for a picture box.
Editing a runaround path
To adjust a runaround path, choose Item ⇒ Edit ⇒ Runaround. The runaround path displays as a magenta outline in the picture box. You can then edit the path as you would any Bézier item. For more on editing Bézier paths, see the section in Chapter 3 about building Bézier boxes and lines.
Running text around lines and text paths
As mentioned at the beginning of this section, text runaround can be applied to any page item — not just boxes. To get creative, you can run text around anything, including lines and paths. To make text run around a line or text path, select it and follow these steps:
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On a Mac, click the Runaround tab in the Measurements palette, as shown in Figure 14-3. In Windows, choose Item ⇒ Runaround.
The controls for Text Runaround appear in either the Measurements palette (Mac) or dialog box (Windows).
- Choose Item from the Type drop-down menu in the Measurements palette or dialog box.
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Enter values in the Top, Left, Bottom, and Right fields to outset or inset the runaround area.
If the selected item is a text path, text in boxes behind it will run only around the path — not the text on the path.
FIGURE 14-3: The Runaround tab of the Measurements palette for a line or text path.
Running text around all sides of an item
If the runaround item is smaller than the text box and you want the text to run around both the left and right sides of that item, think twice — readers have a hard time following a line of text that jumps across an obstacle and then continues. If you still want to create this reading obstacle, select the text box (not the runaround item) and then do this:
- On a Mac: Select Run Text Around All Sides in the Text Box tab of the Measurements palette.
- In Windows: Choose Item ⇒ Modify and click the Text tab. Then select Run Text Around All Sides.
When you add a drop shadow to an item that has text runaround applied to it, you can choose whether text wrap distance should include the drop shadow or not. (Hint: Make it wrap around the drop shadow!) To include the drop shadow, click the Drop Shadow tab in the Measurements palette and select Runaround Drop Shadow.
Anchoring Items inside the Text Flow
When you want a box, line, table, group, or any other item to flow along with the text, you can anchor it within the text. It’s incredibly handy when you need to insert a small graphic into the text, or when building a reflowable e-book, as shown in Figure 14-4. It’s also incredibly easy to do; just follow these steps:
- Get the Item tool from the Tools palette and select the item or group you want to anchor.
- Choose Edit ⇒ Cut or Edit ⇒ Copy.
- Get the Text Content tool from the Tools palette and place the Text Insertion bar where you want to anchor the item.
- Choose Edit ⇒ Paste to anchor the item at the text insertion point.
FIGURE 14-4: A picture box anchored in the flow of text.
If the item you’re anchoring is wider than the column of text you’re anchoring it into, the item disappears and the text box displays an overflow indicator. You can either immediately undo your paste command by choosing Edit ⇒ Undo, or you can widen the text box to accommodate the anchored item. If the anchored item needs to be wider than the text column, use a callout instead, as explained later in this chapter.
Here are ways to work with anchored items:
- To resize an anchored item: Click the item with the Item tool; then drag one of its resizing handles.
- To cut or copy an anchored item: Select the item as you would any text character and choose Edit ⇒ Cut or Edit ⇒ Copy.
- To paste the anchored item elsewhere: Place the Text Insertion bar in a different location and choose Edit ⇒ Paste.
- To duplicate an anchored item: Select it with the Item tool and choose Item ⇒ Duplicate. A duplicate will be placed on the page.
- To delete an anchored item: Select the item or insert the Text Insertion bar after it, and press Delete/Backspace.
- To edit an anchored item: Use the tool appropriate for its content (picture, text, or line). Click the anchored item and use the tool as you would with a regular item: type/import text, import a picture, apply formatting, and so on.
- To edit a group: Duplicate it as described earlier in this list and then paste it back into the text.
- To unanchor an item: Again, duplicate the item as described previously in this list and then delete the original from the text flow.
Creating and Configuring Callouts
A callout is a floating item or group of items that displays on the same page or spread as the text it relates to. Some common uses for callouts are
- To keep a figure on the same page as the text that refers to it
- To display a floating icon outside the text (as you see in this book)
- To keep a pull quote (a quote from the text that highlights a specific idea) on the same page as its original text
A callout may include any combination of QuarkXPress items. To define its position on the page, you place a callout anchor in the text and associate it with the callout, as described in the upcoming sections.
