Teach Yourself
CorelDRAW 8 in 24 Hours

Hour 15
Designing with Paragraph Text

CorelDRAW's paragraph text features provide all the power of a modern word processor. A built-in, automatic spell checker flags words not found in the dictionary with a wavy red underline and can even change DAve to Dave for you automatically.

You might be saying to yourself, "Yes, but I have all that with my word processing program." Okay, but can your word processing program take that text and shape it into a warped star, like I'm doing in Figure 15.1?

Figure 15.1

Can your word processor do this?

You can also apply other graphic features to paragraph text in CorelDRAW 8. For example, in Figure 15.2, I've applied a fountain fill to a block of paragraph text, and then placed a black background behind the light-colored text.

Figure 15.2

Fountain fills and background objects can be added to paragraph text for effects not available in a word processor.

Figure 15.3 shows a cover page for a newsletter designed by Paul. It includes paragraph text, shapes, fountain fills, a bitmap image, and artistic text.

Figure 15.3

CorelDRAW 8 enables you to combine artistic and paragraph text along with graphic objects.

You use the same tool to create paragraph text that you used to create artistic text, the Text tool in the toolbox. What is different is that when you create paragraph text, you start by clicking and drawing a rectangle in the Drawing window (as opposed to just clicking with the Text tool, which creates artistic text).

In this hour, you create paragraph text frames and learn to check spelling and adjust word and line spacing for frames of paragraph text. You also learn to shape paragraph text with envelopes and flow text from one frame into another.

Create Paragraph Text and Check Spelling

CorelDRAW 8 has a spelling checker that flags words not found in the dictionary as you type. It even automatically corrects common spelling or capitalization mistakes.

15.1: Create a Paragraph Text Frame and Correct Spelling Automatically

1. Click on the Text tool.
2. In the Drawing window, drag to create a rectangle.
3. Type "DAve is teh man," with those spelling and capitalization mistakes. Note that the spelling and capitalization are corrected automatically.
4. Type "nott," and note the red, wavy line under the misspelled text. Right-click on the text and click on the correct spelling for "not" in the shortcut menu.
5. Right-click on the word "man" that you just typed, and choose Thesaurus from the shortcut menu. Use the Thesaurus to select a synonym for "man."
6. Click on the Pick tool, and use the Pick tool to select the text frame you just created. Press Delete on your keyboard to delete the text frame.

That was easy, huh? Just like your word processor. Now let's see what CorelDRAW 8 can do with text that your word processor cannot do.

Assigning Effects to Paragraph Text

Most effects that you can assign to other objects can be assigned to paragraph text. For example, you can assign fill colors, outline colors, or fountain fills to paragraph text.

You can also assign special effects to paragraph text that are not available for other objects in CorelDRAW 8. The most useful of these special features is drop caps, extra large letters that you can place at the beginning of any paragraph.

Assign Drop Caps

You can assign a drop cap to the first word in a selected paragraph. Drop caps are available from the Effects tab of the Format Text dialog box.

15.2: Assign a Drop Cap to a Paragraph

1. Draw a paragraph text frame at least 4" wide and 4" high.
2. Type "CorelDRAW's paragraph text features provide all the power of a modern word processor. Even a thesaurus is on call for content advice."
3. Select Text | Format Text from the menu bar, and click on the Effects tab in the dialog box.
4. Select Drop Cap from the Effect drop-down list.
5. Click on OK in the dialog box. Your drop cap will look something like the one in Figure 15.4.
6. Save this document so that you can use it in the next To Do exercise.

Assigning Effects to Text

You can assign different effects that you've learned in earlier hours to paragraph text. Because you already learned these techniques and applied them to other objects, you can try them out on paragraph text.

Figure 15.4

Easily assign a drop cap to any paragraph.

Try these effects on paragraph text:

Assign a fountain fill to the paragraph text (use the same fill techniques you learned in Hour 7).
Create a colored shape, and move it behind the text.
Drag with the Text tool to select some of your text (not all), and assign a color to that text from the color palette.

Adjust Line and Word Spacing

When you select a frame of paragraph text using the shape-sizing handles, you can adjust letter, line, word, or paragraph spacing interactively.

Dragging up on the bottom shape handle makes line spacing tighter (less). Dragging down increases line spacing.

When you drag to the right with the right side shape-sizing handle, you stretch out spacing between letters. When you drag to the left, you compress letter spacing.

Holding down Ctrl while you drag on the shape-sizing handles changes the effect. If you hold down Ctrl while you drag on the right side shape-sizing handle, you increase word spacing. And if you hold down Ctrl while you drag on the down shape-sizing handle, you increase spacing between paragraphs instead of between lines.

15.3: Increase Line and Letter Spacing

1. Use the Pick tool to select the paragraph text frame you typed in the previous To Do exercise, and note the two shape-sizing handles in the lower-right corner. You can see them in Figure 15.5.

Figure 15.5

You can adjust character and line spacing interactively.

2. Drag down on the bottom shape-sizing handle. Note that line spacing increases.
3. Drag to the right on the right shape-sizing handle to increase letter spacing.
4. Hold down Ctrl and drag to the right on the right shape-sizing handle to increase word spacing.

Shape Text with Envelopes

In Hour 10, you learned to edit shapes and curves around objects. When you edit the shape of artistic text, the shape of the letters changes, and you create cool but strange effects with distorted text. However, when you place paragraph text in an envelope shape, the text flows in the shape without changing the look of the letters. Figure 15.6 shows paragraph text in a shape. Notice that whereas the text conforms to the shape of the envelope, the letters are not misformed.

Figure 15.6

You can shape paragraph text with envelopes.

