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Adobe PageMaker 6.5 what is pagemaker?

Adobe PageMaker 6.5 is the world's leading cross-platform professional page layout software, or at least so claims Adobe. PageMaker is primarily used for designing and producing publications such as flyers and newsletters and anything else that requires the combination of text and graphics from a wide range of applications. PageMaker handles text manipulation better than Illustrator or Photoshop could ever do, it also gives flexibility of graphic control not available in word processors. This is the kind of software that magazine publishers use to create their printables. After their creation, PageMaker documents can be sent to a service bureau for professional printing, sent to Adobe Acrobat for electronic delivery (web and other), converted directly to HTML using Adobes Plug-ins, or just printed to satisfy the American psycho-social need for immediate gratification.

changes from previous versions : the party line

Version 6.5 adds the ability to streamlines the publishing process of documents with a fixed structure, such as magazines, catalogs and newsletters, by adding support for text and graphics frames to its freeform layout approach. The latest PageMaker also features a new interface that incorporates a look and feel similar to Adobe Photoshop, the world-standard photo-design and production tool and Adobe Illustrator, the leading illustration and design tool. Users also will benefit from new tabbed palettes, standard Adobe menus, new keyboard shortcuts and improved compatibility among Adobe products.

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Adobe PageMaker 6.5 new documents

After loading PageMaker, go to the File menu and select New (cmd-N). This will bring up the following menu. Note that the margins are all the same (0.75 inches) except the inside one (1.00 inches). Unless you want one margin to be large than the rest (if you are doing something that is bound like an 11 X 14 newsletter), you may want to change this. Make the document 3 pages long, and then click OK to exit.

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Select desired size (letter, tabloid, etc.)

This adjusts the page numbering scheme (roman numerals, arabic numbers, etc.)

interface
Your document will then be displayed, blank, with all your preferences loaded. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the palettes and interface items.

Tool Palette

Styles and Colors Palettes

Master Palette for Text and Pictures Page Selector

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Adobe PageMaker 6.5 styles

Styles are standard text formats that are used throughout your document. For example, if you were to want all headlines to look the same throughout your document, you could create a style called headline (or anything else you want to call it) and then apply that style to every headline. Whenever you change the style settings in the future, every piece of text formatted with that style will change accordingly. Current styles can be viewed through Type menu and select Styles. There is also the style palette which appears on the screen as a default. If it is not there, you can show it through the Window menu and selecting Show Styles (cmd-B). Lets set the styles we will use for this document. We will need a headline style, a body copy style, and a caption style. Lets start with the headline. Since the Headline style is already available, we are just going to edit it with out preferences. From the Type menu, select Define Styles (cmd-3), and Edit the headline style (you can also just double-click the Headline style in the style palette). Make the Character setting 14 pt., ITC Officina Sans Book, Bold. Select Ok. Make the Paragraph setting 0.3 inches spacing after the paragraph. Select Ok. Now we are going to delete all the extra styles. Click on each of the style (except Headline) and then click on Delete (you can also do this by clicking on each style and clicking on the trash can in the style palette ).

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Lets create the other two styles that we need: Caption and Body Copy. If you are still in the Define Styles window, then click New and title each style (you can also do this by clicking on the sticky note at the bottom of the style palette ). Choose your settings, and exit the menu.

NOTE: A few general rules of thumb for font styles and layout: The headline copy is larger, in bold, uses a sans serif font (a font without those little flags on the letters so that it looks straight and clean like Helvetica), and sometimes is really wild, using unconventional fonts. Body copy is generally a smaller font, in normal or book format, is a serif font (a font with flags on the letters, like Times or Palatino), and has a first line indent of about 0.5 inches or space between paragraphs of 0.3 inches or so. Captions are generally justified (instead of left align or centered), smaller and bolder versions of the body copy style without indents.

master pages
You may notice at the bottom left corner of the screen there is a string of icons. These icons stand for the pages of your document: the L is the left page master, the R is the right page master, and the numbers correspond to each successive printable document page. Sometimes you may want to have items that repeat throughout the document, such as page numbers or PAGE 3

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titles (like this document), or columns. This is done just like QuarkXpress: through something called master pages. Click on the Master Page icons on the screens lower left. You should now see two blank pages and you are ready to apply master styles for the entire document.

