Monster Media 1994 #2/Monster Media No. 2 (Monster Media)(1994).ISO/freq_qa/dtpfaq.zip/DTPFAQ.EXE/DEFAULTS.FAQ

Text File | 1993-08-25 | 13KB | 225 lines

This FAQ file explains how to set defaults in PageMaker and was written
by Henry Budgett. It was written for PM version 4.x, but should still
apply to Pagemaker 5.0.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many thanks to all the people who responded to my offer of a quick guide to
PM4 defaults and how to make them your own. I've tried to make this as
comprehensive as possible but if anyone can see how to add to or extend the
ideas then please don't hesitate to comment or make suggestions.

The ideas used here are based on some five and a half years of PageMaker
use - remember Mac version 1.0? - and cover both Macintosh and PC versions
of the product. All the settings given relate to my personal use and may or
may not directly correspond to other working practices or habits.

Conventions: Menu names have Initial Caps, menu chains are shown like this
File->Page setup->Numbers

Manual references relate to the Macintosh and PC manuals shipped with
version 4.0 (International English version).

The content of this posting is offered to the public domain on the
understanding that no resale of this information is undertaken
by any recipient of the information. Any reproduction of the information
should be complete and entire and provide reference to the original source
(ie the PAGEMAKR listserver at INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU) and its author, Henry
Budgett.

Disclaimer: The views, opinions and information contained in this posting
are those of Henry Budgett and so not represent or seek to represent those
of any other individual or organisation. No responsibility can be taken for
errors, omissions or misunderstandings, however induced!

--------------- The real stuff starts here ------------------

From the very beginning Aldus have provided the user of PageMaker with a
method by which they can configure their copy of PageMaker to work in the
way that feels best for them. However, unless one reads the documentation
literally line by line and then experiments it is not obvious how this can
be achieved. The secret lies in the fact that PageMaker stores all its
defaults in each document AND in a defaults file. While the document
defaults are obvious and can be modified at will it gets a little boring
having to change the default font from Times to your current favourite
every time you start work on a new publication. So, where are the master
default files and how can you change them?

NOTE: The information given is for PageMaker 4.0 but applies in principle
to ALL versions of PageMaker on ALL platforms.

Macintosh: The defaults file is called PM4 defaults and lives in the
System folder.

PC/Windows: The defaults file is called PM4.CNF and lives (on my machine)
in C:\ALDUS\UKENGLISH - which means that you could have a separate set of
defaults for each language ...

How to change them
==================

The first thing to know is that if PageMaker cannot find the defaults file
it simply rebuilds it from scratch! So, if you want to play it's always
worth taking a copy of the current defaults file just in case you want it
back. Indeed, once it is set up the way you like it it's worth taking a
copy anyway so that you can go to work on any PageMaker system and
instantly configure it the way you like. The options here are considerable -
individual defaults files for each member of staff, different defaults for
different publication types (should really use templates but...), etc, etc.

IMPORTANT NOTE: On some older versions of PageMaker if the defaults file
became corrupted you could experience strange and unpleasant happenings!
The quickest way to fix them was (and still is) to delete the defaults file
and force PageMaker to build a new one. This is a useful first attack on
odd PageMaker problems.

Having deleted the current defaults file restart Windows and PageMaker
(restart your Macintosh and double click PageMaker). All the defaults are
now reset to those originally supplied - see Appendix F "PageMaker
defaults" in the Reference Manual. The secret is to make the changes you
want with no document open. While most of the menu options are greyed out
at this stage it doesn't matter - the ones you want are there.

First port of call is the File menu and select Page setup.
Choose your default paper size (A4), page margins (20,20,20,20),
orientation (tall), start page (1), number of pages (1), options (single
sided, restart page numbering) and, if required, select the Numbers option
and set the page numbering scheme to the format you prefer (Arabic).
Click on OK.

For PC/Windows users the next option to set is the File->Target printer which
must be set to the correct device. PageMaker will set the fonts in the font
list according to the chosen printer so one common cause of problems is
that Windows fails to pass the correct printer information and you lose the
extra PostScript fonts that you get with, say, a LaserWriter NTX because
Windows has defaulted to a generic PostScript printer with only Times,
Helvetica, Courier and Symbol. Also worth remembering is the fact that the
target printer controls the way that PageMaker does its composition of word
and letter spacing, justification, etc. The higher the resolution of the
printer the better a job it does. (NOTE: this is NOT true for the
Macintosh!) You can also use this to proof documents intended for
PostScript output on non PostScript devices, useful for working at home.
Simply ignore the warning message that you get when Windows starts to
print.

Next major set of options to change are those in Edit->Preferences.
Measurement system controls the overall system used; inches, picas,
millimetres - whatever you prefer. (Remember that you can always use ANY
unit in dialogue boxes, see page 14 in Reference Manual, "Unit of Measure
override".)
The Vertical ruler should ideally be set to the same value as your preferred
line spacing for text, this makes it so much easier to line up blocks of
text! For example, if you normally use Helvetica 10 on 12 then you would
set this to Custom 12 points. NOTE: to make this work properly you need to
move the zero point on the rulers so that it is on the top left hand corner
of the copy area and NOT the top left hand corner of the page!
Greek text below can be used to speed up displays but the value varies
according to display type and size.

