Section 4.2. Building Pages with Objects | iWork 05: The Missing Manual

4.2. Building Pages with Objects

In order to perform its page layout wizardry, Pages views the various elements you can incorporate into your textpictures, movies, text boxes, shapes , tables, and chartsas objects . Pages approaches objects in two ways:

In-line objects behave like a text character in a line of text. If you add more text to your document in front of this kind of object, it gets pushed along with the text, always remaining tied to the words next to it. You'll find in-line objects a good choice for text boxes containing a short quote that needs to stay connected to the surrounding text, for example (see Figure 4-6).
Fixed objects are standalone entities. Instead of being tied to the document's text, they're bolted into the page at a specific spot. Most people prefer fixed objects when they're adding pictures or charts to a page layout. Adding text to the page doesn't affect the objects' placement, and you can drag and resize these kinds of objects to precisely position them on the page (Figure 4-7).

Figure 4-5. The Media Browser is the back door to your iPhoto, iTunes, and movie collections. Drag an image from the Media Browser and drop the shadowy thumbnail into any of the template's picture placeholders. Pages resizes your picture and replaces the placeholder picture. If you decide that's not the right picture, drag another one in on top of it to replace your first choice.

When you insert a fixed object on a text-filled page you can determine whether the text flows under the object, over the object, or wraps around itflowing around the object so the text neither overlaps the picture nor is hidden by it (see Section 4.3.7).

Since fixed objects are separate items, you can stack them in layers just like you could arrange paper snapshots on a scrapbook page. One picture is on top, overlapping portions of other pictures beneath . Besides shifting the position of each object, you can also shift its layermoving it in front of or behind other objects that it overlaps.

Figure 4-6. These four in-line objects stay connected to the surrounding text, even if you remove or add text earlier in the document. The in-line text box that says "The Special Tools" uses text wrapping (Section 4.3.7) to keep it at the right side of the column; the bottom picture also uses wrapping, this time set to keep it centered in the column.

In-line objects always remain on the same layer as the text in which they're embedded. When you adjust the arrangement of layers in your document, you can move fixed objects in front of or behind the text layer.

Unlike scrapbooking with paper snapshots, Pages also lets you adjust the opacity of each object, so you can see through to the objects in layers below (see Section 4.4.7).

You control an object's fixed or in-line status when you add it to the page, but you can convert it from fixed to in-line or vice versa at any time (see Section 4.2.2.3).

After you place objects on the page, you can crop, resize, rotate, and layer them on top of one another. You can add shadows, adjust their opacity, or group several objects together in order to reposition them simultaneously . For the full story on object manipulation, see Working with Objects on Section 4.3.

4.2.1. Meet the Media Browser

Pages provides a shortcut to your entire photo, music, and movie collections via the Media Browser. You can access all your photos (or other graphics) stored in iPhoto, your music (or other sound files) stored in iTunes, and the movies stored in your Movies folder. If you're just going to print out your documents, you don't need to add sounds and movies. But if you're designing documents for people to view onscreen, Pages helps you add features that let your viewers start and stop the playback of movies, narration, or music.

Figure 4-7. Every image in this document is a fixed object. The background picture's opacity is reduced, to make the text readable. Text wrapping is turned off for this picture so the text flows over the top of it. All the other pictures feature a white border and a shadow. Some are rotated and arranged in overlapping layers. Pages wraps the text around the two bottom pictures. The headline is a text boxanother kind of fixed object. When you use a text box for the headline, it's easy to reposition it anywhere on the page.

In the toolbar, click the Media button or choose View Show Media Browser to take a look at all the digital goodies stored on your Mac. The Media Browser window appears (Figure 4-8). The pop-up menu at the top of the window lets you choose between iTunes, iPhoto, and Movies. The window appears, showing whichever category you last used.

The upper pane displays playlists, albums, or folders, and the lower pane displays songs, photos, or movies.

Note: For more on how to create and store files in iPhoto, iTunes, and iMovie, check out iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual; iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual ; and iMovie HD: The Missing Manual .

Drag a photo from the Media Browser window into the document if you want to put it into the document. When you add a photo to a Pages document, Pages copies the pictureit becomes part of the document file. That way, if you move that Pages document to another computer, Pages displays all the pictures you've added.