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page numbers
Page numbers are one of those things that are used all the time and can be rather a pain in the butt to do if you do not use the master pages. Lets select the text tool and draw a small box on the bottom right corner of the left page. Now, with the blinking cursor, it is time to select the type for the page numbers. It is easiest (and most uniform for layout purposes) to just use the Body Copy style, but any formatting will do. PageMaker has a special key combination to signal a changing page numbering element: cmdopt-P. In your text box, insert a page numbering scheme and it should appear as LM. Select the pointer and copy the text block once with Edit and then Copy, and Edit and then Paste (cmd-C; cmd-V). Move this new block to the bottom right corner of the right page. Notice that the text changes to RM. Voila! Page numbers are done for the entire document, no matter how many pages you add, delete or rearrange!

columns
It usually helps design quite a bit to have a column structure to your document. So we are going to apply one to the text we have already placed, and now that we know what master pages are, we can apply this structure to the entire document so that it looks uniform, like it belongs together. Go to the Layout menu and select Column Guides... (there is no shortcut). Set the number of columns to 6, accept the default space between columns and select OK. Since we want the entire document to look uniform, we do not want to select the set right and left pages separately option. You should now have six columns on both pages. Return to page one by selecting the icon on the screens bottom left. Notice that the text box with our text doesnt quite fit in a column. With the pointer, adjust the text so that there are two empty columns to the left of it.

placing text
Now, we are ready to place some text in our empty document and apply some of our outrageous styles. Usually, you are going to type your stories and all text outside of PageMaker. This is a very good idea! PageMakers text editing tools are basically pathetic and are only good for changing styles and other rudimentary editing. If you import from programs like Word or WordPerfect, then be sure to save your file in Rich Text Format (RTF) or just plain text (TXT). Using RTF maintains italics, underlines, bolds, indents, tabs, etc. that you have setup already within your document. TXT format just provides crude ASCII text, which is especially nice if you are going to reformat the whole bloody thing anyway. PAGE 4

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We are going to place a document called ipsem_lorum.txt as the raw text for our little brochure. Go to the File menu and select Place (cmd-D). The place document window will appear. Find ipsem_lorum.txt and click OK. Another information window will appear. Accept the default settings by clicking OK again. The cursor will then change into a pencil with a right angle. Click the mouse on the page on which you want to insert the text (for our purposes, this is page 1) in the column where you want it to go (for us, this is in the third column). This will default by placing the text against the left margin and continue until the bottom of the page. Adjust the placement by using the pointer and dragging the text around the page. Place it against the top margin. You might notice that your text box has a little red thing at the bottom on the handle bar. This means that there is more text in the document that does not fit on the current page. Click on the red box (notice your cursor changes), and go to the second page. Click in the first column (your text should flow down the first column). Since our text is so long, lets not place it column by column, but instead flow it throughout the rest of the document in each sequential column automatically. Go to the Layout menu and select Autoflow. This will now force PageMaker to flow the text for you. The red tab means that there is more text available. Either click and drag it down to extend the text box, or click to create new text box filled with the remainer of the text. Handle bars

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Grab the text again by clicking on the red box and clicking again in the next column. NOTE: when it comes to text, it is important to realize that each time a new document is placed within PageMaker, it makes a new story. So, if you want something to be a continuous article, it should not be cut and pasted into another text block. Fragmenting stories in separate blocks will cause headaches and frustration.

