Teach Yourself Microsoft Publisher Topic 2: Text Boxes

Teach Yourself Microsoft Publisher Topic 2: Text Boxes http://www.gerrykruyer.com In this second Microsoft Publisher lesson, you will look at Publisher Text Boxes and how they are different to MS Word Text Boxes. Before you create a publication, you should already have an idea of what you want to do with it when it is finished. Will you print and distribute it from your home printer or will you take it to a printing company? What type of document will you be printing? What size will it be? Will every page be the same size? What type of paper/surface will you be printing on? Knowing the answers to these types of questions is essential to making decisions about how your publication will look. Before you create a publication, you need to plan it. Before you plan out your publication, there are two very important things to consider: The purpose of the publication. The target audience of the publication. Once you have these two points in mind, then you need to continually check back and make sure that your design is suitable to your purpose and your audience. If you don t, then there is not much point in going ahead with your design. Purpose The main purpose for any publication is to communicate something to another person or people. If a publication does not get its message across, then it is a waste of time, effort and money. For example, if you choose a background which is so strong that text on it cannot be read easily, then people are generally not going to bother try to work out what is written. This means that you will have failed in your attempt to communicate with the reader. Audience Different things appeal to different types of people. Not everyone likes the same things. A good design takes this into consideration. Your publication should look different, depending on the type of people that you want to attract to your publication. For example, if you want to attract young teenage girls, then you would design things differently to how you would if you wanted to attract elderly pensioners. These different groups of people like different things - different colours, different styles, different images, etc. Content Once you have identified the purpose of your publication and its target audience, then you need to plan what will actually go into your publication. When planning this, you need to keep thinking back to your purpose and your target audience to make sure that the content is suitable and appropriate. There are several things to consider: C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 1

Copy What actual words are you going to write in your publication? Keep your target audience in mind and make the style of your writing suitable. For example, writing something like It s all happening at 9pm down @ the Racoon may be OK for an informal invitation to your local Thornbury/South Preston friends, but would not be appropriate as text in an invitation to your extended family, most of whom may not even know what or where the Racoon bar was. You can type your copy straight into MS Publisher, or you might prefer to type it up in another program, such as MS Word, then import it. Typeface (font) There are thousands of different fonts (or typefaces) available. You should choose a font which is suitable for type of publication that you are designing. Fonts can generally be divided into four categories: serif, sans serif, script and novelty. Serif Serif typefaces have short cross-strokes at the upper and lower end of the stroke (main part) of the letter. Most books, newspapers and magazines have traditionally been printed in serif typefaces, so readers, especially older ones, generally feel most comfortable reading paragraphs written in serif fonts. Serif fonts tend to be more graceful and formal looking than sans serif fonts. Times New Roman Courier Garamond Rockwell Sylfaen Sans Serif Sans Serif typefaces do not have cross-strokes at the ends of the letters. They are cleaner and more clearly formed than serif fonts, and therefore tend to look starker and less easy on the eye. Sans Serif fonts tend to be more casual and less formal looking than serif fonts. They tend to look more modern than traditional. Arial Corbel Haettenschweiler Lucida Sans Verdana Script typefaces are designed to resemble handwriting. They are usually used on invitations and the like rather than for books and newsletters. You should not do whole words in upper case if you are using a script typeface, because the letters will tend to look disconnected and the words will be difficult to read. Bradley Hand Edwardian Script Freestyle Script Script MT Bold Vladimir Script Novelty Novelty typefaces are informal "fun" type fonts. They often look more like drawings than letters. They can make interesting and relevant headings, but are usually not very easy to read when used for whole paragraphs of text. Broadway Curlz Jokerman Snap ITC Stencil (Windings) C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 2

