2022

A Guide to QuarkXPress 2022 | 263
Controlling tracking
Tracking lets you adjust the space between selected characters and words for
copyfitting and typographic effects. Tracking values are expressed as 1/200 of
an em space. A positive tracking value increases the space to the right of each
character; a negative value decreases it.
Tracking is commonly used for copyfitting. However, too much tracking can
interfere with design and readability. When you are using tracking for copyfitting,
consider these guidelines:
Track whole paragraphs rather than one line or one word. ●
Establish guidelines for tracking (for example from +3 to –3). ●
Make sure vertically adjacent paragraphs have similar tracking applied. ●
These are general rules; appropriate tracking values depend on the design, font,
column width, and other factors.
Tracking manually
To apply tracking to selected text, do one of the following things:
Use the Track Amount controls in the Home or Character tab of ●
Measurements palette.
Use the ticker controls with or without Shift or Alt/ Opt modifier to modify the ●
tracking
Use one of the keyboard commands below. ●
Editing tracking tables
The application uses tracking information that is built into the font (the font’s
tracking table). You can’t change a font’s tracking table, but you can create a
custom tracking table for any font by using the Font Tracking Tables dialog box
(Edit menu).
Sending
Sending lets you fix the distance between the left edges of successive
character bounding boxes in horizontal text, or the top edges of successive
character bounding boxes in vertical text. You can apply sending by selecting
text and entering an explicit measurement (such as 2mm or 8q) in the Track
Amount field in the Home or Character tab of the Measurements palette.