by Andrew Whiteman

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!

The New Project dialogue window (which appears automatically whenever a new project is created) is often completely ignored by many QuarkXPress users, even if the settings are not the right ones for the project they are about to create. The settings you see are left over from the last project created: if the new project needs different settings, go ahead and change them.

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.

There are two main ways of aligning elements on a QuarkXPress page: ruler guides and measurements. Most new QuarkXPress users are seduced by the ease with which guides can be created (just drag them onto the page from either the horizontal or vertical ruler) and end up with a page covered in these green guides. Guides are very useful but it is often just as easy to change the X and Y measurements of elements. Making the X measurements the same aligns left edges, Y aligns top edges. The measurements window will also perform basic calculations for you. For example, to double the gap to the left of a text box, just tye "*2" (i.e. multiplied by 2) after the current X value and press Enter.

Incorrect use of guides is another basic error frequently encounter among QuarkXPress users. A typical scenario is where you want to create a new element and align it with something that's already on the page. So you drag a guide onto the page and align it with the existing element. Then you create your second element and snap it to the guide. This means that only the first element is actually aligned with the guide. Remember, the snap is what makes guides useful. So dragging a guide and aligning it to the edge of a box by eye won't do. You need to go back to the first element and ensure that it too is snapped onto the guide.

The automatic text box feature in QuarkXPress can be activated when creating a new project: you just click on the check-box marked "Automatic Text Box". It allows us to go into something approaching word processing mode. It should be used when creating multi-page documents consisting mainly of text such as a report or book.

A lot of inexperienced Quark users conclude that this feature just means that you don't have to create the text box yourself, the program creates it for you. In reality, the automatic text box has a sting in its tail. When it becomes filled with text, it immediately generates a new page, also containing an automatic text box and so on. So, if you use automatic text boxes on single page layouts, you run the risk of having unwanted pages being generated if your text box becomes filled with tex (which can easily happen as you experiment with different typefaces and type sizes.

Users new to QuarkXPress will often develop a strange fascination with the text box tool and try to assign it powers that it doesn't in fact possess! For example, they will attempt to edit text by selecting the text box tool and clicking on the text. In fact, the only thing the text box tool can do is to actually create the text box in the first place. Thereafter, the content tool should be used for entering and editing the 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.

QuarkXPress newbies will often create more text boxes than they need to (This box is for my heading, this one is for my subheading, and so on...), forgetting that the format of text can be changed as many times as necessary within the same box. Separate text boxes need to be created only where the attributes of different blocks of text cannot be accommodated within the same box: for example, a heading spanning two columns above a two column story.

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.

About the Author:

The The writer of this article is a training consultant with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering QuarkXPress training courses at their central London training centre. Don't reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article. Cheap ebooks.

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