Imagine learning the intuitive user interface and powerful design tools of QuarkXpress enabling you to combine superior typography with colour and graphics to produce dynamic content for both print and Web deliver after just 2 Days of training.

That's what the Academy Class QuarkXpress Introduction course has in store for you.

Learn the superior graphics and text capabilities of QuarkXPress. Start with the basics and build to an understanding of how you can increase your speed, skill and inventiveness. This class covers the major functions of the program and how to become an experienced user.

From Concept to Mechanicals

• QuarkXPress and the QuarkXPress environment
• Launching the program
• Tools, menus, and palettes
• The tool palette
• Other tools
• The menu bars
• Other palettes
• Guides, margins, and rulers
• Viewing guides
• Setting guides
• Adjusting and removing guides
• Other guide options
• Understanding the rulers

Working With Files

• Creating a new QuarkXPress document
• Modifying the document setup
• Saving files
• Save options
• Revert to saved
• Other save options
• Navigating QuarkXPress
• Zooming in and out
• Other frequently used shortcuts

Working With Objects

• Creating simple boxes
• Creating lines and shapes
• Modifying shapes and content types
• Editing simple elements
• Modifying with colour
• Positioning elements
• Duplicating elements
• Moving items
• Stacking order
• Alignment
• Manipulating elements
• Modify dialog boxes vs. the measurement palette
• Skew, scale, rotate, flip, and move elements
• Applying transformations to figures

Working With Graphics

• Creating basic objects in QuarkXPress. (objects include: polygon, rectangle, circle, lines)
• Modifying graphics by using commands from the Elements menu.
• Crop graphics by using various tools and procedures. (tools include: resizing a frame, Cropping tool, Frame options)
• Colourizing and tinting imported graphics
• Appropriate graphic file format to use

Working With Colour

• Differences between spot and process colours, and the appropriate use for each type
• Understanding when a colour would be added to the Colours palette whenimporting a graphic
• Import colours from another QuarkXPress file by using the Colours palette or the Utilities menu
• Apply colours by using the Colours palette
• Features available in QuarkXPress used for colour management.

Working With Text

• Selecting text
• Using cut/copy/delete and pasting text
• Navigating through text blocks
• Overflow icon
• Setting text inset value
• Importing text files
• Pasting text from the clipboard
• Linking text boxes
• Formatting text
• Character attributes dialog box
• Measurement palette
• Horizontal spacing

Paragraph Formatting

• Paragraph formats dialog box
• Rules and paragraph rules
• Setting tabs

Style Sheets

• Character styles
• Paragraph styles
• Creating a new paragraph style sheet
• Edit existing styles
• Using the style sheets palette to apply styles

Images

• Getting images onto the page
• Importing a picture
• Copy/cut and paste pictures
• Scaling imported pictures
• Modifying picture boxes
• Using the measurements palette to scale
• Cropping pictures
• Anchored pictures
• Picture usage
• Status column messages for images
• Locating a picture within a document
• Updating pictures

Master Pages

• Creating elements on master pages
• Headers and footers
• Modifying master page items on document pages
• Reapplying master items

Creating Complex Shapes

• The freehand tools
• The bezier tools
• Anchor points & segments
• Closed and open paths
• Working with curves
• Merging shapes
• Creating text on a path
• Text on circles
• Controlling the position of type on Paths

Working With Colours and Frames

• Frames and background colours
• Using the colours palette
• Defining colours blends
• Frames

Working With Text Utilities

• Spell checker
• Dictionaries
• Hyphenation and Justification
• Using find/change
• Double spaces after periods
• Double returns
• Smart quotes
• Optimizing workflows

Printing & Packaging

• Page setup dialog box
• Printing your document

Before taking this course, students should be familiar with the basic functions of their computer's operating system. Students should also have basic word processing skills, such as copying and pasting text, formatting type, and so on.

Professional and prospective layout designers and technicians with any level of experience, but with little or no experience using QuarkXPress, who need to learn to use QuarkXPress to lay out publications. They are unlikely to be doing the printing themselves. They are more likely to work for medium sized and large companies, rather than small businesses. They have basic word processing skills and may already use Illustrator and Photoshop.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• create a single-page document containing text and graphics.
• create the structure for a multiple-page layout to prepare it for adding content.
• typeset text in a multiple-page document.
• create tables to hold text and graphics.
• enhance the readability of a layout.
• prepare a layout for handoff to a printing vendor for commercial output.

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