Ch. 041d Field Designer: Using Grids, Rulers and Snapping

Using Grids, Rulers, and Snapping

Field Designer settings in the View menu allow you to turn rulers and guides on and off, and also set the behavior of snapping when you drag a field to relocate it. See the image below:

  • Fullscreen: Puts your internet browser in fullscreen mode so you can utilize more screen space when working.
  • Snap to Fields: Causes fields to snap into alignment with other fields.
  • Snap to Guides: Causes fields to snap into alignment with blue vertical or horizontal guides you set.
  • Snap to Grid: Causes fields to snap to the grid.
  • Show Rulers: Turns rulers on the top and left on or off.
  • Show Guides: Shows or hides blue vertical or horizontal guides you set.
  • Show Grid: Shows or hides the grid overlay.
  • Show Bleed: Shows or hides bleed.
  • Highlight All Fields: Highlights all fields in yellow so you can see them even if they're empty or transparent.
  • Show Tooltips: Turns tooltips on or off.
  • High Resolution: Turns high resolution images on or off as you edit your template.

When snapping is on, when you drag a field, you'll see it jump around to snap to the closest element appropriate for the type of snapping that you enabled. For example, if you have Snap to Fields turned on, and start to move one of your fields, it will jump to align with another field if you move it close.

Setting Blue Vertical and Horizontal Guides

To set a vertical or horizontal guide line, click on one of the rulers and drag your mouse onto your template. A blue line will appear and you can drag this guide to wherever you need it on the template. You can have one vertical and one horizontal guide at a time. See the image below for an example:

 

Units of Measurement and the Ruler

If you created your template from scratch, you probably already set the Units of Measurement for your template, using the box in the upper right corner next to log out.

The Units of Measurement also affect the display of the ruler. Below is a chart showing how specific Units of Measurement change the ruler view. If you are in Field Designer, you can change this setting without navigating away from Field Designer or losing your work.

Unit of Measure Ruler View
Points Points
Inches Inches
Feet Inches
Microns Centimeters
Mm (Millimeters) Centimeters
Cm (Centimeters) Centimeters
M (Meters) Centimeters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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