When you drag a sound file into your document, it shows up as a loudspeaker icon. Double-click it to play; single-click to stop.

Drag a movie into your document and it looks just like a still picturedisplaying the first frame of the movie. Again, double-click to play; click to stop.

Figure 4-8. Click the Media button in the toolbar to reveal the back door to your iPhotos, iTunes, and movie collection. Use the pop-up menu to switch from one collection to the other (A) and then choose a playlist, iPhoto album, or movie folder (B). Use the scroll bar (C) to view the contents of the selected folder. You can also search for the file by name, by entering the name or part of the name in the search field at the bottom of the window (D), and then pressing Return. The iPhoto and Movie browsers contain a Play button (E), so you can preview your selection. When you locate the picture, song, or movie, drag it from the Media Browser into the document.

Tip: If you include music or movie files in a Pages document, the program normally doesn't duplicate those files in the document. Instead, due to the large size of music or movie files, Pages links to those files on your hard disk.If you need to be able to view the document on another computer, you must either transfer copies of those linked files along with your Pages document, or, when saving the Pages document, click the flippy triangle next to the Save field and turn on the checkbox labeled "Copy audio and movies into document." This move insures that all your media files are included in the Pages documentand it can also ensure that that Pages document file is going to be mighty big, possibly too big to email or even fit on a CD.Once you set it, Pages retains this saving preference in the Save dialog boxso be sure to turn off that checkbox if you normally use your documents on just your own computer.

UP TO SPEED
Plan Ahead

Having Pages' assortment of document templates at your fingertips is a boon for the hurried, the harried, or the creatively challenged. But even before you choose a template, run through some of the basics of document setup to ensure that your end product comes out the way you want it to. What paper size will you print on? Will it be a vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) layout? Will the document be folded, printed on both sides of the sheet, or bound? Is it going to require page numbers , sections, or a table of contents?

Keep these requirements in mind as you choose your template and make adjustments using Page Setup, the Document Inspector, and the Layout Inspector before you begin entering text and inserting pictures.

If you plan to share your Pages document electronically with others who don't have Pagesby exporting in Word format and emailing, for exampleyou should be aware of some of the pitfalls you may encounter during the file translation process. See Chapter 6 to help prepare for the best possible transfer.

4.2.2. Inserting Fixed and In-line Objects

After you decide what to insert in your document, the next question is how: as a fixed or an in-line object. Fixed objects are glued to a spot on the page (though you can move them later) while the text flows around or over them, whereas in-line objects are attached to the text and flow along with it.

4.2.2.1. Inline objects

Think of in-line objects like another character or word in a sentence . In-line objects enter the page at the insertion pointjust like a typed character.

To create an in-line object, drag a picture, for example, from the Media Browser (or from a folder) into your Pages document. As you drag across the page margin, notice a blue outline that appears around the edges of the page. (If you drop the picture at this point, it becomes a fixed object.) Continue to drag into a column of text, press and the blue outline shifts to highlight that columnand an insertion point becomes visible near the tip of your arrow cursor, visible through the shadowed thumbnail (Figure 4-9). Position the insertion point where you want the picture to appear in the line of text, and release the mouse button.

Figure 4-9. Drag a picture into a document, and Pages normally inserts it as a fixed objectthe blue, highlighted page outline (A) shows it's supposed to be fixed on the page. Press while dragging over the text column, and Pages highlights the column outline (B) and displays an insertion point (C), your clue that Pages is making this picture an in-line object, tied to the text at the insertion point.

Note: If you're experimenting with inserting in-line objects into a template document, you first have to replace the placeholder text with some real text. Copy some text from another document and paste it into the placeholder to give yourself something to work with.

The picture appears at the chosen point in your text, sized just wide enough to fill the column if it's a large picture. Click the image to display its selection handles. In-line objects have only three active selection handles: the black ones on the bottom, right, and bottom-right corner. Drag any of the active handles to resize the image.

You can also add an in-line object by first placing your insertion point at the spot you want it to appear, and choosing Insert Choose. Pages displays a file-choosing window that lets you select a file from your hard drive. Click Insert to finish the job.

