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Editing Objects
The Edit palette allows you to precisely move, scale and manipulate
objects.
When you enter a value in a text box in the Edit palette, press
Tab to move to the next text box without applying the change immediately.
Click the Apply button to apply the changes, or press Return.
(AmigaOS users must press Return twice: once to exit the text
box and once to apply the changes.)
Some of the options have arrow buttons which you can click
on to nudge values. Hold down Shift while nudging values to change
them in smaller increments.
The picture below shows the Edit palette when a box is selected
with the Object tool.
A Click to apply changes, or press Return.
B Left (X) and top (Y) coordinates.
C Width (W) and height (H) coordinates.
D Horizontal (HC) and vertical (VC) corner radii.
E Corner tool.
F Rotation angle.
G Flip vertical and horizontal buttons.
H Slant and twist angles.
I Lock, proportional scaling and printing toggles.
To lock an object: Click to select the Lock button. Locked
objects cannot be moved, scaled
or otherwise edited. If you try to modify a locked object, an
alert box will appear. You can choose to override the lock for
this action, to unlock the object and then perform the action,
or to cancel the action. Grouping
a locked object with other objects will result in a locked group.
This button is identical to selecting Lock and Unlock from the
Object menu.
To freeze the aspect ratio of an object: Click to select the
Proportional Scale button. This option prevents you from distorting
an object's appearance by changing the aspect ratio. This is automatically
selected for imported graphics.
To stop an object from printing: Click to select the Print
button. This option helps you save time when printing a draft
copy by skipping specific graphics.
The Edit palette's options change depending on the selected
tool and object. The following list of Edit palette's options
do not vary with the type of object that is selected:
- coordinates;
- rotate;
- slant;
- twist;
- flip;
- lock;
- proportional scale;
- no print.
If a text frame, bitmap
picture, Border
or TextFX object is
selected with the object tool, a special FX button appears in
the Edit Palette. The FX button when selected can modify these
types of objects.
- When a text frame is selected on the page, you can apply
left top right and bottom margins and set custom column widths
and gutters. Click on the FX button in the Edit Palette. See
the Text Frame Options
section for more information.
- When a Border object is selected on the page, you can change
the type of border drawn. Click on the FX button in the Edit
Palette. A selection of available borders will appear. See the
Borders section for
more information.
- If you have the TextFX extension installed and have a text block selected
on the page, you can change the shape of the text or curve it
around a path. Click on the FX button to open the TextFX dialog
box. A selection of shapes will appear. See the TextFX
section for more information.
- When a bitmap picture is selected on the page, you can apply
various picture effects to it, such as brightness, contrast,
emboss, reduce noise, negative, etc. Refer to the Effects
section of BME for the picture effects included with PageStream,
and to the Gary's Effects
add-on section for the extra effects available from SoftLogik.
Note that you cannot apply effects to external
pictures.
 Borders
and TextFX are sold
separately as extensions to PageStream. TextFX warps and curves
text objects and Borders are vector illustrations. Contact
GrasshopperLLC for more details. |
To edit an ellipse with the Edit palette: Enter the
starting and ending angles of the arc for arcs and pies. Choose
the elliptical shape type. Ellipses are closed elliptical shapes.
Arcs are a portion of an ellipse's arc. Pies are similar to arcs,
but have lines joined the endpoints of the arc to the center.
To edit a polygon with the Edit palette: Enter the number
of sides, from 2 - 99. Choose the polygon shape type. Normal polygons
have flat sides joining the points. Puffy polygons have outwardly
curved sides, while scalloped have inwardly curved sides. Wavy
polygons have puffy-scalloped alternating sides and stars have
pointed sides.
Enter the radius of the alternative points as a percentage
of the polygon's radius, for all polygon types except normal polygons.
Star, puffy, scalloped and wavy polygons have points that alternate
with the points of the actual sides. For example, a five-sided
star has five points and 5 alternate points inside the polygon
shape.
Note: the pre-rotation and angle options for polygons can only
be set with the Edit Palette when the reshape tool is selected.
To edit a grid with the Edit palette: Enter the number
of grid cells in each direction, from 1 to 99. The number of cells
is one more than the number of dividing lines in the grid.
To edit a column with the Edit palette: Enter the number
of columns and column gutter width into the Edit palette's "#C"
and "G" boxes.
Putting Text on the Page
 Introduction
PageStream offers three ways to put text on a page: text frames,
text blocks, and tables.
