Planet Quark

Why Use Picas?

Every major graphic design application lets you measure pages and page items in your choice of inches, centimeters, and picas. So why use picas? Believe it or not, if you design a page grid using whole and half picas, it adopts a beauty that’s perfectly suited to columns of text. For example, try setting your [...]

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See Inside ePub Files

The most popular file format for electronic books is ePub. If you want to explore the text and image files inside an ePub file, try this trick: Using a utility such as the free StuffIt Expander, expand a COPY of the .epub file. (Be sure to keep the original as an epub file!) Its content [...]

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Trick to Close a Path in QuarkXPress

There is no explicit ‘join’ command for closing an open Bézier (Pen) path created in QuarkXPress, but it can be done. One way is to choose Item> Shape and hold down the Option/Alt key as you select the Freehand Box thumbnail in the submenu. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetquark.com%2F2010%2F08%2F18%2Ftrick-to-close-a-path-in-quarkxpress%2F'; addthis_title = 'Trick+to+Close+a+Path+in+QuarkXPress'; addthis_pub = '';

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Avoid Show-Through in Scans

To avoid having your scanner pick up text from the back side of the paper you’re scanning (this is called ghosting, or show-through), place a sheet of black paper behind the paper you’re scanning. The black paper absorbs the light that would otherwise shine through the paper. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetquark.com%2F2010%2F08%2F18%2Favoid-show-through-in-scans%2F'; addthis_title = 'Avoid+Show-Through+in+Scans'; addthis_pub = [...]

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