4.2.2.2. Fixed objects

Fixed objects are married to a spot on the page instead of within a line of text. To add a fixed object, drag the image or file into your Pages document and drop it as soon as the blue outline appears around the edges of the pagethen drag it into position. All eight selection handles are active on fixed objectsdrag any of the handles to resize the picture.

Note: Pages does its best to recognize picture, movie and sound files and always adds them as fixed objects whether you drop them in a column of text or on the document border. If you'd rather see one of these as an inline object, press

while dragging into a column to make Pages switch inserting styles.Pages adds other file types that it can insertpicture and text clippings, Web location files, and so onas either fixed or inline objects. Drag one into a column to make it inline; drag it to the page margin or press

while dragging it to a column to make it fixed. (Pressing

reverses Pages' inserting style when you drag a file into a text column.)

You can also add fixed objects using the Insert menu. First click the margin of the document, so you no longer see a blinking insertion point, choose Insert Choose, select your file, and then click Insert.

4.2.2.3. Converting object style

After you insert an object in your document, you can change it from an in-line to a fixed object, or vice versa. Choose View Show Inspector and click the Wrap Inspector button (Figure 4-10). Select the object you want to convert by clicking it so you can see its selection handles, and then click the appropriate Object Placement button in the Wrap Inspector. "Moves with text denotes an in-line object; "Fixed on page" a fixed object.

Figure 4-10. The Object Placement button determines whether an object is fixed on the page or in-line with the text. The other controls affect the object's relationship to the surrounding text. See Section 4.3.7 for all the details on text wrapping.

4.2.3. Inserting Media

The Media Browser is a quick and easy way to insert pictures in your documentbut not the only way. The Media Browser shows only those pictures stored in iPhoto. If you don't use iPhoto, you can drag photos from other photo-organizing softwaresuch as from Extensis Portfolio or Photoshop's file browseror directly from a folder. Pages can handle any QuickTime-supported format, including JPEG, TIF, GIF, PSD, PICT, EPS, PDF, and lots more.

Likewise, you can drag sound or movie files directly from a folder into your document. Pages can work with any QuickTime or iTunes-supported file type, including MOV, Flash, MP3, MP4, AAC, AIFF, and others. If you open a movie in iMovie, you can also drag individual clips from iMovie into your Pages document. (Incidentally, you can also drag movies from the Media Browser window into an open iMovie project's clip shelf or timeline.)

You can also use Pages' menus to insert media. Choose Insert Choose to call up a finder-style dialog box giving you access to all the files on your computer, your iDisk, and on the network (if youre connected to one). Navigate to a picture, sound, or movie file and double-click it (or click once to select it, and then click Insert) to bring it into your document.

4.2.4. Inserting Shapes

Pages supplies a collection of lines, arrows, and geometrical shapes you can add to your document as objects. You can use shapes as graphic elements or as containers for text.

Place your insertion point at the place you want to insert a shape as an in-line object, or click the margin of the document so the insertion point disappears, in order to insert a shape as a fixed object. Choose Insert Shape, and then choose the shape from the submenu. Or click the Objects button in the toolbar, select Shape from the pop-up menu, and then pick a shape from the submenu (Figure 4-11).

Pages inserts your chosen shape in the document with its selection handles showing, ready for you to resize itand if it's a fixed object, reposition it.

Tip: You can draw a shape directly in your document as a fixed object. Hold down the Option key, click the Objects button in the toolbar, select Shape from the pop-up menu, and then pick a shape from the submenu. Let go of the Option key. Your cursor changes to a crosshair shape. Drag starting at one corner of the object. Pages draws the object and displays the object's width and height measurements as you drag.Hold the Shift key as you drag, to constrain the shape to a perfect circle, square, equilateral triangle, and so on. Hold the Option key as you drag to position the shape's center at the spot you click. Hold both keys as you drag to both center and constrain the shape.

Note: Pages makes a considerable demand on your computer's processor as you manipulate objects on screen, resulting in a significant drag lag even on fast machines. When resizing a shape, for example, drag the selection handle and be patient while Pages catches up to your cursor.

