Print How-Tos

Easy Fixes for Microsoft Word Formatting in InDesign

Two free and easy-to-use scripts convert Word's local formatting to InDesign's character styles. Two more retain InDesign formatting when you export text formatted with automatically applied character styles.

Safely Export Pictures from QuarkXPress

This process is ideal when you want to give a Web developer pictures that you cropped, rotated, or altered in QuarkXPress. It's also useful for converting a picture from one file format or color space to another.

One Good Kern Deserves Another

Evening out the spaces between characters is a matter of finding the right rhythm, then going with the flow.

Combine Illustrator Patterns with Photoshop Masks for Instant Visual Appeal

With this technique, you can create eye-catching imagery without fancy plug-ins or big stock photo budgets.

Illustrator How-to: Distribute Art Around a Path

When you want to align objects to something other than a straight path -- for example, 12 stars in a circular pattern -- you have to go back to Illustrator's beginning.

To Boldly Go . . . Or Is It Italically?

In any family, you can always spot the role of certain members. Typeface families are no different.

Punc Rocks: The Typographer's Guide to Punctuation

When it comes to understanding what we read, periods, commas, and their dotty allies are proof that it's the little things that count. Here's how to use them correctly.

Acrobat How-to: Add Text to PDFs

There are a couple of ways to add text to a PDF, but with this method, you can style the text and the box it's in. A bonus tip explains how to ensure that the added text always prints.

Create an Image Sandwich in Photoshop

Here's how to weave a photo behind and in front of text using Photoshop. It's a great technique for brochures, newsletters, magazines, and anywhere you want to grab attention with something a little out of the ordinary.

Make an Image Sandwich in InDesign

Place an image above and below text and vector graphics for a tasty visual meal.

Clipping Drop Shadows in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign

Learn how to create an object with both a transparent fill and a drop shadow in three major software programs.

Recipes for Applying -- and Ignoring -- Text Wrap

Whip up a few tasty treats using InDesign’s text wrap features.

But Will It Print?

Ten tips for creating an InDesign file that prints perfectly.

QuarkXPress Tips: Word Import, Printing Fix, Preview Prescience

In this collection of quick and handy tips, learn how to improve importing from Microsoft Word, troubleshoot QuarkXPress printer problems, cut paths, and more.

InDesign Tutorial: Preflight Files in CS4

InDesign CS4 introduced a new fusion between design capability and the laws of printing that will blow your socks off. Here's how to create and implement a basic preflight profile and read an error report.

Get the Nesting Instinct: InDesign's Nested Styles Auto-Format Multiple Paragraphs

Before InDesign CS, no page layout program allowed character styles to work within paragraph styles. The two styles were completely independent of one another. But now you can prebuild one or more character styles into a paragraph style and trigger those character styles with specific conditions; e.g., bold the beginning text in a paragraph until an em dash appears. What character styles are nested in the paragraph, in what order, and what triggers the switch between them, is entirely up to you!

How to Cure Typochondria

"Typochondria" is the fear that you've selected the wrong typeface. If you've ever suffered from that font affliction, rest easy: This article is good for what ails you.

Top QuarkXPress Tips

Adjust dot leaders, link spreadsheets to tables, and learn the logic behind spaces before and after paragraphs.

InDesign's Anchored Objects: More Than Meets the Eye

We all know that InDesign’s Anchored Object feature can be useful. But you may think of this feature only in its classic application, where images that need to run in a margin alongside text are anchored to the appropriate word. However, there are other, less obvious situations where the feature can come in handy, including decorative treatments for titles, tables, and column toppers.

Get Creative with Vector Speech and Thought Bubbles

It doesn't take long to create speech or thought bubbles in Adobe Illustrator. Bonus: As you have fun, you'll learn more about the Pathfinder palette, Shape tools, Warp tools, and the Pen tool.