Apple Pages '08 - Manual (Page 238)

238 Chapter 13 Designing Your Own Document Templates
Step 3: Create Placeholder Text and Media Placeholders
Placeholder text and media placeholders model the look of the finished document.
They can also provide instructions for the person using the template.
Creating Placeholder Text
You can modify placeholder text that already exists in a template, or you can create
your own text.
Here are ways to create placeholder text:
m To edit existing placeholder text, select it, and then choose Format > Advanced >
Enable Placeholder Text Authoring. After editing the text, choose Format > Advanced >
Disable Placeholder Text Authoring.
m To create placeholder text from scratch, type some text on the page, and then format it
the way you want.
Select the text in blocks, as you would like template users to be able to edit it, choosing
Format > Advanced > Define as Placeholder Text for each block.
When selecting blocks of text, be careful not to select the final paragraph break
character. Doing so will cause the entire paragraph to be deleted when the user begins
typing in the placeholder text, and the new text will take on the attributes of the
following paragraph. To see the paragraph break character as you work, click View in
the toolbar, and then choose Show Invisibles.
To remove placeholder text, select it, and then press the Delete key.
Creating Media Placeholders
When you drag your own image, audio file, or movie to a media placeholder, your
media is automatically sized and positioned for you. You can easily replace media in the
media placeholder by dragging a new file to it; you don’t have to delete the old file
first.
To create a media placeholder:
1 Add an image, movie, or audio file to the document.
See “Working with Images” on page 158, “Adding a Sound File” on page 164, and
“Adding a Movie File” on page 165 for instructions.
2 Select the imported object and move it to the location where you want it to be in the
document, as “Moving Objects” on page 137 describes.
3 Format the imported object, as “Moving Objects” on page 137 describes.
4 Select the object, and then choose Format > Advanced > Define as Media Placeholder.
To delete a media placeholder, select it, and then press the Delete key.