Figure 4-11. From the Objects toolbar button pop-up menu, choose a shape. Once it's in your document, you can adjust its size and placement. Pages creates shapes in a standard color based on the template you're using. See Section 4.4 for details about changing color and opacity, filling the shape with a picture, and so on. In addition to the usual set of selection handles, the large arrow shapes feature a circular handle inside the arrow (circled) that adjusts the thickness of the line and the length of the arrow head.

4.2.4.1. The line shapes

The first three shapes are variations on that paragon of one-dimensionality: the line. You can choose a plain line, an arrow, or a double-headed arrow. After you insert a line in your document, it sports one selection handle at each end. Drag one of the handles to change the line's length or angle. Hold the Shift key while you drag to constrain the angle to exactly 45 increments .

WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
Where's the Clip Art?

If you're an AppleWorks, PrintShop, Microsoft Office, or Publisher veteran, you may be surprised to discover Pages doesn't include a clip art library. Apple obviously saved some money by not licensing clip art for Pages, but the program can use any clip art you already have or can find. Here are some sources:

Free clip art online . You probably won't find much in the way of free, high-resolution clip art on the Web, but there are loads of small images on free clip art Web sites. Type "free clip art" into Google to get started.

Although they're very easy to copy, most images and pictures on the Internet are protected by copyright law. Fair use gives you some rights to use copyrighted material in certain waysfor example, for non-commercial or educational purposes. Always seek permission from the copyright holder and assume that any commercial use or publication is not covered by fair use.
Clip art collections . You can buy collections of royalty- free clip art on CD or online through subscription services such as clipart.com.
AppleWorks clip art . AppleWorks 6 comes with an extensive library of clip art; however, all the images are in a special AppleWorks format. To get them into Pages, open the clip art in an AppleWorks drawing document, and then drag, or copy and paste, into a Pages document.
Office Clip Art . If you have Microsoft Office, you've already purchased a collection of clip art in PICT, JPEG, and GIF format. The Clip Art folder's inside the Microsoft Office application folderand there's even more of it on the Value Pack CD. Drag these files into iPhoto, and you have them available at all times in the Media Browser (and people who recognize them in your documents will be certain you're using Word).

Open the Graphic Inspector and use the Stroke pop-up menus to adjust the line's thickness, color, and stroke (solid, dashed, or none). Use the Endpoints pop-up menus to choose various arrow and endpoint styles for the line. (The arrow and double arrow shapes in the menu are merely lines with preconfigured end points.)

4.2.4.2. The geometric shapes

Basic geometric shapes are next in the Shapes lineup. Choose from a rectangle, rounded rectangle, oval (or circle), triangle, right triangle, and diamond. Pages inserts these shapes in their most regular forms: squares, circle, equilateral triangle, right isosceles triangle, and square diamond. Hold the Shift key while you drag a selection handle to preserve these proportions while you resize.

4.2.4.3. The arrow shapes

Pages provides two big fat arrow shapessingle or double-headed. Instead of being lines with arrow heads, like those produced by the line tool, these are shapes that can have an outline stroke and a color, gradient, or image fill just like the other geometric shapes. You can adjust the size of the arrow head and the width of the line by using the round selection handle inside the arrow head.

4.2.4.4. The quote bubble and text inside shapes

The final choice in the shape menu is specially designed for comic book producers : the quote bubble. An oval with a triangle tacked on the side, the quote bubble is really made to be a text container, though you can add text inside any of the shapes (except the lines). After you insert the bubble in your document, double-click it and the insertion point appears inside. Enter text and format it using the Text Inspector, the Font panel, and the Format menu (as described in Chapter 1). If you enter more text than will fit, a plus sign (+) clipping indicator appears at the bottom of the shape. To reveal the rest of the text, resize the shape by selecting it and dragging one of its selection handles. (See Section 4.2.5.2 for more on formatting text inside a shape.)

4.2.5. Making Text Boxes or Sidebars

Text boxes, callouts, pull quotes, and sidebars are common elements of page layout design. Pages' Insert Text command helps you create these essential elements.

Text boxes are useful for highlighting or isolating some text from the rest of your document. Sidebars usually hold a paragraph or several paragraphs that are related to, but not really part of, the flow of the main text. Sidebars can stand alone as a little chapter or chunk of information. This book, for example, uses sidebars to hold these kinds of digressions.

