Glossary
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Action Bar A horizontal pane found along the bottom of the application window that both displays and lets you change the transformations applied to one or more objects (the location, rotation, scaling, skewing, and so on). When two or more objects are selected, the Action Bar also offers options for manipulating those objects, such as aligning or distributing them. You can hide or show this pane from the Window menu.
Align To make two or more sides of an object appear in the same vertical or horizontal plane. For example, you can align the left edges of two rectangles on your page.
Alpha A term to describe transparency.
For example, an "alpha mask" determines the transparent areas of an image (the
parts that are hidden). An "Alpha Stop" in a gradient defines the amount of
transparency at that point in the blend.
Anchor point A point (sometimes called node) on a vector path. In a Bezier curve, the anchor point appears on the path itself. In a B-spline curve, the anchor point can be on the curve (indicating a corner point) or off the curve (indicating an area of the path that is curved). In a Bezier curve, the anchor point might have handles (for a segment of the path that is curved) or not (for a corner).
Attribute Dropper An Expression Design tool that lets you copy the fill, stroke, and effect attributes from one object on the page to another.
Bezier path A vector path defined by anchor points and path segments between those points.
Blend mode A method of determining how an object should appear when placed over another object. For example, an object with a Lighten blend mode will be transparent wherever its color is darker than a color in a background object.
Bounding box The smallest rectangular area that will surround a path, shape, or group of objects.
Brush stroke The placing of a vector or bitmapped image along a vector path so that it twists and turns along the path. This is also sometimes called a skeletal stroke or an artistic brush.
B-spline path A vector path defined by a series of points that indicate the direction the path should follow. Each node on a B-spline path can be a curve or corner control node. B-spline paths are similar to Bezier paths, but curves are described by anchor points placed off the path itself.
Canvas size and Document size Both define and describe the size of the document page on the pasteboard. This also sometimes called the Artboard . While you can place an object anywhere on the page or pasteboard, Live Effects are only visible on the canvas/page. Changing the page size by clicking Document Size on the File menu might change the size of objects in your file. Changing it by clicking Canvas Size on the File menu changes only the size of the page, but not any objects.
Clone A clone is a duplicate of any vector path or shape, but which can have different fill, stroke, or effect formatting. When the original (master) path or shape changes in shape, any clones of that object also change.
Color Dropper An Expression Design tool that lets you copy the fill or stroke color from one object to another. Similar to the Attribute Dropper tool, but copies only object or screen color, and not object formatting.
Crop marks Marks you can place on your page to define a specific rectangular area to print or export as an image.
Direct Selection tool An Expression Design tool that lets you select and manipulate an individual anchor point or segment on a vector path, as well as individual objects on your page, such as text blocks or bitmapped image objects.
Distribute The act of moving around three or more objects so that there is an equal amount of space between them.
Ellipse An elliptical object defined by an arc between a beginning and an ending point. When these two points are in the same location, the shape is an oval or circle.
Fill A color or pattern placed inside the area defined by a path or shape.
Fill Transform An Expression Design tool that lets you alter the appearance of a gradient or pattern fill. For example, you can use the Fill Transform tool to rotate or scale a pattern fill inside a path or shape.
Gradient A blend between two or more colors. You can apply a gradient as a fill or a stroke to any path or shape's fill or stroke. Each color in a gradient is defined with a "gradient stop." A gradient can also include changes in opacity from one gradient stop to another.
Gradient Transform An Expression Design tool that lets you alter the appearance of a gradient fill or stroke. For example, you can use the Gradient Transform tool to change where the first and last points of a gradient should appear in an object.
Grids A series of horizontal and vertical non-printing lines (for screen display only) that lets you align and lay out objects on your page. You can define how far apart the grid lines are in the Options dialog box.
Guides Single non-printing lines that help you align and lay out objects on your page. When you click Snap to Guides on the View menu, objects on your page will "snap" to the location of the guide when you drag within a few screen pixels of the guide.
