Complete How-To Guide Part II: Getting Started Table of Contents Page
Complete How-To Guide
Part II: Getting Started
Table of Contents
1. First Steps
1.1 New File
1.2 Page Size
1.3 Zoom Controls
1.3 New Text Frame
1.4 Creating and Formatting Text
1.5 File Types and Creation of Master Template
1.5(a) About File Types
1.5(b) Loading Images
1.5(c) Creating New Colours
Page
2
2
2
3
3
4
8
8
8
9
2. Document Setup
2.1 Document
2.2 GUI Settings
2.3 Images
12
12
12
13
3. Styles and Text Formatting
3.1 How Text/Paragraph Formatting Works
3.2 Style Menu: Copy, Paste and Strip Styles
14
14
15
4. Text Streams
4.1 How Text Streaming Works
4.2 Streaming Text through Multiple Frames/Repeating Text Streams
17
17
17
5. Toggle Buttons
5.1 The Toggle Buttons Menu
5.2 Show/Hide Frame Guides
5.3 Show/Hide Rulers: Using the Rulers
5.4 Show/Hide Grid: Using the Grid
5.5 Snap to Grid On/Off: Using the Snapping Function
20
20
20
20
21
21
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1. First Steps
1.1 New File
First, open the Web4Print software by double-clicking
the program icon on your desktop, or open from your
Start menu. Now click the New button to create a new
le.
1.2 Page Size
By default the new page is A4 size (210 X 297mm) – we
will now convert our page size to US Letter size (8.5 X
11in). Follow the steps below:
1 Click the Page Size button.
The Congure Page dialog
box will open.
2
You can either enter measurements into
the measurement windows manually, or
click the arrow button to open a dropdown menu with preset sizes (3).
3
Use the arrow to open the
drop-down menu and select
“US Letter”.
Click on the arrow button,
hold the mouse button, move
the pointer to your selection,
then release the mouse button.
(The same process is used for
selecting from all drop-down
menus in Web4Print.)
When you have ‘US Letter’
selected, click the Set button.
Note that, though the default unit of
measurement in Web4Print is the millimeter, measurements can always be
entered in inches (e.g. “8.5in”), centimeters (e.g. “21cm”), or millimeters
(e.g. “210mm” or just “210” – if no unit
is specied, millimeters are used).
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1. First Steps
Zoom Tool: Click and drag to dene an area to zoom into.
1.3 The Zoom Controls
Zoom Undo: Returns to previous magnication.
Show Full Page: Shows page at maximum possible magnication to t in window.
Show at 100%: Shows upper left of page at 100%.
Fit Horizontal: Shows as much of page as will t window
horizontally.
Fit Vertical: Shows as much of page as will t window
vertically.
Zoom Box: Displays current magnication. Click on the
Zoom Box and hold the mouse button to select a pre-set
magnication from a drop-down menu; click mouse button
to show menu, move pointer to item, and then release
mouse button to select.
Now, click on the Zoom Box and select “Fit Horizontally” from drop-down menu.
1.4 Creating a New Text Frame
Click the New Frame button (1). The Create New Frame dialog box will open. Click “Text”. The
Frame Tool will be automatically selected. Click and drag to draw your new frame, from the upper
left corner (2) to the lower right corner (3).
1 New Frame button
2 Frame Tool cursor rst appears
as angle, then changes to
crossed-arrows cursor when
frame is drawn.
3 Click and drag to draw frame
from upper left corner to lower
right corner.
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1. First Steps
1.4 Creating and Formatting Text
When you have nished drawing your text frame and you release the mouse button, the Text Tool
will be automatically selected and the frame will be ready to accept text.
Flashing black line shows text insertion point
Red marker shows end of text
Use the Zoom Tool to zoom in closer:
1 Click the Zoom Tool
button
2
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Click and drag area to zoom into
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1. First Steps
1.4 Creating and Formatting Text (cont.)
After zooming in, the Zoom Tool is automatically deselected, so we are still ready to input text to
our text frame. Just type in a few words.
Note that when you are in Text Mode (the Text Tool is selected), the Type Toolbar is displayed
above the working area. Here, for reference, are all the functions on the Type Toolbar, but don’t
worry about any that you don’t understand, they will be explained later in the guide.
