Using Type Styles

Once you’ve created your document’s type styles, you can start applying them, modifying their attributes, and deleting them from the document. All these processes are done with the Type palette.

Applying Type Styles

You can apply type styles with the Type palette. Applying type styles with the Type palette is similar to applying individual character or paragraph formats; however, instead of configuring settings on each of the tabs in the palette, simply choose style names from the menu on the Type palette.

The menu displays the current type style name. The C and ¶ icons indicate if the style is a character or paragraph style, or both. If “+++” appears to the right of a style name, the style has been modified but not saved. If you choose a style in the menu when “+++” appears next to the current style, you will lose the modifications to the style. Therefore, if you want to use the settings again, you must save the modified style with a new name before applying other styles.

To Apply a Style to Selected Text or Text Objects with the Type Palette:

1. Select the text or text objects to which you want to apply a style.
2. Choose Text |Type...
3. Choose a style in the drop-down menu on the Type palette.
4. Click Apply.

If the text you selected already had a style applied, Canvas X Draw replaces the style with the style you choose. In addition, if you apply a paragraph style with font attributes to highlighted text, the font attributes affect the selection only, and the paragraph attributes affect the entire paragraph.

To Use a Type Style as the Current Format Setting:

1. Deselect all text objects by pressing Esc, if necessary.
2. Choose a style in the drop-down menu on the Type palette.
3. Click Apply.Canvas X Draw formats new text objects with the specified style.

Tips on Using Type Styles

By putting some forethought into the purpose and design of type styles, you ensure that you are using this feature effectively. This planning will be especially useful when editing styles and documents, allowing you to make a few modifications that update entire documents.

Design a template. If several people need to use the styles, save the styles in a template document. This way, everyone uses a common source for the styles.

Create a “normal” type style. This will make it easy to revert formatted text to a basic style. When you apply the normal style, it will have the effect of removing or overriding other styles.

Name styles by their function; e.g., a heading style might consist of boldface type. Rather than name this style “Bold,” name it “Heading,” or something that similarly describes its usage. This will make it easier to remember when to use which style.

Always apply a style. If you use styles in documents, use them throughout. If you apply styles only sometimes, you will encounter difficulties maintaining consistency and performing global style changes.

Create style families when possible. You might want to use the Based On feature. See Creating New Type Styles to create style families for styles that share some attributes. This will make global changes easier. See Using Style Families, for more information.

Modifying Type Styles

You can change the attributes of a type style and save the style with the same name. When you change a style’s attributes, all styles in the family automatically inherit the new shared attributes.

To Modify a Type Style:

1. Choose the style you want to edit from the menu.

2. Change the style’s attributes. Canvas X Draw displays “+++” after the style name to indicate that changes were made to the style.

   

3. Click the Styles tab and click Create.

   The current style name is in the Based On menu and Style Name box. To replace the style, do not change these settings.

   The options in the Include area change for Character and Paragraph styles.

4. In the Create Type Style dialog box, select the checkboxes of the attributes that you want to include.
5. Click Save. Confirm that you want to replace the existing style with the new style. Click OK.

Deleting Type Styles

To minimize confusion when choosing styles to apply, delete type styles you no longer use. Text using a deleted type style retains its formatting, but no longer has a named style.

To Delete a Style:

1. Click Delete on the Styles tab of the Type palette.
2. In the Delete Type Style dialog box, choose the style to delete from the Name menu.
3. Click OK.

See also:

• Creating New Type Styles
• Saving and Loading Type Styles