Making the Most of Your Effort: Shared Content
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Picture Synchronization

So far all we have worked with is text, but pictures work exactly the same way. Imagine you have to use the same picture in the same way in several locations, like you might with a logo. Depending on the situation you may choose to synchronize the picture itself, the attributes associated with the picture, and even the picture box when necessary. Here is a tip: If you synchronize the attributes of a picture, you can even use the XTensions module for picture effects and those effects will be carried to all instances of that picture.

Figure 9 A complete synchronization of any item means that all attributes are tracked. In the case of a picture, that even includes picture effects.

Take a look at figure 9. I added a picture box and pulled in a picture. I synchronized that item. While synchronizing I chose to synchronize the box, content, and attributes. I called it Cog. I then dragged cog out of the shared content palette and placed it directly beneath the first one. I then added a Hue/Saturation adjustment to make the picture grayscale. Notice how the changes are reflected in both instances of the picture on the page.

Going Beyond the Basics

So those are the basic building blocks of synchronization, and I should probably make a statement about the use of such features. Let’s go back to the business card, letterhead, and envelope example. Using varied degrees of synchronization, I can quickly set up a whole series of layouts and streamline further edits. Still, while a business card, letterhead, and envelope are an easy example of a good use of synchronization, it’s a pretty small one. Let’s look at something tougher.

Figure 10 Using synchronization, I have completed three different ads while working on just one ad.

In figure 10, I have three designs displaying in QuarkXPress 7. I am using split-screen view so that you can see all three designs at once. The top-left design is a two-page magazine spread. The bottom-left is a web design that I will send out as part of an email campaign. The right-most design is a half-page magazine ad. I did a little extra setup here before I started designing.

Take a look at the shared content palette. I have used synchronization to synchronize the background textures, the biker image, and the tagline Hardcore Gear, Hardcore Sports. As I worked on the two-page spread, synchronization updated instances of those synchronized items into the other designs. Once everything was placed via synchronization, all I had to do was tweak things a little. What you are seeing is much more complex than a business card, letterhead, and envelope. Here we are actually using synchronization to help us complete an entire series of designs simultaneously.

You may have noticed that I have more than just a few items in my shared content palette in figure 10. Good catch! That’s because I didn’t use just standard synchronization to help me with this design. I also used a new QuarkXPress 7 feature called composition zones.

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