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On the Move to InDesign: Inserting Graphics into Existing Frames
InDesign and XPress are fundamentally the same in terms of commands that resize graphics to fit frames, but InDesign has a trick up its sleeve.
Written by Sandee Cohen on March 13, 2002
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If you place graphics into existing frames, you will almost always need to reposition or resize the graphic to fit the frame. InDesign has the same commands as XPress to resize or center the graphic, plus an extra command not found in XPress 4.
Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content to Frame to expand or contract the artwork so that it fits completely within the frame, even if it distorts the artwork.
Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally to resize the image so that the entire image is visible inside the frame without distorting the artwork.
Choose Object > Fitting > Center Content to reposition the image so that it is centered within the frame.
However, InDesign has a command not available in the core XPress 4 program. Choose Object > Fitting > Fit Frame to Content to expand or contract the size of the frame (box) so that it displays all the artwork.
You can even apply the Fit Frame to Content command to resize a text box so that it will contract to exactly fit text in the frame.
Read more by Sandee Cohen.
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We got 'em!
We've got a bunch of these tips in the queue. Some are short, some are long, but look for them every week (at least for a while)....
Pamela Pfiffner, editor in chief
Time to compare apples to apples
Clearly Sandee Cohen has a lot invested in InDesign, but I think it's time readers were treated to comparisons between InDesign 2 and Quark 5.
In Quark 5 one can, in fact, fit a box to a picture.
Overlooked Quack
Quack does have a similar function as you've wrote about in this article about fitting the contents distorted and un distorted to the picture frame (box). Simple hold down (on the mac) Command/option/shift and the F key for a perfect scale to fit... for distorted remove the option key from this chord. BUT, fitting the box to the 100% size of the image imported is another story.
Auto expanding text boxes
The note at the end of the article about fitting text content to frame went off in my head like bells. I got really excited for a moment because I thought this would solve the problem of expanding too small of a text box to the text flowed into it, thus becoming a sort of auto expanding text box. Nope. It seems to only work to drecrease the text box. I am forever dragging the text box handles out to create a larger text box. Why can't this be automatic? It seems that if you spill a certain amount of text in, it should be able to automaticaaly expand the box, or at least allow the option similar to that of handling pictures. Am I missing something?
Nice article
Thanks for the articles on InDesign.
Please do many more, and if I had
any criticism it would be that
they could be longer. Thanks!