Default Pages

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A good default page saves you more time than you can imagine. It's also very easy to set up, and I recommend that you make new ones as your drawing style or project types change. Start by using the Document inspector to make a page that is representative of your usual work. For some people it may be a horizontal tabloid page; for most of us it will be a vertical letter-sized page. Set the bleed area if you usually have bleeds, and the resolution you like. In the Text panel, choose the font that you use the most, and set all the attributes — size, leading, paragraph style. and so on. Without selecting a drawing tool, go to the Stroke panel and select the stroke weight and color that you use most often. Make any other attribute selections you want, such as caps, joins, dashes, and so on. Then go to the Swatches panel. If you have company-wide colors, import them from the Swatches Option menu, or build them in the Mixer/Tint panels. Name them appropriately in the Swatches panel, and arrange them in an order that looks right to you.

If you want all your shapes to be filled with a particular color, you can choose that color (and fill type) in the Fills panel. I suggest that you leave the Fill at None to keep from going nuts, however. It's much easier to add color as you need than to delete color from most of the objects you draw.

Now for a really important trick, go back to the Document inspector. Notice the thumbnail arrangement of the pages in the document — click the "small" icon to see the whole pasteboard. You'll notice that the default location for a Macromedia FreeHand page is at the lower-left corner of the pasteboard. As you add pages to the document, the new pages are usually added from left to right (until they meet the right edge of the pasteboard). Then a new row is started beneath the first row of pages. After a few pages, the bottom of the pasteboard fills, and new pages are added starting at the top-left corner of the pasteboard.

To get around this little bugaboo, I drag the page in the Document inspector thumbnail window to the top-left corner. This lets all the pages flow from left to right, top to bottom, in a natural order.

Tip 

Here's the trick though: Be sure to double-click the page in the thumbnail, or somehow navigate to the page before proceeding. If you don't, you'll be greeted with a blank pasteboard every time you start Macromedia FreeHand.

If you work primarily as an illustrator, create stroke and fill styles and add them to the Styles panel. Place logos and common text elements in the Symbols library. Think of this page as a Swiss Army Knife — you want everything you may possibly need on this page.

Now arrange all your panels on the monitor (or monitors) so you can work comfortably. Go to File ® Save As, and navigate to the Macromedia FreeHand 10 folder. Then open the English folder. On a Mac, give the file a name, and choose Macromedia FreeHand Template from the Format pop-up menu. On the Windows platform, name the file (FT10 is added as an extension to the filename) and choose Macromedia FreeHand Template format from the Save As Type pop-up menu. Click Save, and go to Edit ® Preferences. Select the Document tab, and choose your new default page from the New Document Template drop-down menu.

Quit Macromedia FreeHand, and start it up again. You should see your customized page in all its glory. After you work with it for a while, you'll find other elements or attributes that you'd like to have handy. Make those modifications, add a few master pages and other symbols, and repeat the saving process. This process chops (not shaves) hours from your schedule.

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