|
Send $1 via PayPal, then email your most pressing questions about marketing to dina@wordfeeder.com today. |
Custom Search
7 Quark Express Tricks Every Copywriter Should Know AboutCopywriters: whether you're in-house, small agency or even a temp gig-hopper, chances are you're working alongside designers who use Quark Express. So there will definitely come a time when you're required to open up a Quark document and make changes to the text. If you're smart, you'll realize that the more comfortable you are in Quark, the less of a chance you'll have of peeving your coworkers by destroying what's already there. Quark Express is a phenomenal program that anybody, even a copywriter with no formal design training, can FLY AROUND in, provided you know what you're doing. The tools are there, all it takes is a little practice. Wouldn't it be great to know you've got the edge over the typical non-Quark copywriter? Following are seven Quark Express tricks that are guaranteed to have you breezing through those copy changes in record time. 1. Zoom In, Zoom Out. Why You Need It: headline creation. Most likely, your job requires you to "pop in" several headlines and subheads on a single-page, tabloid-sized ad. A good copywriter knows that her headline themes shall not repeat each other, so if you're able to zoom in, type the text, zoom out again and view the entire page, you'll be primed for a speedy eagle-eye headline review. How to Do It: Zoom in: Start with a view of the whole page. With your cursor on the Move Tool (looks like a big asterisk), hold the right mouse button down and drag it downward on the diagonal. This is how you "marquee" around a section of text you want to look at up-close. What you're doing here is simply creating a viewing window. Zoom out: (Command-zero) Put your right thumb on the COMMAND (or open apple) key and your index finger on the (0) zero. (Not to be confused with the letter O, which if you hit that would open another document.) Put these two together: Command-zero for a panoramic page view, marquis around on specific area. Command-zero, marquis. Do it again. Do it one more time. Are you getting the hang of the zoom in, zoom out? It's pretty handy to know. 2. Clicking Through Stacked Layers. Why You Need It: most copywriters know the sinking feeling of trying to click a text box in Quark and being unable to "get at" the text. What's going on here? There's probably another, transparent text box covering the text box. Here's what to do. How to Do It: Put your left three fingers on SHIFT, ALT and COMMAND (again, COMMAND is the apple key) and hold down. While depressing these keys, use the right hand to click the text box you're trying to get at. Repeat clicking until you see those little "grabber corners" appear on the box you want to change. What the "chord" does here is allow you to click down through the layers and get to the text box to make your edits. Be sure that you click the Text (T) tool before typing your changes. When you're done, just click away and move on to the next task. 3. Moving Around the Page Without Scrolling. Why You Need It: Sure you can scroll, but who wants to wait for the page view to catch up with a redraw? An easier method for "scooting" around in your Quark document follows. How to Do It: Click the Move tool and then "zoom out" for a view of the entire document. (See Tip 1 if you don't know how to do this.) With your left hand, press the COMMAND key and keep it engaged. You'll notice that the cursor has changed to a little "hand-grabber." Drag the mouse in any direction, and the page moves with you. Pretty cool, eh? 4. Duplicate Text Box. Why You Need It: You may want to type a new headline into a designed group of text boxes, but you're afraid to mess up the design. So rather than destroy what the poor artist took hours to create, you can "duplicate" their text box to get the exact text specs you need to work with. You can then drag your duped text box onto the pasteboard and let them know you've placed the new headline there. How to Do It: Just click any text box, and press COMMAND-D. The text box will multiply by one, and you will see an identical text box right next to it. Note: if you want to get fancy, double-click the new text box, change the background color to something flashy like yellow, and then hit F5 to "bring it to the front." Then place your new headline on top of the old one. Be sure to tell the designer you did this just in case he objects or has a better solution. If it turns out he loves your method, use the Duplicate trick in Tip 4 to dupe your new "headline text box," cover your next headline with the new box and type in the next headline. 5. Group and Ungroup. Why You Need It: Quark designers often use "double" text boxes stacked one on top of the other to create shadowed headlines. The top text box contains text in one color, and the box beneath it contains text in another. The bottom text box is shifted just a skoche. When viewed together, this looks like text with a shadow! You will find the trouble happens when you try to change the headline - why can't you get at the box underneath!? The reason is because the boxes have been grouped together. You can see two or more grouped boxes because they'll be framed with a dotted line. When you grab for one box, they all move together. How to Do It: Try this: Click the Text tool. Create a text box and type in short headline using one of the thicker fonts. Now make sure you've clicked the box and then use COMMAND-D to