9.3

• Use the Horizontal and Vertical drop-down menus to specify the measurement system
for the rulers displayed along the top and left of the layout window. Horizontal corresponds
to the top ruler; Vertical corresponds to the left ruler.
• Several other aspects of the user interface are affected by these two drop-down menus,
including the default X and Y coordinates in the Measurements palette. QuarkXPress
automatically converts font size, frame width, leading, and line width to points, regardless
of the measurement system you choose.
• Use the Points/Inch field to override the default value of 72 points per inch. QuarkXPress
uses the value here as the basis for all point and pica measurements, as well as for all point-
and pica-to-inch conversions. The desktop publishing standard for points per inch is 72.
However, the traditional typographic standard used on most metal typographic rulers is
usually approximately 72.27 or 72.307 points per inch (range = 60 to 80 pt, measurement
system = points, smallest increment = .001).
• Use the Ciceros/cm field to specify a ciceros-to-centimeter conversion value different from
the standard 2.1967 (range = 2 to 3 c, measurement system = ciceros, smallest
increment = .001).
• Print layouts only: Use the Item Coordinates buttons to specify whether the increments
of the horizontal ruler repeat from zero for each Page or are continuous across a Spread.
This setting determines the coordinates of items displayed in fields. The default option is
Page.
• Use the Measurement Units drop-down menu to set the default measurement unit for
new layouts.
Preferences — Layout — Paragraph
Use the Paragraph pane of the Preferences dialog box (QuarkXPress/Edit menu) to
control various paragraph-level settings.
Use the Auto Leading feature to automatically set line spacing. You can apply this setting
to a paragraph by entering "auto" or "0" in the Leading field of the Paragraph Attributes
dialog box (Style > Leading). Unlike paragraphs with absolute leading (identical line
spacing above every line), paragraphs with auto leading may include lines with different
leading when fonts and font sizes are mixed in the same paragraph.
Auto leading starts with a base amount of leading, which QuarkXPress calculates by
examining the ascent and descent values built into the fonts used in an auto-leaded line
and the line above it; however, the user-specified text size (Style > Size) plays the largest
part in determining this base amount. Finally, a value specified by the user in the Auto
Leading field is added to the base amount to arrive at the total amount of leading.
To specify percentage-based auto leading, enter a value from 0% to 100% in 1% increments.
This value determines the amount of leading between two lines of text as follows: The
largest font size in the line above is multiplied by the percentage value. This outcome is
added to the base amount of auto leading between the two lines. Although the design of
certain fonts complicates the process, here is a simplified example: 10-point text styled
consistently in a "standard" font with Auto Leading set to 20% has 12 points of leading
492 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 9.3
PREFERENCES