Indesign CS2 text boxes

[datswhutsup]

Is there a shortcut????

This isn't a big deal, but we, as designers, are always looking for short cuts and quicker ways to accomplish everything and anything.

so my dilemma is that when i open indesigncs2, and want to add text, i start by selecting the RECTANGLE TOOL (M), and creating my text box.

once i placed it in the document it automatically strokes the box 1pt and refers to the box as a "basic graphic frame."

therefore my first steps are
1. right click in the box and chose CONTENT - TEXT.
2. in the top drop down menu, where "basic graphic frame" is located, i switch it to "basic text frame". this takes off the 1pt stroke.

ok, thats simple and that's the way i been doing my text boxes before i start putting text in them everytime, after awhile it just seems like maybe there is a shortcut or a setting where when i select the rectangle tool it automatically (or defaults to) a text assigned box and a basic text frame.

does anyone know any short cuts for this process? or is there not a way to set up a short cut, or a faster way to do that?

all help is much appreciated. thanks!

[shellebelle]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you can just use the Type Tool (T) to drag out a text frame. If you need to adjust its size you can do so with the Transform palette.

When it comes to the stroke being added to your graphic frame, it's probably in your defaults somewhere. I have 2.0 and the default is no color for either the stroke or fill, so I don't quite know where to look to answer that question.

[datswhutsup]

damn i feel like an idiot.... i just recently switched over from quarkxpress, damn im really embarrassed...
thanks for the shortcut, or the proper way to use a text box/text tool!

[shellebelle]

No worries, just yesterday my artistically illiterate mom showed me something in Photoshop I didn't know about before. (I'm slowly teaching her Photoshop so she'll stop bugging me to fix her photos).

[shellebelle]

Oh, and I think you'll learn to like InDesign. Quark has a pretty strong following but I haven't used it in two years and I don't miss it one bit.

[Pica]

Shelle's right on about all that. If you want to change your defaults for stroke, fill, font, leading, text box attributes, anything like that, just close all your files but keep Indy open. Now go to your various palettes or toolbars and set the values to what you want as your default. After you do that, all new documents will use those defaults. Unfortunately any documents created before you do this won't default to those settings, but you can always copy and paste those elements into a new file if you want to have those defaults. I work in InDesign CS, so I'm not sure if this is precisely the same in CS2, but I can't see why they'd change that.

[budafist]

Sometimes things are TOO easy! Oh well, you learn something new every day!

[urstwile]

I've been using Quark for years, and just fairly recently started using InDesign CS2. I have to say I prefer it to Quark a lot.

[rickself]

...If you want to change your defaults for stroke, fill, font, leading, text box attributes, anything like that, just close all your files but keep Indy open. Now go to your various palettes or toolbars and set the values to what you want as your default. After you do that, all new documents will use those defaults.This has been true since the onset of DTP. Even good ole Pagemaker 3 and Freehand 5 had the option of setting defaults with the app open but no files active.

[Drazan]

(CS2)

Actually for text defaults all you have to do is select text without anything else selected in your open document and your document default will be whatever you chose. Great for switching between titles, sub titles and content.

And if you design to change your text attributes halfway through, just use the dropper to select the new text (use alt + dropper if needed) then select the old text you want to change (using dropper) and the attributes are updated.

If you need mass changes to the text, select all text boxes using the pointer tool, and then click on the text tool and make the changes. All attributes will be updated.

Run out of space and need to put more text elsewhere (ie: magazine text to page two)? Then use the white arrow and double click your red plus sign box. The extra text will automatically be filled into another text box with the same attribute settings.

Otherwise I use the "fit frame to content" box at the top of my screen, or Alt+Ctl+C to auto fit things.

Just some tips.

=)
Jade

[PrintDriver]

I wish more people would follow some of those tips.
Text boxes as big as the page, weird fonts in spaces and stops that aren't used anywhere else in the doc, weird colors in spaces and stops that aren't used anywhere else in the doc, etc..,