Chapter 8: Using FreeHand Symbols and Styles

---

This chapter shows you how to streamline your work processes through the use of symbols and styles. You also get a handle on the Graphic Hose tool to make some truly creative drawings.

The Difference Between Symbols and Styles

Symbols are graphic objects, text items, and master pages that are placed in a Library for convenient retrieval at any time. For example, you might create a symbol for a company logo. Another purpose for a symbol would be an address line or "text slug" that you use frequently, such as on brochures, flyers, or Web pages. The basic need for a symbol is anything that will be used more than once in a document or in several documents.

Styles, on the other hand, are divided into two types: graphic and text. If you do a lot of drawings with a 1-point green stroke and a magenta fill, you can make a style for that setup. Next time you need that combination, make the drawing in any tool you choose, and simply click the appropriate style to give the selected graphic the style's attributes. Text styles are great if you are making a brochure, manual, or Web page and have items such as headlines, subheads, body copy, indented text, or other formatting situations. Just make a style, insert the Text tool cursor into a block of text, and click the style.

---