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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Tutorials

Developing Good Layout Habits with CorelDRAW
By Steve Bain

Recently, we showed you how to improve your brochure or newsletter layouts by using s
great CorelDRAW features. There are good and bad ways to build a layout, and simply
making a project look pretty does not guarantee its success. In this tutorial, we'll highlig
some layout and design habits that you should avoid, and we'll look at the solutions you
apply with CorelDRAW.

Avoid Over-Hyphenating Text

When you format text, you can apply a justified paragraph text alignment by choosing Fu
from the Horizontal Alignment option on the Property Bar (see below). The forced charac
and word spacing can be distracting, however, if your columns are narrow and
text font is large, or if your text includes longer-than-average words. You can eliminate t
problem in one of two ways.

First, start by activating the text hyphenation feature in CorelDRAW. To do this,

text frame, open the Format Text dialog (Ctrl+T), select the
Paragraph tab, click the Hyphenation Settings button, and choose the Automatic
Hyphenation option (see below).

Hyphenation can improve the appearance of justified text and often compresses it more
efficiently. The example below shows highlighted text that was drastically improved simp
by activating the hyphenation feature in CorelDRAW at default settings.

Page 2 of 9

If certain words in your text still appear awkwardly spaced after you activate hyphenatio
you may need to make localized text adjustments to improve readability. Adjusting the h
zone value of your hyphenation settings can often help. This is the zone at the end of a l
in which words are eligible for hyphenation.

Adjusting the hot zone can be a useful strategy, but it involves certain tradethe hot zone gives the hyphenation engine in CorelDRAW more freedom to hyphenate,
excessive hyphenation detracts from the appearance of text. Reducing the hot zone valu
slightly in specific areas of text can sometimes help avoid instances of poor spacing. The
example below shows how increasing the hot zone in a hyphenated paragraph affects
readability.

The second way to improve the appearance of justified text is to adjust the word and
character spacing values by changing the justification settings in CorelDRAW. You can ac
these options (see below) by clicking the Settings button in the Format Text dialog, whic
becomes available after you choose Full Justify or Force Justify.

The example below shows the effect of reducing the Maximum Word Spacing value
activating hyphenation for a justified paragraph.

Page 3 of 9

Fixing Widows and Orphans

Solitary words in the first line of a column frame or in the last line of a paragraph are
referred to as widows or orphans. They can create distracting white gaps in otherwise
smoothly flowing text. If you don't have the option of editing the text, you can
and orphans during the layout. You can eliminate the unwanted gaps caused by widows a
orphans by adjusting the kerning properties to slightly increase or decrease the length of
text lines. Kerning enables you to adjust the space between certain letter combinations
without affecting the normal character and word spacing. With CorelDRAW, you can adju
kerning in 5 percent increments by using the Range Kerning option in the Format Text di
(see below).

By adjusting kerning, you can lengthen or shorten your text without significantly affectin
readability. You can use the Text Tool to select text and then use the following keyboard
shortcuts to adjust text kerning:
Increase range kerning by 5 percent

Ctrl+Shift+>

Decrease range kerning by 5 percent

Ctrl+Shift+<

The example below shows text frames with both widows and orphans in the first and last
lines of the paragraph text frames in a layout. In the bottom instance, range kerning was
applied to lengthen or shorten the text and thereby eliminate the hyphenated word
fragments.

Avoid Using Uppercase Characters for Emphasis

We've all seen the overuse of uppercase characters - especially on the Web. Uppercase
characters used in entire sentences or paragraphs are intended to add emphasis, but the

Page 4 of 9

often have the opposite effect of making text difficult to read (see below). The use of
uppercase should be reserved strictly for beginnings of sentences, abbreviations, importa
places, official terms, and proper names. In e-mails, newsgroups posts, and blogs,
uppercase text simulates yelling, which makes it even more of a no-no in your layouts.

In the days of the typewriter, uppercase characters may have been the only
emphasis to text, but today's digital fonts offer more flexibility. In CorelDRAW, you can
easily change the case of your text using the Change Case command. To open the Chang
Case dialog (see below), choose Text > Change Case, and choose a character case optio
Once the case has been corrected, you can use size and style to emphasize and
emphasize your text.

Choose Your Fonts Carefully

The font you choose for your text profoundly affects the attractiveness and legibility of yo
layout. Select a body text font with as many style variations as possible so that
most of your layout needs. You can use the same font for body text and headlines, but
there's no law against mixing fonts. Just don't go overboard.

In most designs, two text fonts are sufficient to use for all of the necessary editorial
functions. If you plan to use text for graphic purposes, you can use a third font, but avoi
the mistake of using multiple fonts in an attempt to make your layout more attractive. To
many fonts actually detract from the appearance of your layout, as shown in the
below.

Avoid the Razzle-Dazzle Temptation

CorelDRAW is a powerful drawing tool capable of creating great layouts, but many of the
effects that you can apply to text may do more harm than good to the readability of your
document. Rotation transformations and character stacking are two effects that

Page 5 of 9
inexperienced users often overuse in an attempt to add "wow" to their brochures or
newsletters.

Using slanting or rotating words and applying text to a path are both great options in
illustration, but they often reduce text readability in a layout. Text in English is meant to
read upright, from left to right and from top to bottom. The examples below illustrate the
reduced legibility of rotated text characters. Do your audience a favor: avoid the temptat
of using these effects to dress up a layout.

Pay Attention to Spacing

The vertical spacing above and below headings and text is called leading. Consistent lead
gives your layout a professional touch. You can find the spacing controls by clicking the
Paragraph tab of the Format Text dialog.

