Comments on: Dude, Where’s My Box Tools?

By: Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:20:04 +0000

Polly: You’re looking for the Pen tools, which include a Freeform drawing tool. Check out this post from July 10:
http://planetquark.com/2009/07/10/the-newold-bezier-pen-tools/

By: Polly

Polly — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:05:49 +0000

How do I make an irregular shaped picture box in 8. This is driving me crazy. Is the tool hidden somewhere to draw a freeform box? …my world is so not limited to squares, circles and stars… help! ;) thanks

By: Jorcan

Jorcan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:20:26 +0000

I started using Q5 and migrated up. I didn’t notice that the tools had changed that much from 7 to 8. Thay make alot of sense and seem quite intuative to me. When I switch back to 7 now which I occasionally do I find it quite heavy going compared with the 8 interface.

By: P.Seifer

P.Seifer — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:03:13 +0000

It’s hard to believe that Quark would make creating a round picture/text box in Q8 so dificult…

I think the new interface is throwing some people for a loop! However, the new Tool Palette makes good sense ONCE YOU GET USED TO IT. Not having to predefine what ‘kind’ of box you want is a brilliant move in itself [power users should love it]. I just started using Q8 and still learning my way around [most menu items are familiar, though].

I don’t have much love loss for version 7x, and looking forward to being as fluent in 8x. Getting used to the new interface does present a small curve, but I believe this is a better direction, and foundation for future versions of QX.

By: Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:39:01 +0000

Jonathan: there is Round box tool, as shown above. It’s important to remember that Quark now doesn’t force you to use a Picture box tool to make a box for a picture. In fact, there isn’t even a “Picture box” tool — it’s a picture content tool that happens to let you drag out a picture box if you want one.

Instead, just make a round box and drop a picture into it. Simple!

By: Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:36:43 +0000

Ted: that’s certainly an approach that works — in fact, I wrote a tip that illustrates how to do that. But I think if you get the Bezier pen tool and hold down the Option/Alt key when clicking on the rounded corner handles, they’ll straighten out.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:47:15 +0000

I couldn’t figure out from the help menu how to make a simple round picture box. After a while I thought of a work-around. It’s a bit convoluted and slow but it works. 1. create a square picture box then use the rounded corners tool and specify half the measurement of the box and then you get a round picture box. Just don’t think about resizing it because you’ll have to rework your calculations. Bit of a pain. It seems to me that much of the simplicity of the Q7 series has been lost in Q8, and it has been done in the name of simplicity. Frankly it does not surprise me that Quark has lost ground to Indesign.

By: Ted Pet

Ted Pet — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:38:07 +0000

No…. when you edit the corners, you get all kinds of problems with the BCPs. I did find though that you can make a rectangle, round the corners, then make another rectangle that covers the left side of the rounded rect. then use the tools at Item > Merge and take the difference. Then I get the left side perfectly straight and the right side rounded.

By: Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:33:54 +0000

Isn’t it the same as before? (Make the box, round the corners, edit the shape?)

By: Ted Pet

Ted Pet — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:41:27 +0000

Yes but creating a rectangle with rounded corners then editing them and leave two corners rounded with two corners square used to be easy. now it is a pain. At least I haven’t found an easy way.

Ted