Callouts or pull quotes highlight an important point in the main text. Since they relate directly to part of the text, they need to be placed near the relevant text. Magazine articles often have pull quotes to add visual interest to the page by breaking up the columns of plain text.

You can create text boxes with or without a frame or a background color or image. Since text boxes are objects, you can use all the object controls to rotate, layer, adjust opacity, and so on (see Section 4.3). To add a text box, follow these steps:

Click the margin of the document so the insertion point disappears. Then choose Insert Text (or click the toolbars Objects button and from the pop-up menu choose Text) .

Pages creates a text box as a fixed object, with the insertion point blinking, ready for your text input. Begin typing.
Click outside the text box then click back inside it in order to select the boxand then drag it into position on the page. (Alternatively, press -Return to select the box when you're in text-entry mode.)

Drag the selection handles to resize the box. If you type more than the box can hold, a clipping indicator appears at the bottom of the box to show you that some of your text is clipped off or hidden (Figure 4-12). Resize the box to reveal the hidden text.

WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
Callout Conundrum

If you use shapes to contain text for callouts or captions, it might seem like a good idea to rotate or flip the quote bubble or the big arrow shape so that you could place it, for example, on either side of a picture. However, if you try this trick, you soon see it's better to leave the shape in its standard orientation if you add text to it. Here's why: When you enter text into a bubble that you've rotated, the bubble snaps back to its original orientation while you add text. Pages glues that text to the bubble, so when you click outside the bubble, the bubble and its text shift back to its rotated position.

You can get around this rotation limitation by adding the text on top of the shape instead of inside it. Create the shape and resize, rotate, flip and flop to your heart's content. When you're satisfied with your shape, choose Insert Text (or click the Objects button in the toolbar, and then choose Text) to create a fixed text box. Enter your caption or callout text, format the text, resize the text box, and drag it over your rotated shape. If you want to rotate the text to match your shape, press and drag a selection handle, or open the Metrics Inspector and use the Rotate controls (see Section 4.3.6).

When you've lined up the text perfectly with the object, select the text box, hold down the Shift key and also select the shape. With both items selected, join the two together by choosing Arrange Group. Now you can move your text-filled shape as one object. If you need to edit the text or resize the shape, choose Arrange Ungroup.

Although Pages creates text boxes only as fixed objects, once they exist, you can change them into in-line objects, just like you can with other kinds of objects. You might find this ability useful, for example, to keep a pull quote connected to the paragraph it's pulled from, even if you add or delete text in an earlier part of the document.

If so, select the text box so its selection handles are visible and drag it close to the position you want to appear as an in-line object. Open the Wrap Inspector and click the "Moves with text" button. Pages converts the box to an in-line object and places it into your text. Drag the box and position it exactly, watching the insertion point as you drag. Drop it when you get the insertion point in the right spot.

Usually you want your main text to wrap around a pull quote. Turn on the checkbox for "Object causes wrap" in the Wrap Inspector and choose one of the wrapping styles to position the text box in the column of text (see Section 4.3.7 for more on wrapping text). Adjust the Extra Space setting using the up and down arrow button to insert more or less white space above and below the text box. (The Text Fit and the Alpha adjustment don't apply to text box objects.)

Note: Pages can automatically create a text box from copied text. Copy some text from another document or from another place in the current document. Click the margin of the document so the insertion point disappears, then choose Edit

Paste and Match Style, or press Option- -Shift-V. Pages inserts a new text box containing your copied text. Resize or reposition the box, and reformat the text if you need to.

POWER USERS' CLINIC
The Missing Equation Editor

Do you fret over the possibility that or do you just want to be able to write "2/3 cup of flour" in a recipe? In either case, you have to look outside of iWork for a solution. (Solving the equation , however, is up to you.)

If you have AppleWorks 6, you also have a handy program for the mathematically inclined, called Equation Editor. You find it in your AppleWorks 6 folder AppleWorks Essentials Equation Editor Carbon. You can use its 19 pop-up menus for operators, radicals, Greek letters , and other doodads to create anything from simple fractions to complex equationsthen copy and paste them into Pages as fixed or inline objects.

Since these typographically impressive equations are graphic objects instead of text, you can resize, rotate, or manipulate them in other ways like any objectbut you can't edit them. If you discover an error in an equation, you have to copy it from Pages and paste it back into Equation Editor to modify itor just start over in Equation Editor.

