Athenia Design

It occurred to me the other day whilst I was doing some typesetting how much I rely on shortcuts in Quark, so I thought I would post a series of handy tips which I use frequently.

Sizing pictures can take a little while when using the measurements palette so I use the following shortcuts.

To size a picture proportionally without using the measurements toolbar, first draw a picture box of the size you want the picture to be. Then import your picture using the get picture command (apple key and E). Next hold down the apple key, the alt (option) key and shift, press F and the picture is automatically sized to fit into your picture box. It might sound complicated at first but I find it saves a lot of time as you only need to press the combination of keys once rather than typing different percentage values into the measurements palette.

If you want to change the size of the picture once you have imported it into the picture box, then it’s also possible to do this without typing values into the measurements palette. Simply hold down the apple key, the alt (option) key and the shift key and press < to make your picture smaller or > to make it larger. Using this shortcut also keeps the proportion of the picture so you know that’s its not going to appear squashed out of all proportion on your final layout.