Colour/Style Colour can have a great influence on a design. Depending on which colours are used and how they are combined, you can create a great variety of effects. Different effects will attract different types of people. For example, as a general rule, young people tend to prefer brighter colours than older people. Men usually have a preference for duller colours than women. There are also social influences, such as pink being associated with girls and blue with boys. You can create different effects through the use of colour. White Space When you put text and images on to a page, there are automatically areas left which have nothing on them. (e.g. between paragraphs, around images, in margins and borders, etc.) This empty space is known as white space (even if your page is actually blue or yellow). Visually, white space is just as important as the actual images and text. You need to look carefully at the shape and size of white spaces. You need to visually balance all the visual elements on a page. For example, if your text is very close to the edge of a page, then the effect is quite different to when it has a wider white space. Text too close to an edge or border will visually blend in with the edge, and make it look wrong. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc commodo nisi nec convallis consectetur. Sed et purus accumsan, mollis tortor a, congue nisl. Aenean posuere arcu ac purus viverra, eget ullamcorper lectus tristique. Aliquam non rhoncus purus, dapibus dignissim erat. Donec ornare tristique eros, eget bibendum massa aliquam vitae. Aliquam laoreet ante id tortor rhoncus, in tristique elit vehicula. Vivamus sagittis velit ligula, et ultricies tortor sollicitudin scelerisque. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Praesent ornare, nibh sed lobortis elementum, arcu metus porta purus, ac viverra mauris lectus id nulla. Sed sit amet felis sed nunc vulputate dictum. Ut at sem commodo lorem posuere blandit tristique quis odio. Aenean vitae leo vel risus vestibulum sagittis vitae eget ligula. Sed quis nunc ligula. Sed egestas urna et lorem semper, eleifend blandit ex mattis. Cras dictum auctor ex, ac sagittis arcu efficitur non. Nunc tincidunt tristique enim quis fringilla. Quisque bibendum, justo a pretium egestas, justo magna porttitor nisi, eget viverra ante magna sed risus. Fusce nisl ligula, gravida quis sollicitudin ut, dictum in purus. Proin tellus ante, rutrum sed nisl non, eleifend eleifend quam. Integer ac orci pellentesque, sagittis ipsum ut, fermentum nunc. Aenean ut lorem vitae neque aliquam ultrices. Integer varius maximus sem, at dignissim justo. Nullam vulputate ante at tellus blandit pellentesque ut nec augue. Cras luctus arcu leo. Morbi tincidunt tempor tortor, vel mattis massa suscipit quis. Etiam vitae dolor nec diam commodo volutpat. Sed cursus ipsum eget velit eleifend fringilla. Sed ac venenatis nulla. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc commodo nisi nec convallis consectetur. Sed et purus accumsan, mollis tortor a, congue nisl. Aenean posuere arcu ac purus viverra, eget ullamcorper lectus tristique. Aliquam non rhoncus purus, dapibus dignissim erat. Donec ornare tristique eros, eget bibendum massa aliquam vitae. Aliquam laoreet ante id tortor rhoncus, in tristique elit vehicula. Vivamus sagittis velit ligula, et ultricies tortor sollicitudin scelerisque. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Praesent ornare, nibh sed lobortis elementum, arcu metus porta purus, ac viverra mauris lectus id nulla. Sed sit amet felis sed nunc vulputate dictum. Ut at sem commodo lorem posuere blandit tristique quis odio. Aenean vitae leo vel risus vestibulum sagittis vitae eget ligula. Sed quis nunc ligula. Sed egestas urna et lorem semper, eleifend blandit ex mattis. Cras dictum auctor ex, ac sagittis arcu efficitur non. Nunc tincidunt tristique enim quis fringilla. Quisque bibendum, justo a pretium egestas, justo magna porttitor nisi, eget viverra ante magna sed risus. Fusce nisl ligula, gravida quis sollicitudin ut, dictum in purus. Also, if text is left aligned or right aligned, then the shape of the white space on the unaligned side can be very important to the feel of the page. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 3

Question 1/ Imagine that you are planning birthday functions for three different people: a 92 year old woman; a 15 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. a) What copy would you include on each invitation? b) What font would you choose for each invitation? c) What type of colours would you use for each invitation? d) What type of images (if any) would you include on each invitation? Creating a Publication The first question you may be asking yourself when creating a publication is Why use Microsoft Publisher instead of MS Word for creating fact sheets, brochures, posters, newsletters, etc.? While both MS Word and MS Publisher can create documents that seem fairly similar at first glance, the underlying structure of each is markedly different. MS Word treats a document as a continuous flow of characters, which have to be formatted in-line. MS Publisher is object-oriented, meaning that it treats a document as a collection of separate and distinct objects which can be moved, edited, or deleted completely independent of any other objects in the document. You will most often recognise these objects as Text Boxes but there are other types of objects used in MS Publisher as well. In this level 2 course we will stick to using Text Boxes with other types of objects left to a level 3/4 course. Also, as we saw last week, text and images can also be placed outside of the MS Publisher document page area in the Scratch Area and this feature is not available in MS Word but can be quite useful. There are Text Box features that are available in MS Publisher that are not available in MS Word and this is what we will look at first. Open up MS Publisher and create a new blank A4 portrait oriented document. In the View ribbon Show group make sure all checkboxes are ticked as shown on the right: When working with publications in MS Publisher, you will need to insert a Text Box to be able to type your text. Text Boxes are inserted to contain copy and this makes it easier to adjust the spacing and positioning of the text during development of your publication. Add (draw) a (not too big) Text Box to your publication. Type a short single sentence of text into your Text Box. Notes: 1/ If you already have the text in an MS Word document then, when adding this text into your MS Publisher Text Box, simply copy and paste it in to save time. 2/ Always use spell check for all copy in your Text Boxes: Review ribbon Spelling button. 3/ If a Text Box is selected, you can make it taller, shorter, wider, or narrower by moving your cursor to one of the corners until it becomes a double arrow. Holding down the left mouse button you can drag to re-adjust the size of the Text Box. Holding down Shift whilst holding down the left mouse button will keep the text box sides in proportion with each other. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 4