The Type Toolbar
Paste Style
Hyphenation On
Copy Style
Hyphenation Off
Revert to Default Style
Strip All Styles
Move Text
(in 1mm increments)
Justify Text
Align Text Right
Adjust Kerning
(space between characters)
Center Text
Adjust Tracking
(overall letter spacing)
Align Text Left
Adjust Font Size
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1. First Steps
1.4 Creating and Formatting Text (cont.)
When formatting text, we can either format a selection or a paragraph (paragraphs are dened
as the body of text between Returns). We will now create a second paragraph so we can experiment with formatting paragraphs of text. Make sure the Text Tool is selected (Text Tool button is
depressed) and the cursor (ashing insertion point) is at the end of our line of text, then press
Return and enter a new line of text:
Now click anywhere in the rst line (the rst paragraph). By default, formatting is applied to the
entire paragraph unless a specic selection of a span of text is made. Try using the Adjust Font
Size buttons in the Type Toolbar to change the font size up and down. Note that only that paragraph is affected, the second line remains the same. Now select a span of text by clicking and
dragging with the cursor:
Now use the Adjust Font Size buttons - note that only the selected text is affected, not the whole
paragraph. In Section 3, The Format Menu (page 13), we will take a more technical look at how
text formatting works and how to set styles for selections or paragraphs.
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1. First Steps
1.4 Creating and Formatting Text (cont.)
We will now show how to format text using the Attributes Bar (this is the toolbar to the right of
the document window). Click the cursor anywhere in our second paragraph. We will now select a
new font and font size for this paragraph.
In frame mode (if the frame tool is selected) the Attributes Bar shows the attributes of any frame
selected. We are in text mode (the Text Tool is selected), so the text attributes are shown; font,
font size, color, etc. of any text selected, or if no text is selected, of whatever paragraph the cursor
is currently in. The value of each attribute is displayed in a window, above each of which is a button
which opens a dialog box to adjust that attribute.
Click the Text Font button, found on the
Attributes Menu on the right. The Typeface dialog box will open. Click the arrow
next to the name of the font and keep
the mouse button depressed. You will not
release the mouse button until you have
selected the font you wish to use. The list
of available fonts is displayed in pages;
if the desired font is not on the visible
page, move the pointer to the bottom of
the menu and use the page slider to see
other pages. Remember not to release the
mouse button until you have found and
selected your desired font.
Tip: While the font list is open, type the
rst letter of your desired font and you will
be brought to that page.
page slider
When you have selected a new font, click
Update to apply the new font to the paragraph.
Note that the text preview window shows you the effect of your change on the current paragraph
before you apply it. If you would like to see other characters with this change applied to them,
you can click the String button and then select from various text samples, e.g. the alphabet, the
numbers 0-9, and sample sentences with varying portions capitalized.
The above procedure can also be followed to set font size, leading, and the other text attributes
by clicking any of the other buttons in the Attributes Bar.
Font, font size, and leading (line spacing) can also be set by selecting Text -> Properties -> Font...
from the Top Menu. We will show how this is done on page 12 in Part III of this guide. In that
section we will also cover leading, character spacing, and other typographical attributes.
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1. First Steps
1.5 File Types and Creating a Master Template
1.5(a) About File Types
There are two types of les that can be opened by the Web4Print client software:
.w4d le: Web4Print document; this is the working le that can be edited with the client software
before upload to the server; not to be confused with the print-ready documents which can ultimately be produced by the server!
.w4t le: Web4Print master template; this is a special type of editable le. The main difference
between a .w4d and a .w4t le is that when saving a .w4t le, the user is always prompted for the
name and le format the le should be saved as. This prevents the user from accidentally overwriting the master template when it is used as the basis for creating a new .w4d le.
In the case of a specied corporate brand, for example, certain logos and colors will be used in a
number of different documents. It can be helpful to load these images and colors into a .w4t le
which can then be used to generate different Web4Print documents.
Next we will see how images are loaded and new colors are created.
1.5(b) Loading Images
Click the Load button in
the Images Menu.
The Select Images dialog
box will open. Use the le
browser window to navigate to C:\Program Files\
W4P\Samples.
You should see two image les in the le list, logo.tif and star.tif. Shift-click on each so they will
both be selected, then click OK.
Note that you can use the drop-down menu below the
le list to select which le types are visible in the le
list, or select ‘All Files’ to see the entire contents of the
selected folder.
The ‘Use Linked Rasters’ check-box should generally be
left unchecked. This is an option to replace images with
low-resolution preview versions for upload to the server
in order to keep le sizes small. It is only of use when
the computer running the client software is also being
used for the nal print production, which is seldom the
case.
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1. First Steps
1.5(b) Loading Images (cont.)
To conrm that our images have been properly loaded into the master template, we will create
an image frame. Click on New Frame, then select ‘Image/Colour’ in the New Frame dialog box.
Now draw a reasonably large frame. Click the Use button in the Images Menu to open the Set
Image dialog box and select logo_tif from the image list. Click OK. By default, the image appears
at 100% aligned with the frame in the upper left corner. Images can also be scaled (see p. 13,
Part IV of this guide). Now create another image frame and follow the same process to use the
image star_tif.