If you require more powerful equation-wrangling softwareor if you don't have AppleWorks' Equation Editoryou can purchase Equation Editor's smarter sibling: MathType. earn about its advanced capabilitiesand about how to get the most out of Equation Editorat www.mathtype.com.

4.2.5.1. Linking text boxes

If you have more text than will fit in one text box, or want to break up a sidebar into two or more portions, Pages can link the text boxes so the text flows from one to another. Magazines use this technique as a running sidebar that occupies, for example, the right column on the right page for several pages running. Linked boxes behave as one virtual text boxif you add extra text to the first box, any displaced text flows into the next linked text box. Or, if you Select All, Pages selects the text in all the linked text boxes. You can have linked text boxes on the same page or separate them by many pages.

To make a linked text box, create the first text box and type or paste text into it. Press -Return to select the text box. Pages displays the selection handles and the linking and clipping indicators (Figure 4-12). Click the blue link indicator on the right side of the text box to create a linked text box. If your first text box was over-flowingindicated by the + sign clipping indicatorthe text automatically spills into the linked text box. Reposition and resize this boxand if you need to, click the blue linking indicator on its right side to create another linked text box. A glance at the linking indicators on a text box reveals whether it's linked to a preceding or following text box.

Figure 4-12. Text boxes feature a few extra ornaments around their perimeter in addition to the usual resizing handles. The filled link indicators indicate if it's linked to a previous box (A) or a following text box (B). Open link indicators show that it's the first (C) or last (D) of the set. A clipping indicator (E) shows that there's more text than fits in the box. If you click the left link indicator for the first box in a set (C), Pages creates a new first box above this one, and shifts all the text upward so it begins in the new first box. Click a filled text box to insert another linked box in the middle of the series. Pages shifts text up from the following boxes to fill the new box you've made.

You can create a chain of as many linked boxes as you require. When Pages creates a linked text box, it establishes that box's order in the chain for the flow of text. But Pages doesn't prevent you from dragging linked text boxes into any order you want within your documentthough your readers may wish it had.

You can select all the text in a series of linked text boxes to change font formatting or to copy the text to another document, for example, by placing the insertion point in any of the text boxes and pressing -A (or choosing Edit Select All).

If you need to move a set of linked text boxes at once, hold down the Shift key and click the other boxes in order to select the whole set. Then you can drag them to a new location in your document. However, if you need to move them very far, you'll find it more convenient to cut and paste. Select the text boxes, and then choose Edit Cut. Scroll to the page in your document where youd like to relocate these boxes, click that page's margin so you don't see the insertion point, and then choose Edit Paste. The text boxes appear with all their links intact.

If you cut or copy and paste just one box of a set of linked text boxes, the resulting text box shows the contents of the box you copied, but none of the links.

4.2.5.2. Formatting text boxes

Think of text boxes as little documents within your document. And just like a word processing document, a text box can remain a modest construction of plain text, or you can dress it up and decorate it with a background color or image, borders, shadows, tables, charts, pictures, even columns (Figure 4-13).

Figure 4-13. Adjust the "box" part of a text box with the Graphic Inspector, just as you would with a shape. From the Fill pop-up menu, choose Color Fill, click the color well, and then choose a color from the Color Picker to add a background color to the text box. Use the Stroke section to add a line or border around the box. You can turn on the Shadow checkbox to add a drop shadow to the text box, so it looks like its floating above the page. The Opacity slider controls opacity for the entire text box: background, border, text, and in-line graphics.

You can add a solid color, a gradient (a fill color that gradually blends one color into another), or an image to the background of a text box; you can also choose to add a border, a drop shadow, or adjust its opacity. The Graphic Inspector houses the controls for these functions, which behave as they do with other objects. Find all the details beginning on Section 4.4.

You can also apply paragraph background colors to individual paragraphs within a text box. If you've applied a fill color or image to the text box, the paragraph fill overrides it for the selected paragraph. Place your insertion point within a paragraph in the text box, and then open the Text Inspector's More tab. Turn on the checkbox for Paragraph Fill and click the color well to summon the Color Picker. Choose a color and adjust the Opacity slider to see the effect on your text box.

WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
Raise That Cap

Grab a magazine or book and chances are good that its articles or chapters begin with a large initial capital letter.

Large initial caps appear in many different styles, but you'll most commonly see the raised cap , in which the baseline of the initial letter matches that of the first line of text, with the letter rising up above the paragraph; or the drop cap , in which the top of the initial letter lines up with the top of the first line of text, with the rest of the letter dropping three or more lines below.

Pages doesn't provide an easy way to create large initial caps. You can create a large raised cap by increasing the first letter's font size, but because Pages lacks fixed paragraph line spacing, that one large character results in wider line spacing beneath the first line. The page-layout perfectionist has no choice but a somewhat convoluted workaround.

To create a raised cap, select the initial capital in the paragraph and increase its font size to about four times the size of the body text. The large capital looks good, but its character spacing and line spacing are both much too wide.
Open the Text Inspector's Text tab. Adjust the Character slider to the left until the character spacing looks good.
Place the insertion point to the right of the last letter in the first line and press Return, turning the first line into a separate paragraph. When you do this, Pages adds a space at the beginning of the second lineremove it so the second line begins flush with the rest of the paragraph.
Place the insertion point in your first-line paragraph and adjust the Text Inspector's Line slider and After Paragraph slider to make the first-line spacing match the rest of the paragraph.

Creating drop caps in Pages is more of a problem. Because it involves creating a text box as a fixed object to house the initial capital, you should complete all your other document editing first. Otherwise, the drop cap text boxes will fall out of alignment as you edit body text that precedes them.

Select the initial capital letter and increase its font size to about four times the size of the body text. Choose Edit Cut.
Paste. Pages creates a text box containing your initial capital. Open the Wrap Inspector and turn off the checkbox for "Object causes wrap."
as you drag the text box up and down to precisely align it with the text.
Drag the lower right selection handle inward so the selection box barely contains the entire letter. Once you begin dragging the selection handle, press for more precise control.
Turn on the checkbox for "Object causes wrap" and set the Extra Space box to zero points in the Wrap Inspector. Press and drag the text box into position at the beginning of the paragraph.

You can add other objectsimages, shapes, tables, or chartswithin a text box as in-line objects. Place the insertion point in the text at the spot you want to insert the object, and choose the type of object from the Insert menu or from the Objects button's toolbar pop-up menu.

You can use fixed objects within a text box as well, but you're actually creating two or more layered objects on the page. To add a fixed object, click the margin of the document so the insertion point disappears, and then choose the type of object from the Insert menu or from the Objects button's pop-up menu in the toolbar. Resize the object and drag it into the text box. Open the Wrap Inspector, select the wrapping style, and adjust the Text Fit option if necessary (see Section 4.3.8). You can attach the object to the text boxso it moves along with it if you reposition the text boxby grouping the two objects. Select the object, hold down the Shift key, and then select the text box. With both items selected, choose Arrange Group. Now if you move the text box, the object comes along for the ride.

Note: When you group a text box with another object, you can no longer resize the box or edit its text. To do so, select the grouped object, choose Arrange

Ungroup, and then make your changes; select both items and choose Arrange

Group to tie them together again.

Note: If you've carefully situated a text box (or any fixed object) within your page layout, you can lock it down to the page so you don't inadvertently move it while you maneuver other objects on the page. Select the text box and choose Arrange

Lock. If you need to move it later, you can unglue it from the page by choosing Arrange

Unlock.

Show Rulers, select one or more paragraphs in one of the text box columns, and then use the margin and first-line indent indicators in the ruler to make the adjustments. Drag the ends of the gray bar under the ruler to adjust the gutter width (Figure 4-14).

Figure 4-14. The Text Inspector controls text inside a text box just as it does body text. Additional controls let you adjust the margin inside the text box with the Inset Margin slider (A), and the vertical alignment using the three vertical alignment buttons (B). Choose to align the text against the top of the text box, vertically centered, or against the bottom. Add columns and adjust them using the Layout Inspector (C), or adjust them directly using the ruler (D). Increase your inspector efficiency by opening two or more inspectors at a time. Option-click one of the inspector buttons (E) to open a new inspector.