This tutorial builds on the Name Tag that we built in the first Pageflex tutorial. In this lesson, we learn how to add graphics, position page elements with precision, and use a copy-fitting rule to handle input that might not otherwise fit.

Building a better Name Tag

After completing the initial Pageflex tutorial, you now have a working Name Tag order form that instantly displays whatever name the user types.

But it's kind of plain, isn't it? Let's spruce it up! We'll start by opening our original project...

How to open an existing project

• Locate the project folder on your computer

  If you completed the sample project from the previous tutorial, your project should be in C:\Pageflex\Projects\Sample Project

• Open the project file

  The project file has a ".pf" extension.

• Open the template from within the Pageflex Studio project
  1. Click the Files tab
  2. Double-click on the template name to open it

Adding an image to a template

You'll pretty much NEVER have a project that doesn't use an image. And our project is no exception.

For this tutorial, please take a moment to download the art file for this project, saving it to "C:\Pageflex\Projects\Sample Project\Image": NameCardArt.pdf

Now that you have the image file, let's add it to the template:

• Right-click on an empty space on the document (anyplace except within the text box) and choose "Insert Content..."
• Use the browse tools to locate NameCardArt.pdf (it should be in C:\Pageflex\Projects\Sample Project\Image)
• Your mouse cursor will now turn into a box with an x in it. Click anywhere in the template window to place the image.

  For the record, this image will be going into the upper-right corner and fill the top of the card from the left edge to the right edge. But don't worry about lining it up accurately, or at all. We'll line it up in a moment.

How to position elements precisely

Now the image is on the page, but not quite where we need it to be. We need it to be in the upper-left corner exactly. We could try to drag it there and eyeball it, but there's a better way.

1. Click on the "My Friends Call Me..." image so that it is surrounded by a number of gray boxes

   Whenever a page element is selected, it will have those boxes surrounding it. In this case, they are gray. If they are black, it indicates you can manually resize an element by grabbing that box and dragging it to a new position.

2. In the properties section, type "0" in the "Left" field, under the Position sub-section.

   We're setting the distance in inches that the active element (in this case, our image) should be placed from the left edge of the document. We want it right on the edge, so we'll type "0"

3. Let's also set "Top" to 0. ("Top" is right below the "Left" property.)
4. The header image is now perfectly aligned to the upper-left corner

How to precisely size a page element

Now that the image is precisely positioned, our text box looks like it could use some attention, too. We're going to resize it to 3 inches x 1 inch and use positioning to center it in the card's whitespace.

1. Click on the "Selection Tool" button at the top of the toolbox
2. Click anywhere inside of the text box to select it. You'll know it worked when it has the boxes on its border
3. Now, go to the Properties section and set "Width" to 3 and "Height" to 1
4. To position it, set "Left" to .25 and "Top" to .75
5. The text box is now centered in the whitespace, with a .25 inch border all around.

Positioning text within a text box

We're going to set the name to be centered within the box, both vertically and horizontally.

To center text horizontally:

1. Double-click on the text so that the flashing cursor appears anywhere on that line
2. On the properties menu, go to "Alignment", click on "Left" and choose "Center"
3. Now the text is horizontally centered

To center text vertically

1. Click on the "Selection Tool" button at the top of the toolbox
2. Now left-click anywhere inside of the text box (a single click, not double-click)
3. Use the scroll bar in the Properties section to scroll to the bottom of the Properties list
4. Set the "Vertical Alignment" property to "Center"
5. The text is now vertically centered

To get a sense of how comfortable you now are with Pageflex Studio, see if you can set the text to Bold and 16pt without any instructions...we'll wait.

About Automatic Copyfitting

It may not be obvious to you, but our card has a problem. What happens if "Jonathan Alexander Longname" needs to use our name tag?

He's out of luck!

We can fix that with automatic copyfitting. Let's do that now:

1. Click on the "Selection Tool" button at the top of the toolbox
2. Now left-click anywhere inside of the text box
3. Click the Flex tab, found at the top of the Properties section
4. Find the "Rule" property under the "Copy Fit" category and click on the word "(none)"
5. There will now be a button with 3 dots on the right side. Click on that.
6. Click "New"
7. Type any name you wish for this copyfitting rule, and then click "Advanced"
8. Choose "Horiz. Scale" from the first pulldown menu
9. Choose "86" from the next pulldown menu
10. Press the plus sign to add a new rule
11. For the second rule, choose "Tracking" and "-75"
12. On the bottom of the window, place a checkmark in "Fit paragraphs on single lines"
13. Click OK
14. Click Apply
15. Click Close

Now even Jonathan Alexander Longname is automatically adjusted to fit within the edges of the text box

What just happened here?

Now that you've seen what copy-fitting does, you might be wondering how it works.

When a user's text hits the edge of a text box that has a copy-fitting rule applied to it, the copy-fitting rule is then activated. The text properties will then be adjusted incrementally until the text fits.

In our case, the first thing to be adjusted is the Horizontal Scale of the letters, because that's the first rule we assigned. It will first reduce all of the letters (and spaces) to 99% of their original width. If they still don't fit, it will reduce them to 98%. Then 97%, and so on, until the text fits or it hits the limit that we set (86%).

If the text still doesn't fit, it will set the Horizontal Scale to 86% and move on to the next rule: tracking. Here, it will incrementally reduce the spacing between the letters until they fit. If the text still doesn't fit by the time it reaches its limit (-.075ems), it will begin to reduce the font as well.

Finishing

We're finished with our updates to this project. All that's left to do is repackage it using the same .zip file name as the original. Then, upload it to the order form just like you did the first time.

No longer a beginner

Pat yourself on the back — by finishing this tutorial, you now know enough about Pageflex Studio to complete the majority of your cards.

As always, if you should have any questions, just let us know. We'll be happy to walk you through any difficulties you might be having with a project. Just call us at 1-800-736-0688.