Chapter 17: Formatting Layouts Using Text Boxes, Frames, Backgrounds, and Themes

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Overview

When you work in Word, you probably take for granted how Word seamlessly flows text from margin to margin and page to page. On occasion, however, you might want to venture beyond basic word processing and into the realm of desktop publishing. For example, instead of filling a page with text, you might want to position and format blocks of text precisely within your document, or you might want to customize the overall "look" of your document by applying a uniform color scheme. Although Word doesn't offer all the bells and whistles incorporated in high-end desktop publishing applications such as Microsoft Publisher, it does include a nice collection of desktop publishing tools that can serve most of your workaday desktop publishing needs.

Specifically, the desktop publishing capabilities in Word let you control text layout by using text boxes, AutoShapes formatted to serve as text containers, and frames. Further, you can add pizzazz to your page layouts by including backgrounds, watermarks, or themes in onscreen and printed documents. In this chapter, you'll learn how to use these common desktop publishing tools to create professional and imaginative document layouts.

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