1.5(c) Creating New Colors
We will now create two colors to be saved in our master template. Every newly created Web4Print
document is automatically given a standard color palette by default. Any new colors created are
then saved to the palette with the document.
We must create two frames to be colored. Draw
two fairly small image/color frames. Select the
rst one and then click the Colour button on
the Attributes Bar to the right of the document
window. The Frame Colours dialog box will
open. We are only concerned for the moment
with the background color. If this frame was
lled with a background color, that name would
appear in the top name eld. Colors can also
be entered in this eld by name, but since we
want to create a new color, click the arrow
button to its right.
Now the Colour Selection dialog box will open. In this dialog, we can select existing colors by name
from the palette by entering them into the name eld as well as adjusting the tint and the brightness to create variation in tone or saturation. We will be creating a new color, so click the New
button.
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1. First Steps
1.5(c) Creating New Colors (cont.)
The New Custom Colour dialog box will now open. First, enter a name for your new color in the
top eld marked “Colour”. Now you can use the sliders below to create a color. Notice that as you
adjust the color, the denition appearing in the denition eld changes; if your last adjustment
was using the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) sliders, the denition will appear in the form
of four values, e.g. {12,30,100,5}. If you use the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) sliders, the denition
is composed of three values, and if you use the HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) sliders, the
denition gives the Brightness, Saturation, and Hue. For example, “50/60 Red+10” indicates a
color with 50% brightness, 60% saturation, and hue of Red+10.
The New Custom Colour dialog can also be used to import a predened color into the palette for
this master template by clicking either of the arrow buttons. Predened colors are built in to the
Web4Print client software in ‘books’ - the default book is a set of colors called the Master Book.
You can also select from the Pantone sets of colors by clicking the Other Books button. Once one
of these predened colors has been opened, you can either add it to your color palette as is by
clicking the Add to Document button or you can adjust the color values rst. The original color will
always remain available, as the color books themselves are built in and not editable.
Color must be
named here
RGB sliders
CMYK sliders
HSB sliders
Start with a color
from another book
Start with a predened color from the
Master Book, using
predened name
Start with a predened color from the
Master Book, using
a new name (in
Colour eld above)
Once you have named and dened your new color, click the Add to Document button. You still have
not actually colored any object in your document, but you have added your new color to the color
palette. This color will now be available whenever you re-open this master template.
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1. First Steps
1.5(c) Creating New Colors (cont.)
After creating your new color, you will be returned to the Colour Selection dialog. Here you can
adjust the tint/brightness of your new color before coloring the frame. Note that this is not an
adjustment of the color itself. Any time you color an object in Web4Print you are given the option
to use a darker shade or less saturated tint of the selected color.
Click the OK button to color the frame, then select your second color frame and repeat the process
to create a second unique color. Now click File -> Save as... and save the le as a master template
(.w4t le). Now any time you need to create anything with your corporate logos and colors, this
template will be available.
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2. Document Setup
Click the Setup button on the left toolbar to open the Document Settings dialog box.
2.1 Document
This is the rst tab in the Document Settings dialog.
Set
number
pages (1-8)
of
Check this box to
display crop marks
on screen as an
aid to positioning
any elements that
bleed
Margin: additional
space around page
for any elements
that bleed
default hyphenation
language
Color for variables:
variable elements
are represented by
underlines, strikethroughs, and outlines with this color.
Click arrow button
to choose a new
color; a brighter
color may be more
effective.
2.2 GUI Settings
Click the second tab in the Document Settings dialog to adjust GUI (Graphical User Interface) settings:
Avoid New Frames:
when checked, text
in text frames will
by default avoid
(run around) any
overlapping frames.
This can also be
set for individual
frames under the
Frame menu.
Part II: Getting Started
Stepping
elds
show amount of
change in position/
size when using
function buttons to
nudge frames or
text or to adjust
text size or letter
spacing. Use arrow
buttons to select
different units.
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2. Document Setup
2.3 Images
Click the third tab in the Document Settings dialog to adjust settings for importing images:
Image File Mask: Click the arrow
button to select the default le format
for importing images. This determines
which les will be shown in the le list
when loading images to a Web4Print
document (as shown on page 8). For
instance, if you are generally importing
TIFF les, set this to *.tif, but if you are
often importing different le types, set
to All Files (*.*).
Image Import Res: this determines the resolution of preview
images such as those used in
creating preview PDFs on the
server when producing printed
documents.