Creating a callout
Chapter 3 tells you how to create an item, and Chapter 4 tells you how to create a group of items. After creating the item or group that you want to use as a callout, follow these steps to create a callout:
- Get the Text Content tool from the Tools palette and place the text insertion point where you want the callout anchor to be.
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Choose Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Insert Callout Anchor.
A callout anchor is inserted and selected.
- Click once on the item or group you want to use as a callout.
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Choose Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Associate with Callout Anchor.
The item or group becomes a callout, with a nonprinting line connecting it to the callout anchor, as shown in Figure 14-5. Next, you need to configure the callout anchor, as described in the next section.
FIGURE 14-5: A callout anchor connected to a group of items.
The context menu is often the easiest way to configure callouts, as shown in Figure 14-6. To use the context menu, Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the callout anchor or the callout itself.
FIGURE 14-6: The context menu for a callout anchor.
When guides are turned off, you can see only the selected callout anchor. To see all anchors, turn the guides on by choosing View ⇒ Guides.
Configuring a callout anchor
As with many things in QuarkXPress, you can configure a callout anchor either by applying a saved Callout Style or by configuring it manually.
To configure a callout anchor manually, follow these steps:
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Select the callout anchor and choose Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Edit Callout Settings.
The Edit Callout Style dialog box displays, as shown in Figure 14-7.
- To control how the callout aligns horizontally, choose from among the controls in the Align Callout Horizontally Relative To area in the Edit Callout Style dialog box:
- Align Callout Horizontally Relative to menu: The Align Callout Horizontally Relative to menu in the Edit Callout Style dialog box lets you align the callout with the anchor, the paragraph containing the anchor, the text box containing the anchor, the page, or the spread it’s on.
- Align Callout menu: The Align Callout menu lets you use the callout’s center, left edge, right edge, inside edge, or outside edge for alignment. (Inside/outside is useful with page spreads.)
- With menu: The With menu lets you lets you align the callout with the left edge, right edge, inside edge, or outside edge of the paragraph, box, page, or page margins. (Center is also an option for page or page margins.)
- Offset field: The Offset field lets you adjust the callout in relation to what it’s aligned with.
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To control how the callout aligns vertically, use the controls in the Align Callout Vertically Relative To area in the Edit Callout Style dialog box.
The controls are similar to the choices for horizontal alignment.
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To allow the callout to be manually moved, select Allow Manual Positioning of Callout.
To prevent the callout from being manually repositioned, leave this box deselected.
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To prevent the callout from extending beyond the page margins, select Keep Within Margins.
Even if the Offset field has a value that would push the callout into the margin, the callout will stop at the margin.
FIGURE 14-7: The Edit Callout Style dialog box.
Working with callout styles
To create and configure a Callout Style, you can use either the Callout Styles palette (Window ⇒ Callout Styles) or choose Edit ⇒ Callout Styles. Both are shown in Figure 14-8.
FIGURE 14-8: The Callout Styles palette (left) and dialog box (right).
The same controls are in both the Callout Styles palette and dialog box:
- To create a new Callout Style: Click the New button. The Edit Callout Settings dialog box displays, as shown in Figure 14-7.
- To edit an existing Callout Style: Select the style in the list of Callout Styles and click the Edit button. The Edit Callout Settings dialog box displays, as shown in Figure 14-7.
- To append Callout Styles from another QuarkXPress layout: Click the Append button in the Callout Styles dialog box.
- To apply a Callout Style to a selected callout anchor: Click the style’s name in the Callout Style palette or choose its name from the Callout Styles submenu (Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Callout Styles).
- To delete a Callout Style: Select it in the list and click the Delete button.
Copying and pasting callouts
A callout anchor behaves like an invisible text character. When you cut or copy and paste text that contains a callout anchor, the callout and the callout anchor come along with the text.
Deleting a callout
To delete a callout anchor and its callout, choose Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Delete. If you want to keep the callout but delete the callout anchor, first choose Item ⇒ Callout Anchor ⇒ Release.