4/ If you decide you want to change the layout of your document and you need to move a Text Box, you can do that in MS Publisher since the Text Box is an object. To move a Text Box to a new location in your document, make sure the Text Box is selected. Then move your cursor to any of the Text Box borders until you get a 4-way arrow. While holding down the left button on your mouse, you can drag the entire Text Box to the new location. Note: A Text Box is selected when it has circles at the corners and midpoints of the box. 5/ If you already have text in another location in your MS Publisher document or in some other document that you want to paste into a MS Publisher Text Box but do not want to paste in the formatting, font style, font size... then use the Paste Special option. The Paste Special option is located in the Home ribbon Clipboard group Paste button s tiny down arrow ( ) Paste Special. After you have copied the text you want to paste into your Publisher document, place your mouse cursor into the Text Box that the text is to be pasted into. Select Paste Special. Next select Unformatted Text if you want the pasted text to look like the rest of the text in your document as shown on the right: Note: If you want the copied text to keep its original formatting, simply select Paste. 6/ When there is not enough space within the Text Box to display all the text, then the text will be partially cut off and the sizing handles will be filled with red colour as shown on the right. There are two ways to fix this: Resize the Text Box using one or more of the resizing handles which are currently shown filled in red but will turn white once you have room for all of the text. Link the Text Box to another Text Box. (See below) Add more text to your Text Box sentence until you see the red sizing handles. Resize your Text Box until the point where the sizing handles turn white. Resize again so that the Text Box is smaller again and you see the red sizing handles. Add another Text Box to your document. Save your document in your server space with a sensible name. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 5

Linking Text Boxes Linking text boxes can create a connection between one or more text boxes, allowing your text to flow from one box to another. We will link our two text boxes together: Select your first text box where your original sentence of text begins. In the Text Box Tools ribbon s Linking group, click on Create Link: Your cursor will turn into a pitcher pouring letters. Left-click on your second Text Box that you want to link the first Text Box to. The two Text Boxes will be linked and your sentence of text will flow from the first box into the second linked box as shown on the right: You can continue linking more Text Boxes using the same method outlined above. Note: You can also link text boxes by clicking on the icon that appears when there is not enough space in the text box to hold all the copy. Once clicked, the pitcher pouring letters icon will appear to initiate the link. Highlight all text contained in both of your Text Boxes. Copy the text: Ctrl + C. Add a space after your sentence s full stop text and then Paste in your copied text Ctrl + V as shown on the right: C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 6

Add a third Text Box. Link this third Text Box to the second Text Box. Again, the text should flow into this third Text Box as shown on the right: Add a different sentence at the very start of the text in your first Text Box as shown on the right: You may need to resize your third Text Box so that it no longer has the red filled sizing handles as shown on the right: The added text should push all your text along into the second and third Text Boxes because they are all linked together. Save your changes. Navigating Between Linked Text Boxes To navigate between and discover the linking order between linked text boxes, click on the arrows that appears when a text box is selected: Click on your first Text Box and then click on the arrow shown on the right: This will then select the second linked Text Box where you will see a next and a previous arrow which will allow you to move along to the next linked Text Box or the previous linked Text Box. There are buttons in the Text Box Tools Format ribbon s Linking group that also allows you to move between linked Text Boxes. These are shown on the right: C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 7