editing text
Now that we have placed the text, it might look a little strange. So we are going to apply our styles. Return to the first page. Click on the text with the pointer and select the Edit menu and then the Edit Story command (cmd-E). This will open up a new window with your text. This is the best place to edit text, because the entire story is in one place and not strewn throughout the entire document. The text should have several paragraphs with titles for each. Click the pointer onto the first headline and then click on the Headline style from the Styles window. The type should not change fonts on the screen, PAGE 5

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but directly to the left of the headline should be the word Headline. This area to the left is where all the applied styles are listed. Next, click on the first paragraph and select the Body Copy style. Again, Body Copy should appear to the left of the paragraphs first line. Format the rest of the story and close the editing window by clicking in the windows upper left-hand corner (cmd-W).

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text adjustments
Now that we have our copy, we need to do a headline. Create a text block and type Quark Rules. Now highlight the text with the text tool. We need to set up the font styles and other settings to make this text really stick out as the headline. Use the Master Palette at the bottom of the screen to change the font to Eras Bold. Now set the Bold option (cmd-Shift-B) to make it even more bold and set the point size to 170. Make the text Small Caps (cmd-shift-H). You may now have to extend the text handles to make the text legible. Do that now. Now lets rotate the text so it will fill the nifty space we made on the left of the page. Select the pointer tool and click on the headline. Now use the rotate tool in the Master Palette type in 90 and press enter. You may have to zoom out to see what you are doing. Use the zoom tool and press option as you click to zoom out. Center the text by going to the Type menu, select Alignment, and then Align Center (cmd-shift-C). Set the text width to 80% by typing 80 in the Master Palettes width field and pressing enter. This is the individual with of the character, and changes the width based on percentages of the normal width for the selected point size. Lets play with the character kerning next. The kerning is the spacing between individual letters. PageMaker lets you adjust each letter individually, so that you can get the exact look you are looking for. Make sure that you still have the entire headline selected, and in the Master Palette, type -0.2 in the kerning tool box and press enter.

graphic elements
Now lets add a picture to our page. Be sure you have the pointer tool selected so that the picture is not placed inside of the current story. Placing a picture uses the same tool as placing text, so go to the File menu and select Place (cmd-D). Find the file apple.pict and select the default settings by clicking OK. Click anywhere on the first page to place the picture, and align it precisely by using the XY Alignment tool and putting 7.75 in the X field and 6.4 in the Y field. You can also move the picture by using the pointer tool and dragging it to the desired location. To make the text run around the picture without hiding behind it, select the Element menu and then Text PAGE 6

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Wrap... (cmd-opt-E). Select the left wrap option and use the defaults by clicking OK. Magically the text flows around the pictures!

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NOTE: picture file formats are very important to which to pay attention when dealing with PageMaker. Publishing industry convention is to use TIFF file format or more recently, EPS, or Encapsulated Postscript. Either are acceptable, however, the EPS format tends to breakup when displayed within the new document. PICT images are quite acceptable as well. They all produce great results and are relatively easy to deal with within PageMaker, and it doesnt complain too much, either.

colors
Color is always an interesting element to add. If your document is going to be a PDF file, then you can easily spice it up with color text and pictures. Now lets change the color of Q and R in your headline to Blue. Click the Colors tab in the Styles and Colors Palette and select the Q now click the blue. Do the same for the R. All right then. Now you are on your own.

where to go from here

Use the appendix document to clarify any interface problems. Shortcut keys (some portions of PageMaker, such as page numbering, are only accessible through these key combinations) and help topics are very useful, and they can be found in the Help menu. Some useful web sites that focus on more advanced layout techniques: http://www.umsl.edu/~hummel/PageMaker.html http://www.oz.net/vsamarsk/PageMakerScripting.htm http://getinfo.asap.net/getinfos/lib/9501_P3.html http://zumacafe.nets.com/robin/pmtips.html http://www.adobe.com/solutions/pmknewsletter/main.html http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/EdTech/PAGEMAKER/pagemakr.htm

