DTP with Freehand??? - Macromedia Freehand

[Funky Monk]

Hi. I'm completely new to Freehand - haven't a clue how to use it but have been
asked to produce a tri-fold leaflet and a 12 page magazine. Can these be done
using Freehand? If so, please help me get started. Thanks.

[Armadillo]

First - don't install 11.0.2 upgrade if you work with a lot of text! There
is a serious line spacing bug and you have to use points as units - and make
backup copies often. Alos note that Raster Effects do not work with cmyk
colors and high-res setting.

> asked to produce a tri-fold leaflet

FreeHand is at it's best in making this kind of doents. Especially if you
create vector illustrations text effects etc. too. Note that you'll need
only two pages. Use just guidelines for marking folds.

> and a 12 page magazine. Can these be done

Too many pages if you have many imported images and a lot of text flowing
from page to page. Of course this can be done with FreeHand but a 'real'
page layout program like InDesign, Quark or even PageMaker may be a better
choice.

Jukka

[Funky Monk]

Thanks for your help. I can't actually get the guidelines to show. I have gone
to View > Guides > Show but nothing comes up on screen. How do set the
guidleines to mark the folds and how do I know what to set them to so that it
will fold properly?

[Funky Monk]

Thanks for your help. I can't actually get the guidelines to show. I have gone
to View > Guides > Show but nothing comes up on screen. How do set the
guidelines to mark the folds and how do I know what to set them to so that it
will fold properly?

[Judy Arndt]

View > Page Rulers > Show.

You can then drag guides from the rulers, or use the Page Rulers > Edit
dialog to set precisely placed guides.

Judy Arndt


Funky Monk wrote:

> Thanks for your help. I can't actually get the guidelines to show. I have gone
> to View > Guides > Show but nothing comes up on screen. How do set the
> guidelines to mark the folds and how do I know what to set them to so that it
> will fold properly?
>

[Funky Monk]

Thanks Judy. I wasn't sure how to apply the guidelines. Now I know how to do it.

[Nats]

Use the help from the pull down menu in Freehand to find out how to do
things like operate rulers and guides.
Whats this serious line spacer bug in 11.02 - mine seems fine?

--


--
Regards

Nigel Stutt
Web Site Designer

Email: [email]nstuttnstutt.freeserve.co.uk[/email]
Web: [url]http://www.nstutt.freeserve.co.uk[/url]

"Funky Monk" <webforumsusermacromedia.com> wrote in message
news:c6remq$k5n$1forums.macromedia.com...

> Thanks Judy. I wasn't sure how to apply the guidelines. Now I know how to

do it.

[algraph]

You can do it but the quickest way to produce a multi page doc is to use Quark
or InDesign both of which are desktop publishing programs. I love Freehand but
would never use it a brochure. I believe Freehand and Illustrator are both
means to an end. Use your DTP program for typesetting, importing photos and
placing vector art which is created in Freehand.

That's the smartest way to work. If you don't own these programs, I guess
you'll be forced to create the files in Freehand, but it's like before
computers, if you only own a pencil someday you'll have to buy a pen.

[Bill Schuhle]

> I love Freehand but

> would never use it (to do) a brochure.

No kidding (!?) I'm just the opposite. I long ago gave up using a page
layout program for shorter doents when FreeHand got really good at
handling text.

> I believe Freehand and Illustrator are both
> means to an end. Use your DTP program for typesetting, importing photos

and

> placing vector art which is created in Freehand.

What's the point of going through all that switching back and forth when you
can do it all in one program AND have your vector art editable right on the
page if need be?

Bill Schuhle

[maxman23]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I've done many, many tri-fold brochures
and single-page docs within FreeHand. Larger doents got to be trickier,
especially when it comes to output time; in my neck of the woods service
bureaus tend to go white (or blank altogether) at the mention of FreeHand. I
usually export to .ai or .pdf then. But even so, FH is the app in which most of
my short doents get created, refined, and polished off.

Nowadays, for longer, more complex doents I'm tending toward ID. But to say
that FH can't handle brochures... well, not in my books. If the whole thing can
be created in FH, with PS taking on the raster components, then that's the way
I invariably go.