Alignment Guides Try moving one of your Text Box objects around your other two Text Boxes. Notice the red guide lines that appear. These guide lines are there to help you to line up the edges of the selected object with other objects in your publication. Adding a Drop Cap to your Text Box A Drop Cap is a formatting style used to mark the opening paragraph of a publication by making the first letter of the paragraph larger. It is often used in newspapers and magazines. Let s add a drop cap to your first Text Box: Click anywhere within a paragraph that you wish to add a drop cap to in our case this can be anywhere in any of the three text boxes because it is all the one paragraph. On the Text Box Tools Format ribbon, click on Drop Cap in the Typography group as shown on the right: Choose one of the 16 options: You will need to resize your first Text Box so that you can see the drop cap plus you will want to see more of your text as well as shown on the right: I am not that happy with this as it is a raised drop cap rather than a lowered drop cap. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 8

Click on the Drop Cap button again and this time choose Custom Drop Cap You see the Drop Cap dialog box shown on the right where you have several drop cap formatting options: Click on the top-left Dropped option to create a lowered drop cap. Alter the colour if you like. See if you can produce the same effect as this shown on the right: Save your changes. Skills Check 1. Create a story containing a few paragraphs that runs through four text boxes in two pages. You might like to use text from: http://www.copyrightfreecontent.com/ 2. Place the four text boxes in a sensible but interesting way (not one under the other). 3. Have each paragraph of your story start with a lowered drop cap. 4. Give each of your text boxes a different effect by following these steps: Click on a text box; Drawing Tools Format ribbon; Shape Styles group; Tiny More button to view all the options; Choose one. 5. You may need to resize some of your text boxes. 6. Using the Margins button in the Text Box Tools Format ribbon s Alignment group, adding a Moderate margin to each of your text boxes. 7. You may need to resize some of your text boxes. 8. Spell check your work. 9. Look carefully through your publication to check the hyphenation. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 9

Whether you type in text or paste text, MS Publisher will default to hyphenating the copy if it needs to go onto multiple lines. This is shown on the right where I have highlighted a hyphenated word in my copy: Usually I turn off the hyphenation when I am creating a document and then turn it on later if I think I need to use it. Since your document has already been created follow these steps: 10. Select all your text not the text boxes. 11. Go to the Text Box Tools Format ribbon Text group Click the button to open the message box shown on the right: 12. Untick Automatically hyphenate this story. 13. Select OK. It will turn off the hyphenation for the selected text. 14. If you like to hyphenate text yourself, then this can be done manually by repeating Steps 10 and 11 and then clicking on the Manual button shown above. MS Publisher will go through each possible spot where hyphenation could be used. Only click on Yes if you are happy with the hyphenation otherwise choose No. 15. Change the scheme of your document to Red as shown below: 16. Save your work with a sensible name. Question 2/ Explain what hyphenation is in relation to words in a document. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 10

Adding Page Numbers As with Microsoft Word, it is easy to add page numbers to a publication. Follow these steps: 1. Click on the Insert tab. 2. In the Header & Footer group on the right side of the ribbon, click on. 3. Choose one of the six options shown on the right: 4. If you do not want the page number to be shown on the first page then untick Show Page Number on First Page. How to Add or change a Continued Notice When a text box s copy flows over into another text box on a different page then you can automatically include the text: (Continued on page ) at the bottom of that text box. On that other page containing the text box that the first text box s copy flows into, you can automatically include at the top of the text box the text: (Continued from page ). These bits of text are called continued notices. To add continued notice text to a text box, follow the following steps: Step 1/ Right-click inside a linked text box. Step 2/ On the shortcut menu, click Format Text Box Step 3/ Click the Text Box tab. Step 4/ In the Text autofitting section, select the check box for either or both continued notices that you want to add to your textbox. Step 5/ Click OK. Step 6/ Repeat steps 1 to 5 for each connected text box in the series. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 11

Skills Check (Continued) 17. Add page numbers to the footer of your document. 18. Add continued notices to all linked text boxes. 19. Save the changes. If we have time left I will show you how to insert a picture of your author to your document s background. We will change the image to all blue. If we do not have time then this will become part of next week s topics where we look at image, shape, table objects, building blocks and WordArt. We will continue to learn how to use MS Publisher next week. Have you backed up all your work at the end of this lesson to your USB thumb drive? Have you been saving your work to the network s server every 10 minutes? Show your MS Publisher documents to Mr Kruyer for assessment. Due Dates: All questions from this task and homework should be completed by next week s class. C:\Users\GerryKruyer\Documents\TAFE\microsoft\ms-office\Publisher\learning-tasks\level-2\task2\TYMSPublisher2.docx Page 12