Professional Publishing
By Richard C. Belthoff Jr.
Richard C. Belthoff Jr. is vice president and assistant general counsel at Wachovia Corp.
He can be reached via e-mail at richard.belthoff@wachovia.com.
The “Drop Caps” dialog presents several
options to customize drop caps.
Many publications begin articles with a drop cap (i.e., a large capital letter next to the first paragraph of an article or a section of an article). You can insert a drop cap easily into a paragraph using Corel WordPerfect and create a professional look for your newsletter or other publication.
To insert a drop cap, select “Format,” “Paragraph,” then “Drop Cap” to display the “Drop Caps” dialog. There are three types of drop caps available: “Drop Cap in Margin,” “50% in Margin” and “Drop Cap in Text.” Generally, the preview panes in the dialog show you how each will look. Each has its uses depending on the type of document you create.
The “Format” tab of the dialog includes two other options as well. You can set the height of the drop cap (i.e., the number of lines the character will take up). In addition, you can move your paragraph down if you want the drop cap to extend above your paragraph, rather than having the top of the letter level with the first line of your paragraph.
The “Font” tab allows you to select a font for your drop cap that is different from the font used in the body text. The “Options” tab includes several sophisticated options to format your drop cap. You can specify the number of characters to format as a drop cap (it doesn’t always have to be just one), or you can make the entire first word a drop cap. Under “Adjustments,” you can chose to text wrap around the drop cap and set adjustments for diacritical marks and letter descenders (i.e., the part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline). If you chose the “Drop Cap in Margin” option, you can adjust the percentage location of the drop cap in the margin under “Position.” Last, you can apply borders or shadows to a drop cap by selecting the “Border/Fill” option.
If you use drop caps, don’t overdo the formatting. While drop caps can be attractive, they also can be distracting if not used effectively.
Entire contents copyright © 2005 James Publishing, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