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Adobe PageMaker 6.5 Appendix interface
Tool Palette Styles and Colors Palettes

Page Selector

Master Palette for Text and Pictures

the tool palette

pointer . this allows the selection of individual or (with the shift key) multiple items on the page. . text . this allows the editing of already typed text, the creation of a new text element (by clicking g on the page and starting to type), or the creation of a constrained text box (by clicking and outlining the desired box). rotate . this tool rotates individual or multiple items (by clicking on the center of rotation and d dragging in the desired direction of rotation). This can also be accomplished through the master palette. crop. this tool crops images bounding boxes (by selecting the handle and dragging to the desired size). Pictures can then be moved within the individual frame when the crop tool is over the image and the pointer changes to the move tool. line . this tool draws a line, just click and drag the desired length. constrained line . this creates a line constrained to a 45 degree angle (the same effect as using the e line tool with the shift key depressed. APPENDIX I

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rectangle graphic . this tool creates a graphic box that is unusable for text and pictures, but is instead an editable, graphical element (hold down shift to constrain it to a square). rectangle frame . this tool draws a frame box that can be used for text and pictures. Dynamically editable as well and technically similar to the box layout concept of QuarkXpress. oval graphic . this tool is the same as the rectangle graphic, save that it draws ovals (hold down shift to constrain it to a circle). oval frame . this is the same as the oval graphic, with the same frame properties as the rectangle frame. polygon graphic . the same as other graphics, save that it draws pentagons (default) that can be changed into other multisided figures with Polygon Settings under the Element menu. polygon frame. the same as the other frames, with the same properties as the polygon graphic. . move . this moves the page within the window. e zoom . this zooms the page to the next incremental zoom level (by clicking), zooms to a certain area (by clicking, holding, and drawing a bounding box), or zooms out (by holding down option).

page selector
these icons represent individual pages in the document. it is a way to jump from one page to another, or to jump to the left/right master pages, where constant items can be placed on throughout the document on their respective pages.

styles and colors palette

these palettes are interchangeable by selecting the corresponding tab at the top. The styles are text styles that can universally be applied and make the standardization process monumentally easier. the new page button allows the addition of another style, the trash can deletes the selected style. edit an individual style by double-clicking on it. Colors can be applied to any text or graphical item. The line button edits the outline color of f a graphic or frame. The middle option edits the internal color of the graphic, frame or text color. The third option displays the current settings and changes both the outline and fill color at the same time to the same color. The tint option selects the color shade of the outline, fill, or both in 5% increments. APPENDIX
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master palettegraphic options

horizontal/vertical mirror . this mirrors the currently selected object along the x or y axis. .

height/width . this sets the height and width of the currently selected object, either numerically in inches (or the currently selected measurement system set in preferences) or in percentages of the current size. rotate . this rotates, just as does the rotate tool. The center of rotation is set as the objects center and exact measurements can be used (positives, negatives and decimals are allowed). skew . this skews, in degrees, the currently selected object. w

xy position . this sets the horizontal and vertical position of the upper-left corner of the currently selected object.

master palettetext options

text kerning . this adjusts the spacing between characters in text. It is selective, , so you can adjust just one or two characters, or whole sections of text. Negative numbers move characters closer together, positive numbers space them out. text leading . this adjusts the spacing between lines of text. This is applicable on a line-by-line basis. Positive and negative numbers have the same effect as they do on kerning, except the spacing is between the lines of text. text tracking . this adjusts how closely characters follow each other. Very tight t tracking brings text closer together, very loose spreads it out a bit. text size . this adjusts point size of text.

text position . this adjusts the placement of the text on a given line. Positive numbers move the text into a supertext position (above the line), and negative numbers move it into a subtext position (below the line). text width . this adjusts the character width and does not affect height. The e larger the percentage, the wider the word. Percentages over 100% make it proportionately larger than the standard sizing, under 100% make it proportionately smaller. APPENDIX III