Datasheet

10
Part I ✦ Illustrator Basics
The artboard
The artboard is displayed in Illustrator using solid black lines and identifies the
maximum printable area. This area can be different than the actual printed page,
which is displayed as dotted lines. For example, you could have the page size set
to letter-sized and the artboard set to a smaller section in the center of the page.
When printing this document, only the art contained within the artboard will be
printed.
The size, units and orientation of the artboard can be set using the Document
Setup dialog box, which is opened using the File ➪ Document Setup menu option.
Conversely, the printed page size is set using the Page [Print] Setup dialog box also
found in the File menu.
You’ll typically want to keep the artboard and page size the same. To do this, just
enable the Use Print Setup option in the Document Setup dialog box. This will
change the artboard size and orientation to match the page setup.
Using the View menu, you can hide the artboard with the View ➪ Hide Artboard
menu option. Once hidden, this menu option changes to View Artboard. Double
clicking on the Hand tool will quickly maximize the artboard within the Illustrator
window.
If you are taking your Illustrator artwork into another application, such as Photoshop
or QuarkXPress, the size of the artboard is irrelevant; your entire illustration appears
in most other software applications even if that artwork is larger than the artboard.
The pasteboard
Probably the worst thing that can possibly happen when you are using Illustrator is
for you to lose everything you’ve worked on. “Where’d it all go?” you cry, perhaps
adding a few vulgarities. This can happen very easily in Illustrator. Just click a few
times on the gray parts of the scroll bars at the bottom of the document window.
Each time you click you’re moving about half the width (or height) of your window,
and three clicks later, your page and everything on it is no longer in front of you.
Instead you see the pasteboard, usually a vast expanse of white nothingness.
The pasteboard measures 227.5×227.5 inches, which works out to around 360 square
feet of drawing space. At actual size, you see only a very small section of the artboard.
A little letter-size document looks extremely tiny on a pasteboard this big. If you get
lost on the pasteboard, a quick way back is to choose View ➪ Actual Size. This puts
your page in the center of the window at 100-percent view, at which time you should
be able to see at least part of your drawing. To see the whole page quickly, choose
View ➪ Fit in Window, which resizes the view down to where you can see the entire
page.
Tip
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