X-Ray Magazine v5n6 QuarkXPress 8: A Suite Response

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QuarkXPress 8: A Suite Response

GETTING A HANDLE ON IT

Notice that the rotation tool is missing from the tool palette. Here again, don't panic, it is not gone; it's simply been repositioned in Quark's zeal to streamline. Find a box somewhere on your page, select it, then mouse near a corner handle (did you notice that the handles are larger, too?). Click and drag to rotate the picture. You may continue to use the measurements palette to set the rotation of a picture, but it's not particularly intuitive and doesn't lend itself to visual design. This is another effort from Quark to eliminate the design-by-numbers approach used by earlier versions of QuarkXPress.

X-Ray Magazine v5n6 QuarkXPress 8 Accessibility Defined Figure 30

Figure 30 The rotation tool has taken leave of the tool palette and now resides in your mouse. Find the corner handle of any active box and spin to your heart's content.

X-Ray Magazine v5n6 QuarkXPress 8 Accessibility Defined Figure 31

Figure 31 Keep going. Nudge your mouse a little closer to that corner handle and you'll get the resize tool. Click and drag to simply and effortlessly size an item or a group.

In previous versions of QuarkXPress, if you wanted to resize multiple items, you would have to select all of the items, group the items, and then resize the group. With QuarkXPress 8, it's not quite so difficult (or as annoying as grouping items you didn't want grouped and then forgetting to ungroup them, and... well, you know...).

Here's how to scale multiple items and not scale the content of each item:

Draw or select multiple items.