Quark Question

[munckee]

Ok, just so I can get it out of the way, let me say that I HATE QUARK!

Now, I have a group of seven words that I need to justify across my text box with equal spacing between them (ie I need the first word left justified, the last word right justified, and the words in between set with equal spacing between).

Is there an "easy" way to do this in quark, or do I have to put each in its own text box and then space them out manually?

Thanks.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Ok, just so I can get it out of the way, let me say that I HATE QUARK!

Now, I have a group of seven words that I need to justify across my text box with equal spacing between them (ie I need the first word left justified, the last word right justified, and the words in between set with equal spacing between).

Is there an "easy" way to do this in quark, or do I have to put each in its own text box and then space them out manually?

Thanks.

Use the tabs function. Justify your text as centred and then just place where needed. Ignore where the text box falls. Look where the text lies so it fits into your layout.

I use quark everyday and yes its **** and I have Q7!

 

[Blue Velvet]

One way. (and assuming your typeface and size is set)

Set up guides left and right where you want your row of text to start and finish.

Create a box with your first word in it as wide as the longest word, styled up as you want the rest, centre aligned.

Step and repeat 6 more of them with a horizontal space only (not vertical), put a couple of inches in at this stage. Menu>Item>Step and Repeat

Then type the rest of the words into each box, this will ensure that they have all the same style (or if you have a style sheet this won't matter).

When that's done select all 7 boxes and use Space/Align (Apple + comma) Menu>Item>Space/Align (horizontal) to space them out evenly using your guides to get the length of the row right.

When that's done, group them for easy manipulation.

Personally, I wouldn't use tabs 'cos they're fiddly to adjust each tab to the exact same increment to get the line length perfect.

Edit: Just realised you want equal distance between each word rather than equal distance between each word's centre. You'll have to resize each box to fit the word then so that they're different sizes and then space/align from the edges.

God, I'm not making much sense. Long day.

 

[munckee]

Thanks! A variation on this worked fine for me.

With the different length words each centered in uniformly sized boxes, I could get the separation between the boxes correct, but not between the words. I went back and resized each box to the size of that word and then used the align/space horizontal tool it it worked.

One way. (and assuming your typeface and size is set)

Set up guides left and right where you want your row of text to start and finish.

Create a box with your first word in it as wide as the longest word, styled up as you want the rest, centre aligned.

Step and repeat 6 more of them with a horizontal space only (not vertical), put a couple of inches in at this stage. Menu>Item>Step and Repeat

Then type the rest of the words into each box, this will ensure that they have all the same style (or if you have a style sheet this won't matter).

When that's done select all 7 boxes and use Space/Align (Apple + comma) Menu>Item>Space/Align (horizontal) to space them out evenly using your guides to get the length of the row right.

When that's done, group them for easy manipulation.

Personally, I wouldn't use tabs 'cos they're fiddly to adjust each tab to the exact same increment to get the line length perfect.

Edit: Just realised you want equal distance between each word rather than equal distance between each word's centre. You'll have to resize each box to fit the word then so that they're different sizes and then space/align from the edges.

God, I'm not making much sense. Long day.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Thanks! A variation on this worked fine for me.

I'm glad. It's prob. not the most elegant way of doing it but it's the first thing that came to mind when I walked in the door and saw this thread.

Sometimes, you've just got to hack these things to get them done and if it RIPs or prints fine, then no-one will care.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Had another thought on a far more elegant way to do this by only using one text box.

Set up a character style sheet with custom tracking and apply that style sheet to an identical fixed number of fixed spaces between each word. Tweak the tracking in the character style to adjust all spaces simultaneously.

Much better.

 

[CathC]

There actually is a much easier way to do this in Quark. Simply type the words with a spacebar in between and be sure to have a return at the end of the line. Then in the paragraph format window, for alignment, select "forced." You can also click on the forced icon in the measurements palette (bottom left), or hit Command-Option-Shift-J. This will give equal spacing across the text box.

You may want to define a new H&J (call it "forced") and set 0% as "Char" under "Max." That way the letters of your words won't spread.

I probably saw this too late for what you were doing, but maybe next time!

 

[munckee]

There actually is a much easier way to do this in Quark. Simply type the words with a spacebar in between and be sure to have a return at the end of the line. Then in the paragraph format window, for alignment, select "forced." You can also click on the forced icon in the measurements palette (bottom left), or hit Command-Option-Shift-J. This will give equal spacing across the text box.

You may want to define a new H&J (call it "forced") and set 0% as "Char" under "Max." That way the letters of your words won't spread.

I probably saw this too late for what you were doing, but maybe next time!

Thanks Cath, I'll give that a shot next time. For the time being, the other method worked perfectly.

The easiest solution would be for my company to move into this century and start using InDesign