Now set Guides (back), Detailed graphics (normal) Story view (14) Font (your
choice). NOTE: Guides go to the back otherwise you always pick up the guide
and not the element you placed on it - very frustrating!

Save option (smaller) which does the same as Save as and we all know why
that is better! Incidentally, still try to do Save as even if you have this
option set as it's a good habit to get into.

Options under the Edit->Preferences->Other menu depend to a great extent on
the screen and display type you are using. For those with either TrueType,
FaceLift or ATM font generation systems it doesn't really matter anyway.

Next stop is the Options menu where the following should be selected (have
ticks beside them); Rulers, Guides and Snap to Guides. Don't bother with
Autoflow, this is best done from the keyboard using the Shift and Control
(on a Macintosh use Shift or Command) modifiers while Placing.

Next set of defaults to set are the typographic ones and here you should
have a clear idea of what your basic requirements are before you start.
From the Type menu select the Define styles menu and remove all of the
default styles - you cannot remove [Selection] - then click OK. Next select
the Type->Type specs menu and set your basic type choice. This will
normally be the most commonly used type, size and style for your business
or personal use. My defaults are Font (Palatino), Size (10), Leading (12),
Set width (Normal), Position (Normal), Case (Normal), Track (Normal),
Colour (Black), Type style (Normal). Main changes here are to NEVER use
Auto leading - even though Aldus actually teach this on courses and through
their tutorial it is a typographic and design abomination - and to use
tracking as PageMaker sets type a little loose and Normal tracking tightens
it up just a bit. NOTE: if you are matching  old PM3 documents you should
use No tracking as this is effectively what PM3 used to do - the difference
can be marked!

The Type->Type Specifications->Options menu can be ignored unless you
really know what you are doing with type. I know there are tricky ways to
do drop caps with subscripts but this is not the place for them!

The Type->Paragraph menu is next and my settings here are Left (0), First
(0), Right (0), Before (0), After (0), Alignment (Left), Dictionary (UK
English), Keep with next (3). I tend not to use widow and orphan control in
the work I do but to use the Keep together or Keep with options instead -
different publication types may require different techniques.

The Rules sub menu can be ignored but it has an Options menu which can be
useful. Setting the Align to grid option to a grid size that's the same
value as your body copy leading will give you almost completely hands-off
pasteup. I don't recommend that you set this as a default but as most
people seem never to find the menu and the option is not properly explained
in the manuals it's worth knowing about. It also answers some of the
critics that say PageMaker has no vertical grid!

The Spacing sub menu is crucial in my view. The default settings are all
wrong and need changing! Word spacing is far too generous and, for
Palatino, I would use Minimum (50), Desired (80) and Maximum (120) with
Letter spacing set to Minimum (0), Desired (0) and Maximum (5). This
produces a nice, tight setting for justified and hyphenated material. Not
too tight but a whole lot better than the defaults! NOTE: these changes
only affect JUSTIFED material and they are NOT the same as tracking!
Pair kerning I turn off, I prefer to do it by hand where needed. Leading
method must be set to Top of Caps if you want to have an easy life lining
up blocks of copy across double page spreads. (What we really want is
baseline leading but Aldus don't seem to be there yet...) The Autoleading
value is (or should be) irrelevant as you shouldn't be using it anyway. To
keep people on their toes I sometimes set this to silly values, either very
small or very big so it's obvious that something is 'wrong'.

Next major option is Type->Hyphenation which I would set to (off) as most
of the work I do is unjustified material. Limit consecutive hyphens to (2)
and remember that the hyphenation zone value should be set for
approximately six to eight characters width in the typeface and point size
you are using. This value needs to be adjusted on a publication by
publication basis but the default is about right for 10 point Times or
Palatino.

Note: All the above changes are now set as the [Selection] style - they are
what you get when you simply click and start typing. It is worth making a
Body style that is exactly the same; Type->Define styles->New Name (Body)
as it is good practice to have a named style attached to each paragraph
rather than the [Selection] or No style option. For Macintosh users who
routinely bring in Word documents it is also worth defining Normal in the
same way so that the default Word style is automatically converted into your
chosen default style.

The final option that is worth setting is the Element->Define colours menu
where, assuming you have a colour monitor, it is useful to add the
complementary colours Magenta, Cyan and Yellow as well as any other house
colours you may use. White is also a useful addition as you may not
actually use white paper (yes, it is possible to set Paper to any colour
you want and this is very useful for those seeking to avoid problems of the
yellow ink on blue paper kind!)

Things that you can't change
============================

Well, it would be really nice if you could permanently change the defaults
for the Story Editor but I don't know how to. It would also be great if you
could set the rulers to default to the text area and not the page area.

Useful dodge
============

You can always set up a default template that does some of these and then
open the Template instead of starting from scratch.


------------------ ends here ---------------------------