duplicate it. You now have two identical headlines. Select one of these, and highlight the text, then change the color to white. Go back to the first text box and position that one so it almost totally covers the white text (but leave a little shadow room). If you can't get the darker-colored box to sit on top of the white, click the darker box, and hit the F5 key. This will "bring to front." When both boxes are positioned the way you like them, group them as follows: Put your left index finger on the SHIFT KEY. With the right hand, click the headline. You will see that one of the two boxes will show "grabber" tabs. While keeping shift held down the entire time, click again and this time BOTH boxes will be designated. With the left, do a COMMAND-G. Now your two text boxes are grouped together! You can move them wherever you'd like. To UNGROUP, simply do a COMMAND-U. 6. Show Invisibles. Why You Need It: Invisibles are a copywriter's best friend. If you turn yours on, you can see every single space and every carriage return vs. soft return. So if there's an extra accidental space or unintended hard return, you'll be able to see it and fix it easily! Note: Carriage returns and soft returns affect your text leading. If you want to set the leading for one paragraph of text, place a hard carriage return at the end of the first line of text and at end of the last line where you'd like to retain the leading. Any other forced returns within that paragraph should be "soft returns" (press SHIFT and RETURN together). How to Do It: To Show Invisibles, simply do a COMMAND-I. To shut off invisibles, do a COMMAND-I again. Easy enough! 7. Shrink or Enlarge Text Proportionately. Why You Need It: In Quark, you can specify each aspect of your text design including size, font, color and leading for every letter or line. Once you're happy with the proportional arrangement of your text within one box, you may decide the proportion is a-okay but the size is all wrong! To make every single item in that text box larger or smaller, use the below technique. How to Do It: Put your left hand in "chord" placement again. (Press the COMMAND-ALT-SHIFT keys together and keep them held down). With the Text tool highlighted, grab the corner of the text box and either pull out or in, depending on if you want to scale the item bigger or smaller. Notice how everything in the box gets larger or smaller yet retains the same proportions! Now that's a handy trick. These are just a few of many more Quark tricks designed to make your life easier. Instead of getting horrified looks from your coworkers, wouldn't it be great to hear excited murmurs of "The copywriter knows Quark!" from the design team? Of course it would. So start practicing and with any luck you'll be a Quark Master by next week!
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved. Go to the page where we list all copywriting and marketing articles Ever Dreamed of Earning Your Living Writing Copy for the Web? Now's your chance to learn all there is to know about how to launch, organize and successfully run an online writing and editing business from the comfort of your home office. Get on the list for our upcoming guide, "The Nitty Gritty of How to Start a Writing or Editing Business on the Web." Learn more by clicking this link! No time to read right now? Simply fill out the form below! We'll contact you as soon as the guide is ready for public consumption. Thanks.
Custom Search
Want more? Sign up for Word Food, our Copywriting and Marketing Newsletter.
get a copywriting or website marketing quote
Please email to Dina@Wordfeeder.com with the subjectline "Copywriting Quote". Need a referral for a web designer, virtual assistant or search engine optimization expert? Just say the word! We work with only the best service providers. Thanks! More Copywriting ArticlesRecently Added Articles: How to Plan Out Your Postcard Campaign for the Highest Conversion Rate How to Charge for Copywriting, Writing or Editing Services How to Plan Out and Delegate Your Bulk Article Writing Project How to Write a Good Web Article in 5 Simple Steps How to Get Bulk Articles for Your Niche Based Website Bulk Article Writing or Content Writing Service How to Get a Basic Business Website Home Page or About Page: Which One Are You Writing? Economy of Words vs. Clunky Writing How to Crank Out Copywriting and Web Marketing Jobs in Record Time Do You Utilize the Sidebars of Your Website? How Do You Market Coaching Services During a Sluggish Economy? The Trick to Getting Your Newsletter Read and Bringing in New Business Each Month 2009 and Prior - Listed in Alphabetical Order: 10 Simple Ways to Punch Up Your Copy, Redirect Your Website Traffic and Dramatically Increase Sales 11 Reasons Not to Hire a Freelance Copywriter (and Why They're All Poor Excuses) 11 Ways to Caffeinate Your Copy: Give it More Juice, Get More SALES 13 Ways a Copywriter Will Kick-start Your Marketing 5 Critical Aspects of Website Design that Can Lessen the Impact of Your Copywriting 5 Ways Web Copy is Different From Print 7 Quark Express Tricks Every Copywriter Should Know About 7 Points of Contact in Your Marketing Copy 9 Things a Copywriter Can Do to Successfully Capture the Brand Accelerate Your Freelance Copywriting Career Analogy Marketing: How to Think Like the Web's Top Paid Professionals Are Your Keywords Making You Sound Less Intelligent? Articles and Branding: 5 Steps to Success Article Marketing Online: The Real Reason Why Shorter is Better for Your Web Traffic