Handle, Bezier Anchor points on a Bezier path can have handles that define the direction of curve. In general, the farther the handle from the anchor point, the more oblique the curve.
Handle, Selection When you select one or more objects with the Selection tool, Expression Design displays those objects surrounded by handles that let you resize, skew, or rotate the objects.
Image object An object placed on your page that is defined by pixels rather than vector paths. Image objects can be scaled, moved, rotated, and skewed like shapes. Scaling an image object larger makes each pixel in the image larger, reducing its "pixels per inch" resolution. Conversely, scaling an image object smaller increases its resolution.
Layers By placing objects on a layer, you collect them together so that they sit above or below objects on other layers. You can also hide/show or lock/unlock an individual layer, which affects all the objects on that layer.
Line A vector path defined by two points and a straight segment between them.
Opacity The transparency of a fill or a stroke. The more opaque an object, the less transparent it is.
Options A dialog box consisting of multiple panels that let you control a set of preferences for how the application should behave.
Paintbrush tool An Expression Design tool that lets you draw a Bezier path by clicking and dragging in a continuous flow. Some other applications call this a "freehand" tool.
Pan tool An Expression Design tool that lets you pan (scroll) around your document in any direction by clicking and dragging the cursor.
Pane An area of the application window reserved for panels, such as the Layers panel or Properties panels.
Panel A resizeable window that contains controls. For example, the Layers panel contains controls for managing layers in your document. If you click the Float button in the upper-right corner of a panel, it is released from its pane and floats so that you can place it anywhere on your screen. Some people call this a "palette."
Pasteboard The area of the document outside the document canvas. You can draw on the pasteboard, but live effects are not visible in this area.
Path A series of two or more Bezier or B-spline anchor points that creates curved or straight segments. All paths can be stroked or filled. An open path is one in which the first and last points are not the same. When the first and last points are the same, it is also called a "shape."
Pen tool An Expression Design tool that lets you draw a Bezier path by clicking (for corner anchor points) or clicking and dragging (for curves) a series of anchor points.
Pixels Bitmapped images are defined by a rectangular collection of square pixels. Each pixel can be any color, but all pixels are the same size in a given bitmapped image.
Polygon A shape built from a regular pattern of points and segments. Examples of polygons include a triangle, a hexagon, or a 12-point star.
Polyline tool An Expression Design tool that lets you build a Bezier path made of segments that are either straight lines or circular arcs.
Rectangle A rectangular shape that can have sharp or rounded corners.
Scissors tool An Expression Design tool that lets you split a Bezier or B-spline path at a particular location.
Selection tool An Expression Design tool that lets you select an entire path, shape, block of text, or group of objects.
Shape A vector path that is closed; that is, the beginning and ending points of the path are the same. A shape is typically created with one of the Shape tools: the Rectangle tool, the Ellipse tool, or the the Polygon tool. Each character of text is also defined as a shape described by the set of outlines to define that character.
Stack An Expression Design feature that lets you position two or more objects so that there is a specific amount of space between them vertically or horizontally. You can control the amount of space in the Options dialog box.
Stack order The order in which objects are placed in a layer. An object higher in the stack will cover up (appear on top of ) one lower in the stack.
Stroke A color or gradient placed along the direction of a path. This is also sometimes called a "border."
Swatch A solid color, a gradient, or an image that is saved in order to be easily recalled to apply as a fill or stroke.
Tab An area above the document window and below the menu bar that lists the document name. If you have more than one document open, you will see more than one tab visible, and you can click each to view that document.
Text tool An Expression Design tool that lets you create blocks of text characters. Each character in a text block can have its own stroke and fill.
Vectors A class of graphic objects defined by paths rather than pixels.
XAML A graphic file format defined by Microsoft that describes vector and image objects along with their behavior. Expression Design can export artwork in the XAML format by using the Clipboard or by clicking Export on the File menu.
Zoom tool An Expression Design tool that lets you change the current view magnification of your document. Clicking increases the magnification (zooms in). Pressing ALT+click decreases magnification (zooms out).