Creating Initial Caps
Creating Initial Caps
T he first letter in this sentence is an initial cap — the first letter of a paragraph that is enlarged and embellished to draw readers into a paragraph. You can specify automatic drop caps, create your own initial cap effects, and use imported graphics as initial caps.
S Tips
Hanging drop caps
To hang dropped characters to the left of a paragraph, enter the Indent
Here character by pressing
CTRL
+\ after the last drop cap.
Specifying automatic drop caps
D rop caps are initial caps that hang two or more lines below the first line of a paragraph (like this one). The QuarkXPress automatic drop caps feature enlarges the drop cap characters and runs the paragraph around the drop caps automatically. The typeface and styles match the rest of the paragraph. To specify drop caps for a selected paragraph:
1 Choose Style
& Formats (
CTRL + SHIFT + F ).
Enter an Indent Here character (
CTRL
+\) after a drop cap to hang a dropped character to the left of a paragraph.
Use the Drop Caps area in the Paragraph Attributes dialog box to specify automatic drop caps (Style
& Formats).
2 Check Drop Caps.
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S Tips
Formatting drop caps
To embellish automatic drop caps, highlight the characters in the paragraph and apply local styles as usual.
You can reposition automatic drop caps vertically using baseline shift and horizontally using kerning.
Raised initial caps may affect leading
To prevent uneven line spacing between paragraphs with raised initial caps, use absolute leading rather than relative leading. See “Specifying Leading and Paragraph Spacing” in Chapter 12, “Typography.”
3 To specify how many characters drop, enter a value from 1 to 8 in the
Character Count field.
4 To specify the number of lines the characters are dropped, enter a value from 2 to 16 in the Line Count field.
5 Click Apply to preview your changes; then click OK.
R Notes about drop caps
Drop caps are measured by percent rather than by points. When you highlight a drop cap, the default size is 100%.
The baseline of an automatic drop cap is aligned with the baseline of the line specified in the Line Count field. If a drop cap character has a descender (a stroke that extends below the baseline), the character may obstruct lines of text below it.
Creating raised initial caps
R aised initial caps rise above the first line of a paragraph (like this one).
They are created by locally formatting characters at the beginning of a paragraph using the full range of QuarkXPress styles including fonts, type styles, and colors. To create raised initial caps:
1 Highlight the characters you want to raise.
2 To resize the characters, choose Style
& Size; choose a font size from the submenu, or choose Other and enter a font size in the field; then click OK.
3 To format the characters, use the Style menu commands such as
Font, Type Style, and Color.
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Creating Initial Caps
4 To edit the space between the raised initial cap and the following character, place the Text Insertion bar i between the characters and choose Style
& Kern. Enter an amount, and click OK.
Creating initial caps using anchored boxes
U sing anchored text boxes lets you modify the attributes of the anchored box as well as the initial cap characters. The initial cap in this paragraph is an anchored text box with a linear background blend.
Anchored picture boxes let you import graphics as initial caps. For stepby-step anchoring instructions, see “Anchoring Boxes and Lines in Text” later in this chapter.
S Tips
Anchoring Text to Box boxes
You can create a raised initial cap using a character that has been converted into an anchored Bézier picture box. Just highlight the character and press
ALT before choosing Style
& Text to Box.
Formatting anchored boxes
You can embellish anchored boxes that contain initial caps using frames, blends, and shaded backgrounds. You can also resize anchored boxes to make them fit smoothly with the other characters.
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