Text frames are containers
in which text may be entered. Most text frames are rectangular
text column frames with one or more columns. Text frames created
from irregular shapes are referred to as text shape frames. Text
column frames are normally used for the body text of a document
and text shape frames are used for special effects. Text frames
can be linked together so that text will flow between them. Use
text frames for the body text of your documents.
Text blocks are frameless
text used for titles, headers, footers and other small blocks
of type. They lack defined right and bottom margins, so they don't
have fixed edges within which to wrap text. You must press the
Return key to end each line of text in a text block. Text blocks
cannot be linked to other blocks or frames.
Tables are
Text frames, text blocks, and tables can be manipulated as objects
with the Object tool in the same way as shapes created with the
drawing tools.
The Text tool is used to edit and format text in a text frame,
text block, or table.
Resizing a text frame will cause the text inside to reflow
to fill the new dimensions of the text frame. Resizing a frameless
text block will cause the size of the text to resize proportionally
to the new dimensions of the text block. Resizing a table will
cause the cells inside to resize proportionally, and the text
inside those cells to reflow to fill the new dimensions of the
cell.
Creating
Text Frames
Most text is entered into text column frames. This type of
text frame can be divided into multiple columns which are permanently
linked together. You can change the number of columns in a text
column frame at any time.
  
You can create text frames on multiple pages at once with the
Create Text Frames command, or you can draw a single frame with
the Column tool.
 How to create text column frames
1. Choose Create Text Frames from the Layout menu.
The Create Text Frames dialog box will appear.
2. Select the column options.
Enter the number of columns to create and the gutter space
between them. You can also set their margins, the pages on which
to create them, and whether or not to link the frames from page
to page.
3. Click Create.
How to draw a text column frame
1. Select a Column tool from the toolbox.
Select the one, two or three column tool. The mouse pointer
will change to a drawing crosshair.
 Drawing Crosshair
Pointer
2. Drag the mouse to start the frame.
Position the mouse crosshair over the start point of the frame.
Drag the mouse in any direction while holding down the mouse
button.
3. Release the mouse button to end the frame.
Depending on which tool is selected it would create a one,
two or three text column(s) frame.
To change the number of columns in a text frame after creating
it: Select the frame with the Object tool. Choose Text Frame
Options from the Frame submenu in the Object menu to display
a dialog box with column and gutter options. Alternatively, enter
new values into the Edit palette's #C and G text boxes for text
column frames.
Text
shape frames
Text shape frames are used for special effects. PageStream
allows you to convert any shape or path into a text frame. For
example, you could draw an ellipse, convert it to a text frame,
and then type directly into it. PageStream will treat the shape
or path, no matter how irregular, as the margins for the text.
If you join objects together with the Join command and convert
the result to a text frame, text will flow into the portions
of the path which do not overlap.
The grey portions of the objects above show where text would
be placed. The text would be drawn from left to right starting
at the top, just as it would in normal text frames.
Note that you cannot convert groups or drawings into text
frames, because they are not a single object.
Text shape frames retain all the properties of their original
object type. For example, you can continue to edit the arc angles
of a pie slice after converting it to a text frame.
To convert a shape or path into a text shape frame: Select
the object to convert with the Object tool, and then choose Text
Frame from the Frame submenu in the Object menu. This command
will be checkmarked when a shape is capable of holding text.
Choose None from the Frame submenu to turn off the text container
ability of a text shape frame. Note that this will delete the
text it contains.
Creating
Text Blocks
Text frames are useful because the text in them can be word
wrapped. Text blocks lack defined right and bottom margins so
you must press Return at the end of each line. They are intended
for short blocks of text such as titles, captions, TextFX, headers
and footers, and cannot be linked together like text frames. On
the other hand, you can resize the text in them by resizing the
text block's bounding box.
To create a text block: Choose the Text tool and click
on a blank area of the page. If you click on another text block
or a text frame, the insertion point will be placed in that object
rather than creating a new text block. You can click on top of
non-text objects to create a text block. The text block will initially
have no width. You can begin typing immediately to enter text.
Press Return to end each line.
Comparing text frames, text
blocks and tables
When you resize a text column frame, the text in it reflows
without changing the size of the text. The text may or may not
fit in the frame's new size. When you resize a text block, the
text in it resizes in proportion to the object's new size. Resizing
a table will cause the cells inside to resize proportionally,
and the text inside those cells to reflow to fill the new dimensions
of the cell.
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