Working with Text Boxes 901
Formatting Text for Visual Impact
Brief segments of text, such as those on a postcard or flyer, need to have more visual
impact than longer blocks of text, such as those in a newsletter. You can vary the look
of text by changing the character formatting. Here are some things about character
formatting to be aware of:
● All text is displayed in a particular font consisting of alphabetic characters, numbers,
and symbols that share a common design.
● Almost every font comes in a range of font sizes, which are measured in points
from the top of letters that have parts that stick up (ascenders), such as h, to the
bottom of letters that have parts that drop down (descenders), such as p. A point
is approximately 1/72 of an inch.
● Almost every font comes in a range of font styles. The most common are regular
(or plain), italic, bold, and bold italic.
● Fonts can be enhanced by applying font effects, such as underlining, small capital
letters (small caps), or shadows.
● You can choose from a palette of harmonious font colors, and you can also specify
custom colors.
● You can alter the character spacing by pushing characters apart or squeezing them
together.
Tip The instructions in the exercises assume that you’re working in a blank publication so
that you can focus on the techniques you’re learning. However, you can easily adapt the
instructions to any type of publication.
In this exercise, you’ll create a blank publication, add a text box, and then insert the
contents of an existing Word document. You’ll then format the text box by filling it
with color and format the text by changing its character formatting.SET UP You need the Text document located in your Chapter30 practice file folder to
complete this exercise. Display the New page of the Backstage view, and then follow
the steps.- In the Home section of the New page, click More Blank Page Sizes.
- On the More Blank Page Sizes page, under Standard, click the Letter (Portrait)
thumbnail. Then, in the right pane, click the Create button.
Publisher creates a blank publication of the selected size. Blue margin guides
designate the margins of the publication.