[Armadillo]

> Whats this serious line spacer bug in 11.02 - mine seems fine?

Use anything but points as units and change the line spacing value in object
palette. You'll have the first line on screen, the second line in the cellar
and the third line probably in China.

Jukka

[gesamark]

Why would you use something besides points in defining a font size? That seems to be an easy work-around. I can't even tell how to use something other than points to define font size.

Jennifer

[Armadillo]

> Why would you use something besides points in defining a font size? That

seems to be an easy work-around. I can't even tell how to use something
other than points to define font size.

It is global measuring units. You can't change units for type size or line
spacing. Most peaple use millimeters or inches I guess.

In fact I'd like to use points also in defining space above and below
paragraph but FreeHand developers are stupid enough to link these fields
with global units. Of course I can type the units I want to use and FreeHand
converts them for me but still...

Jukka

[Judy Arndt]

Jukka,
I cannot reproduce that bug here. Line spacing is in points regardless of
doent units. Are you mixing up percentage spacing and additive spacing?

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.3



Armadillo wrote:

> Use anything but points as units and change the line spacing value in object
> palette. You'll have the first line on screen, the second line in the cellar
> and the third line probably in China.
>
> Jukka
>
>

[Armadillo]

> I cannot reproduce that bug here. Line spacing is in points regardless of
> doent units. Are you mixing up percentage spacing and additive spacing?

Yes, line spacing is in points but if you use anything but points as global
(doent) units and make changes in the object palette by typing values and
hitting enter the line spacing increases every time until it reaches maximum
1000 points (= setting).

This of course happens if line spacing value is not 0 as it should be for
almost any text especially for body text.

This bug appeared when a conversion bug in object palette was fixed. It
seems that the line spacing field assumes incorrectly that the value is in
global units and converts it into points every time any changes are made in
the object palette. Also changes in other fields launch conversion routine
incorrectly.

This is a case of very bad programming and poor professional skills as well
as inadequate testing.

Jukka

[Danny Whitehead]

I cannot reproduce this either (FHMX 11.0.2, Mac OS X 10.3.3). I work
almost exclusively in millimetres, but whichever doent units I use,
the line spacing field, when set to either '+' or '=', accepts my values
correctly as points, and when I suffix them with another unit ('mm',
'cm', 'p' etc), they convert correctly to points.

--


Danny

[Bill Schuhle]

Danny,
Jukka's not talking about entering values in the line spacing field. He's
talking about typing values in the object palette and having that
automatically change his line spacing when he hits "enter" (if his global
doent units are other than points).

Bill Schuhle


"Danny Whitehead" <dannydontsendspamtobqprint.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c7ao9h$krn$1forums.macromedia.com...

> I cannot reproduce this either (FHMX 11.0.2, Mac OS X 10.3.3). I work
> almost exclusively in millimetres, but whichever doent units I use,
> the line spacing field, when set to either '+' or '=', accepts my values
> correctly as points, and when I suffix them with another unit ('mm',
> 'cm', 'p' etc), they convert correctly to points.
>
> --
>
>
> Danny

[Judy Arndt]

This is most definitely not happening here. What version (build) of FHMX are
you using? Are you using a localized language (non-English) version?

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.3



Armadillo wrote:

> Yes, line spacing is in points but if you use anything but points as global
> (doent) units and make changes in the object palette by typing values and
> hitting enter the line spacing increases every time until it reaches maximum
> 1000 points (= setting).

[Armadillo]

> This is most definitely not happening here. What version (build) of FHMX

are

> you using? Are you using a localized language (non-English) version?

English Win FH 11.0.2

I'm amazed that you have not noticed this bug - I have seen many posts about
the line spacing bug in this newsgroup.

Or it is only in Win version - or you do not use FreeHand for body text.

Jukka

PS. Read Bill's post in this thread.

[Judy Arndt]

Armadillo wrote:

> Or it is only in Win version ...

Yup. That's it. I just looked at the freshly updated FHMX Emerging Issues:
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/support/freehand/ts/doents/fhmx_emerging__issue[/url]
s.htm

"When working in millimeters the leading values are converting (Windows XP
Only)"

Judy Arndt
--
FHMX 11.0.2 (Build 92)
Mac G4, OS 10.3.3