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3. Styles and Text Formatting
3.1 How Text/Paragraph Formatting Works
Before we look at the Style Menu, it will be helpful if we understand the way text/paragraph formatting works behind the scenes in Web4Print. It is assumed you have already read through Section 1.4: Creating and Formatting Text, on page 4.
Every paragraph of text is marked with a pair of invisible markers, one at the start, one at the end,
designating the style (font, font size, color, leading, etc.) of that paragraph. If you create a new
text frame and begin entering text, Web4Print will assign markers designating the default style.
If you then place the cursor anywhere within a paragraph and make a change to this style, such
as by using the Attributes Bar, the Type Toolbar, or options under the Font menu, these invisible
markers are altered to reect this change. Similarly, if you make a selection of a span of text and
make a change (such as altering font size), markers are placed at the beginning and end of this
selection indicating the change.
Below see an example of a block of text with the start and end of styles shown indicated by the
pipe symbol (|). While these markers are invisible in the actual text, they can be seen when text
is highlighted.
Keep these style markers in mind while reading the next section on formatting text.
Begin default style: 12pt Times
New Roman, black, standard
leading, standard spacing
Begin using 15pt font size; all
other attributes stay the same
End Times New
Roman Bold
Begin using Times
New Roman Bold
Begin increased tracking (character spacing)
End increased tracking
(return to previous)
Part II: Getting Started
End 15pt (return to
previous font size)
Begin using red instead
of previous color - note
no other attribute is
changed
End default style
End red (return to
previous color)
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3. Styles and Text Formatting
3.2 Style Menu: Copy, Paste and Strip Styles
We will now take a look at the functions of the Style Menu, located to the upper right of the document window:
Set paragraph style
to default
Copy style from current
paragraph
Paste style to current
paragraph
Remove all styles from
current paragraph
Create a text frame. Now enter in two paragraphs of text; remember that a new paragraph is
created whenever you press Return. Now place the cursor anywhere within the rst paragraph.
Use the Attributes Bar to change the font (as shown in Section 1.4: Creating and Formatting Text,
on page 4). Now click the Copy button in the Style Menu. Now place the cursor anywhere in your
second paragraph. Click the Paste button. The styles of the rst paragraph should now be applied
to the second as well.
Note that copying and pasting styles applies to the whole paragraph. Make a text selection in the
rst paragraph by clicking and dragging. Now make a change to this selection, using the Attributes
Bar, the Text Toolbar, or Text -> Properties -> Font in the Main Menu. From the previous section,
you should know that now there are additional (invisible) style markers at the beginning and end
of this selection specifying start and end to this change. Click anywhere in the second paragraph
and click the Copy button. Now, either place the cursor in the rst paragraph, or select any span of
text in the rst paragraph and click the Paste button. Note that the entire paragraph is now styled
per paragraph 2. The other style markers within the paragraph have been removed.
Now select some text in Paragraph 1 and reformat it however you like. Click the cursor anywhere
in the paragraph. Now click the Strip button. This removes all styles from within the current paragraph. It does not remove style markers at the beginning and end of the paragraph. If the Strip
command is applied to an entire paragraph (there is no text selection made) all style markers are
removed from that paragraph. If the Strip command is applied to a text selection, it only removes
style markers from that selection.
Try the following: rst, make a selection of a span of text in paragraph 1. Increase the font size.
Now make a selection that overlaps the span of larger type:
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3. Styles and Text Formatting
3.2 Style Menu: Copy, Paste and Strip Styles (cont.)
Now click the Strip button. The larger type is now the same size as the rest of the paragraph
again:
The Strip command removes all style markers from selected text. In the above example, it
removed the ‘start larger font size’ marker and the ‘end larger font size’ marker. Now, repeat the
same process. Select a span of text and increase the font size. This time, make a selection that
overlaps only one end of the larger text:
Now click the Strip button. The result is that the ‘end larger font size’ marker has been removed,
but the ‘start larger font size’ marker remains. Thus, the remainder of the paragraph is also
enlarged:
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4. Text Streams
4.1 How Text Streaming Works
We will now take a behind-the-scenes look at how text is handled in Web4Print. Every time a new
text frame is created, a new ‘text stream’ (continuous body of text) is named. This text stream
then contains any text entered into that frame. The rst text stream will be named ‘tx1’, the
second ‘tx2’ and so on.
Try creating a new text frame and entering some text into it. Now change to Frame Mode by selecting the Frame Tool. Select the frame you just created by clicking on it. Now, take a look at the
Attributes Bar. Notice the button marked ‘Text’; below this button is a display window showing the
name of this frame’s text stream: probably ‘tx1’, if this is the only text frame in this document.