If you're measuring your layout in picas and points, you can change your unit preference
points from the CorelDRAW default setting (% of Char. Height). This enables you
your spacing settings on specific point values rather than on the default percentage value
The default leading value in CorelDRAW is roughly 20 percent of the character size, which
can add excessive space when the size of the text font is larger than 6 points. Leading in
traditional layout is typically one point larger than the size of the text font. The example
below shows 14-point paragraph text with the default (20 percent) line spacing versus th
same font size with 15 points of leading.

The Before Paragraph and After Paragraph spacing settings enable you to set
between your body text and headings. Between body text paragraphs, the Before Paragr
value should match your leading for text, and the After Paragraph space should be set to
(zero). When formatting space between text and headings, choose spacing values to mat
the vertical text settings in your layout grid, so that text aligns across columns regardles
where headings fall. The example below shows spacing between a heading and paragrap
text that has been formatted to align to the layout grid.

Page 6 of 9

Your aim should also be consistent vertical and horizontal spacing between margins, bord
and column gutters. Layout grids provide the best solution for applying consistent vertica
spacing between elements. A grid can also help you align content horizontally across
columns and pages. Use consistent text leading and paragraph styles to establish even
spacing between headings, subheadings, and text.
In CorelDRAW, you can use guideline presets to create a custom layout grid for aligning
layout elements (like the one shown in the previous example). To create a custom
follow these steps:
1. Click View > Guidelines Setup to open the Options dialog.
2. From the tree directory, choose Guidelines > Presets.
3. At the top of the pane, select the User Define Presets mode.
4. At the bottom of the pane, choose the Grid option.
5. Enable Spacing, and enter a value in the Vertical box (see below), and click OK.

6. To view the grid, choose View > Guidelines.

Be sure that the grid spacing value you set in the Vertical box exactly matches the text
leading (indicated by the line spacing value) of your brochure or newsletter, so that you
quickly and precisely align your layout elements. Once you set the lines in your grid and
are visible, use the Snap to Guidelines option in CorelDRAW (View > Snap to Guidelines)
that your layout elements easily snap to the grid.

Align Text Consistently

If you choose a general alignment theme for your layout such as a flush left, flush right,
centered, or justified, use it throughout your pages. For example, if you choose a centere
alignment for text headlines, apply this alignment to the text on all pages - avoid
from one style to another. Changing alignments can make it difficult for readers to follow
layout between pages (see the example below).

Emphasize with Italics, Not Underlining

Another hand-me-down from typewriter days is the underlining of text for emphasis. Man
digital fonts provide the better alternatives of bold and italic styles. Avoiding
particularly critical if your layout is destined for the Web, where underlined text usually
signifies a hyperlink. The example below shows how italics can be even more effective th
underlining.

Page 7 of 9

Use Indents and Tabs, Not Spaces

Even though your computer is not a typewriter, some users continue to type two spaceba
characters after every period. This is another habit to kick. Digital fonts are designed
enough space to separate sentences, so a single space is all you need. Extra spaces may
small, but they are certainly noticeable, as shown below.

You should also stop typing spaces or tab characters at the beginning of each
to create first-line indents. Using spaces or tab characters prevents you from using
paragraph formatting to set indents automatically. CorelDRAW enables you to set first
indents by using the Paragraph tab of the Format Text dialog (see below). To set indent
spacing, click to select your paragraph text, and click the Format Text button on the
Bar (or use Ctrl+F). In the Indents area, type a value in the First Line box.

When working with tabular text formatted in rows and columns, use tab characters inste
of spaces. Spaces seldom align text vertically in table columns. Tabs can be set to one of
four different types (left, right, center, and decimal), and they can be precisely positione
using the tab options in the Format Text dialog, or by moving the onscreen tab
when your Ruler is displayed. Our example below shows table text selected and tab mark
displayed in the on-screen Ruler.

Incorrect tabbing can cause hours of headaches, which makes this another habit to
pressing the tab key doesn't align the text, move the tab marker rather than using additi
tabs and/or spaces.

Speed Up Text Screen Display

This last round of advice has more to do with productivity than layout, but it's relevant
nonetheless. If your system is slow when rendering large amounts of text in your brochu
or newsletter layout, CorelDRAW can help. You can drastically cut text-rendering time by

Page 8 of 9

using the greeking option in CorelDRAW. Greeking uses black lines to approximate your t
temporarily, which enables your screen to redraw itself much faster. During editing, the t
resumes its normal display, as shown below.

You'll find this option in the Text pane of the Options dialog (see below). By default,
CorelDRAW is preset to greek text 5 pixels and smaller. As a result, your view magnificat
and screen resolution determine whether greeking is applied. If your layout is text
you can beef up your display speed and your productivity by doubling or tripling this

You can also speed up screen display by deactivating the automatic spelling checker in
CorelDRAW. By default, while the Text Tool is selected, CorelDRAW checks the spelling o
text in a selected text frame automatically and displays any errors detected.

You can temporarily disable the automatic spelling checker. Choose Tools > Options, and
click Text > Spelling in the tree directory of the Options dialog and disable the Perform
Automatic Spell Checking option.

While automatic spell checking is deactivated, you can always check the spelling
by choosing Text > Writing Tools Spell Check (Ctrl+F12). Just be sure to turn the automa
feature back on after your layout stage is complete.

We've revealed plenty of issues that can affect the presentation quality of a brochure or
newsletter. By using the features available in CorelDRAW, and by paying attention to det
and adopting up-to-date publishing techniques like those covered here, you'll be well
way to producing excellent layouts.

Steve Bain is an award-winning illustrator and designer, and the author of nearly a dozen
books, including CorelDRAW: The Official Guide.

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