Article Marketing Submissions Sites Article Marketing: the Better Offpage SEO Solution Article Marketing: Work It On the Diagonal So You Can Go Vertical (from our ezine) Article Writing: 5 Tips on How to Pull and Hold the Reader Article Writing Dos and Don'ts Article Writing Service from Wordfeeder: Get Noticed in Your Niche Article Marketing: What is it and How Can I Use it to Grow My Business? Articles: The Perfect Branding Tool Bad Copy, Good Copy: A Show-By-Example Guide to Writing Stronger Web Content Branding to Multiple Audiences: How to Retool Your Existing Content Business Blogger: Are You Competing for Traffic... With Yourself? Copywriters and Blog Marketing: What Can You Farm Out Today Copywriting and Branding Exercise: Determining Your Company Mission and Values Copywriting and Marketing: 5 Ways to Get the Word Out About Your Website Copywriting and Marketing Resources Copywriting: Drafting Rules for Professionals Copywriting for Astrology, Tarot and the Mystic Audience Copywriting: How to Become a True Authority on the Web Copywriting: How to Write a Tagline for Your Company Copywriting: How Different Should Your Brochure Be from Your Website Content? Copywriting Tip: How to Keep All Eyes Riveted on Your Sales Letter Copywriting to the Rescue: How to Connect Deeply With Your Readers to Get More Sales Copywriting Tricks: Mastering the Voice Copywriting: Why It's Better to Write the Homepage Last Direct Mail Copywriting Tip: How to Tackle Your First Postcard Campaign Does Your Sales Letter "Smoke" Your Product? How to Tell if You Need to Tone Down Your Sales Copy Editing and Writing Tips that Will Have Your Book or E-book Flying off the Shelves Email Newsletter Process: Critical First Steps Email Newsletters: Your Most Pressing Questions Answered Google and Your Article Marketing: Shifting the Focus Back to Ezines Again? Headline Writing Styles: Have You Been Told the Rules? How Does a Copywriter Blog for Someone Else? How to Add "Awesome" to Your Testimonials How to be Colloquial in Your Copywriting How to Create an Aggressive Article Campaign That Gets Results Without Breaking the Bank How to Create a Press Kit that Attracts Positive Media Attention How to Create a Web Page That Gets Instant Targeted Traffic How to Leverage Your Existing Content for the Most Exposure How to Put Your Marketing on Autopilot And Get the Most Bang for Your Advertising Buck How to Tell if Your Sales Letter is Too Long How to Write a Web Article in Record Time How to Write a Tagline for Your Company How to Write Copy that Keeps Readers Riveted on You and What You Do How to Write Headlines That Beg to be Read (from our ezine) Keyword Copywriting: the Key to Your Success Leverage the Power of Article Marketing Marketing Your Business with Articles: What You Should Know Monthly Article Marketing - the Ongoing Process Mouth Watering Copywriting: How to Paint Pictures With Words One from the Copywriter's Bag Of Tricks: Back Your Claims With Numerical Data Pacing and Leading Your Copywriting Assignments Pain, Pleasure, Persuasive Copy and Your Ego (from our ezine) Power Writing 101: Tips and Tricks to Get You Taken Seriously! Sales Letter Copywriting and Logistics: the Method Behind the Madness Special Report: 10 Best Places to Showcase Your Web Articles (from our ezine) Split Testing With Your Sales Letter (ezine issue) Tagline Writing Tips and Tricks The Formula for Writing a Sales Letter The Long Sales Letter: Should You Use it In Your Advertising? The Web Copy Facelift in Ten Simple Steps Too Much Build-Up: Over-Zealous Ad Copy Can Break The Sale Top 7 Tips for an Organically Grown Subscriber List Web Copywriter or Virtual Assistant: Who Should You Hire? What a Web Copywriter Can Do for Your Business that a Freelance Writer Can't What is Copywriting and Why do You Need it for Your Business? Why Your Info Product Isn't Selling and What You Can Do About It Web Copywriting: How to Make Short Articles from Long Ones What is Copywriting? The Basics of the Trade What Makes Web Press Releases Different from Traditional Ones? Why Your Info Product Isn't Selling and What You Can Do About It Wordfeeder Ebook Editing Services Wordfeeder Email Newsletter Service: Connect With Your Future Customers
Custom Search
|
|
|
Thank you for your donations to keep Wordfeeder going! |
Copywriting, Marketing and Small Business ResourcesEmail Marketing, Newsletter Management: We recommend and use Aweber.com Email Marketing and Shopping Cart in One: We recommend Kickstart Cart Low-Cost Shopping Cart Integrated with PayPal: We recommend and use E-Junkie.com Domain Names, Website Hosting and Tech Support for Your Online Business: We recommend and use Network Solutions Website Hosting: we recommend and use: BlueHost
Custom Search
|
|
|
home about what is copywriting copywriting services copywriting projects web design web copywriting copy editing email newsletter management blog content article writing sales letter content direct mail copywriting branding campaigns postcard marketing ebook editing SEO critiques social media profiles resume writing press release writing copywriting for coaches copywriting for web designers copywriting for real estate food writing small business marketing corporate copywriting clients testimonials copywriting newsletter archive sign up for our newsletter do-it-yourself website building and marketing tools contact us blog
Copyright 2009-2013 Dina Giolitto and Wordfeeder Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved worldwide. |
||