To shape text to an envelope, use the Pick tool to select the paragraph text frame, and then shape the envelope with the Interactive Envelope tool.

15.4: Shape Text with the Interactive Envelope Tool

1. Click with the Pick tool to select the paragraph text frame you've been working with.
2. Select the Interactive Envelope tool from the Interactive Blend tool rollup, as I'm doing in Figure 15.7.

Figure 15.7

The Interactive Envelope tool lets you shape text frames.

3. Click on the To Line button in the Property bar.
4. Drag in on the lower-right corner shape handle, as I'm doing in Figure 15.8.

Figure 15.8

Shape text with line nodes.

5. Click on the To Curve button in the Property bar, and reshape the text envelope using the bottom-right node again. All the techniques you learned for shaping envelope nodes in Hour 10 can be applied to paragraph text frames.

Figure 15.9

Shape text with complex curves.

Flow Text Between Frames

If all your text does not fit in a single frame, you can flow it from one frame to another.

15.5: Flow Text from One Frame into Another

1. Select the text frame you've been working with using the Pick tool.
2. Drag up on the bottom handle (not the shape-sizing handle, but the regular bottom sizing handle). Keep making your text frame smaller until the text you typed does not fit into the frame.
3. When text does not fit in the frame, the bottom sizing handle changes from an open square to one with a triangle in it. Click on that triangle to "load" the cursor with the text that didn't fit in the frame.
4. Drag with the text-loaded cursor to draw a new text frame into which you will continue the text. I'm doing this in Figure 15.10.

Figure 15.10

Flowing text into a new frame.

5. After you continue text, the bottom handle of the first text frame displays a box with lines, meaning the text is continued. A line appears connecting the original frame to the "continued to" frame, as you can see in Figure 5.11.
6. Enlarge your second text frame until all the continued text fits, like I'm doing in Figure 15.12. When there is no more text to display, the bottom handle of the final frame displays as an open square.

Figure 15.11

Flowed text is marked with lines.

Figure 15.12

An open box indicates all the continued text fits in the "continued to" frame.

Summary

Paragraph text combines the features of a word processor with CorelDRAW's graphic features. You can create, edit, and spell check text in the Text Edit window. After you create paragraph text in CorelDRAW, you can apply effects to the text frame, including color fills and shaping.

If your text does not fit in your text frame, you can continue that text into other text frames. This is especially helpful if you lay out a brochure that mixes graphics with text.

Workshop

In this workshop, you sharpen your paragraph text skills. You create some paragraph text, add a drop cap, shape the text, and flow it from one frame to another.

1. Open a new drawing. Use the Pick tool to drag from the vertical ruler to create guidelines at 1", 4", 4 ¹/2 ", and 7". Draw horizontal lines (by dragging down the horizontal ruler) at 3" and 9". The guidelines are shown in Figure 15.13. Select Layout | Snap to Guidelines from the menu bar.

Figure 15.13

Guidelines make it easy to create two matching text frames.

2. Drag with the Text tool to create a marquee. Select Text | Edit Text from the menu bar to open the Text Edit window.
3. Type: This is sample txt.
4. Right-click on "txt" and select "text" from the pop-up list of spellings.
5. Drag to select the entire sentence. Press Ctrl+C to copy the text. Click to place your insertion point at the end of the sentence, and press Ctrl+V ten times. Press Enter and press Ctrl+V ten times again. Create five more of these repetitive paragraphs.
6. Drag to select all the text, and apply 12-point Arial font.
7. Click on OK to close the Text Edit window.
8. Resize the text frame so it fits on the left side of the page, as shown in Figure 15.14.

Figure 15.14

The black triangle at the bottom of the text frame indicates more text than will fit in the frame.

9. Click on the icon at the bottom of the text frame, and draw a new marquee on the right side of the page, as shown in Figure 15.15.

Figure 15.15

Flowing text into a new frame.

10. Drag a symbol from the Symbol Docker window into the middle of the page. You can use one of the symbols from the Animals1 font set. Enlarge the symbol by about 400%.
11. Click on the Interactive Shape tool in the toolbox, and shape the two text frames so they don't cover the symbol, as shown in Figure 15.16.

Figure 15.16

Reshaping text frames with the Interactive Shape tool.

12. Select the first (left) text frame, and choose Text | Edit Text from the menu bar. Drag to select the first paragraph of the text frame, and then click on the Format Text button in the Text Edit window. Click in the Effects tab of the Format Text dialog box, and assign a 3 line drop cap to the selected paragraph. Click on OK in the dialog box.
13. Select Text | Fit Text to Frame to resize your text so it fits perfectly in your frames.
14. Save your file; you'll use it in the next hour.

Quiz

1. How do you enter paragraph text, as opposed to artistic text?
2. How do you assign font type and size to paragraph text?
3. How do you shape paragraph text?
4. If you want to resize your text to fit in a text frame, what's the quick, easy way to do that automatically?

Quiz Answers

1. To type paragraph text in the Drawing window, start by selecting the Text tool in the toolbox and drawing a marquee to frame your text.
2. You can format the font type and size for selected paragraph text in the Edit Text dialog box or in the Drawing window. In either case, use the cursor to select the text (in the Drawing window, you have to select the Text tool first). Then choose font type and size from the drop-down menus in the toolbars.
3. When you select a frame of paragraph text with the Text tool, you can shape it with the Interactive Shape Tool--the third one on the Interactive Blend flyout.
4. You can resize text to fit a frame by selecting the text frame and then selecting Text | Fit Text to Frame from the menu bar.

Teach Yourself CorelDRAW 8 in 24 Hours

Hour 15 Designing with Paragraph Text