Text streams can also ow from one frame to another, and from one page to another, all the way
through a document as we shall see next.
4.2 Streaming Text through Multiple Frames/Repeating Text Streams
Start with a new document. Now, create four text frames, enter some text into each. Create the
frames in this order: upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right. Now zoom in. You should have
something like this:
Frame 1
Frame 2
Frame 3
Frame 4
Click the Frame Tool button to enter Frame Mode. Note that when
you select each frame, you see the name of the text stream in the
Text window on the Attributes Bar.
name of current frame’s
text stream
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4. Text Streams
4.2 Streaming Text through Multiple Frames/Repeating Text Streams (cont.)
We can also change the text stream for any frame. Select the lower right frame, which should
contain text stream 4. Now click the Text button in the Attributes Bar. The Set Text dialog box will
open. In this dialog we see all of the text streams in our document. The left panel shows a list of
the names of the text streams, the right shows a selected stream’s content. Click on ‘tx1’ on the
left.
Click OK. Text stream 1 will now continue from Frame 1 to Frame 4. Frame 4 is now empty; this
is because Text Stream 1 doesn’t extend past Frame 1. Click the Text Tool button to enter Text
Mode and add some text to Frame 1. Keep typing and see that the text will overow from Frame
1 into Frame 4:
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4. Text Streams
4.2 Streaming Text through Multiple Frames/Repeating Text Streams (cont.)
Now return to Frame Mode and select Frame 3. Click the Text button in the Attributes Bar. Select
Text Stream 1 from the left panel. Note that you can see the entirety of our new text contained in
Text Stream 1 in the right panel. Select Text Stream 2. Click OK. Text Stream 2 will now continue
from Frame 2 to Frame 3. As in the previous example, Frame 3 is now empty; Text Stream 2 does
not overow from Frame 2.
For this example, however, we don’t want this text stream to continue, we want to copy it. Below
the Text button and window on the Attributes menu, click the Repeat Text button. Below the button
the ‘No’ changes to ‘Yes’ indicating that this Frame contains a repeated version of this text stream
rather than its continuation. Your document window should now look something like this:
Click the Text Tool button. Now place the cursor anywhere in either Frame 2 or 3. Notice that all
text you enter is duplicated in the other frame; this is because whatever the content of this text
stream, it is being copied to both of these frames. The ability to stream through or copy text to
as many frames as neccesary gives Web4Print great versatility in putting together documents of
any format.
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5. Toggle Buttons
5.1 The Toggle Buttons Menu
The Toggle Buttons Menu is located at the upper right corner of the document window.
Show/Hide
Attributes Bar
Show/Hide
Frame Guides
Show/Hide Rulers
Show/Hide Grid
Snap to Grid On/Off
5.2 Show/Hide Frame Guides
The Show/Hide Frame Guides button controls whether frame guides and variable guides are visible. By default frame guides are visible. It is sometimes useful to hide them in order to get
a better idea of the appearance of a document as you work on it. These guides can also be
shown/hidden using View -> Show Guides or View -> Hide Guides.
5.3 Show/Hide Rulers: Using the Rulers
Click the Show/Hide Rulers button to make rulers visible. By default, the origin (zero-point) of the
rulers appears at the upper left of the document window. To move the origin, click on the intersection of the two rulers and drag to a new position. Note that by default, the origin is at the lower
left intersection of the two rulers. You may click on any of the three other intersecting points to
reset the origin.
The rulers also allow you to drag-and-drop tab settings for text formatting (see p. 17, Part III of
this guide).
Click on any of
these points to
set the origin
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Tab Controls - see
p. 17, Part III
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5. Toggle Buttons
5.3 Show/Hide Rulers: Using the Rulers (cont.)
Select View -> Ruler Options from the top menu to set the ruler units (e.g. change from mm to
inches) or select from various other options.
5.4 Show/Hide Grid: Using the Grid
Click the Show/Hide Grid button to show the Grid. The Grid is used to make it easier to align and
space frames. By default Snap to Grid is set to ‘on’, so any frame that is dragged near a grid line
will be magnetically attracted to it. Zoom in to see the Grid lines clearly, then create a few frames
and drag them around to see how the Grid makes it easier to position them.
top edges aligned
aligned diagonally
Select View -> Snap Grid Options... from the top menu to set grid units, snapping gravity (distance from which frames will automatically snap to grid lines) and other options.
5.5 Snap to Grid On/Off
As discussed in 5.4 above, this button turns the Snapping function on and off. Regardless of
whether the Grid is visible or not, if snapping is on, frames will magnetically snap to grid lines to
enable easier alignment and spacing. To set options, select View -> Snap Grid Options... from the
top menu.
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