iCalamus 2: Create a frame

As we have already said, iCalamus is a frame-oriented typesetting program. This is: all content which you want to use in a document has to be placed into frames. And these frames need to be created. Sometimes this is done automatically, but most of the time you will have to create these frames yourself. iCalamus cannot really guess where you want to place a frame.

If you want to create a frame, you have to select a frame Creation tool from the Toolbox panel first.

The Toolbox panel is that small window with the blue iCalamus title which is placed somewhere in the left screen area on first launch, but can be placed everywhere on the screen basically.

When you take a closer look to the Toolbox panel, you will recognize that the function buttons which are shown there, are organized in three groups. The second group contains the frame Creation tools.

The Image tool right to it creates image frames (and besides it automatically starts an image import then).

The following four tools are named Container tool, "Shape tool, Line tool and Vector tool. These four have in common that you see a tiny black edge in their function icon. It visualizes that there are more tools available for these. When you click on one of these tools and keep the mouse button pressed, a selection menu with more tools is shown.

Now you have met the Creation tools and can decide which kind of frame you want to create first. The procedure is always the same; it doesn't matter which Creation tool you choose.

Depending on which Creation tool you have chosen, you will see a gray ruler with several black buttons above the frame (text frame) or the OS X file selector might open to let you import an image file. In container frames, you will see a gray X in the frame afterwards, which visualizes that this frame is empty. In shape frames you will see the selected shape, which is a black rectangle by default. In line frames you will see – surprise! – a line.

If you have chosen the Vector tool, you might wonder about the result. You see a frame with kind of a crooked line and, when you continue clicking into the document, this line gets longer and more crazy. What happened here? The Vector tool has created a new frame and opened it at the same time. So you edit the content of the vector frame when you continue clicking.

Now, what did I tell you! – The more your have tried creating frames, the more frames are spread in your document now. If you want to move frames to another position or want to resize them, you will now have to change the tool first!

Until now, you have got to know the Creation tools. But these can be used only for creating new frames and even more new frames. If you want to select, move or resize frames, you need the Select tool which is placed in the upper left corner of the Toolbox panel. Exactly – it's the arrow symbol.

Using the Select tool, you open and close frames by clicking on the tiny triangle in the upper left corner of the frame. If you want to move a frame, simply click somewhere into the closed frame. Thus it will be selected and you can see its border and the gray grab points in the frame borders and frame corners then. Now you can move it by clicking it and keeping the mouse button pressed. Move the mouse pointer – the frame will follow your movements. The old position of the frame will still be shown, but in lighter colors. When you release the mouse button again, the frame will be placed in its current position. Thus it is moved. Lesson learned.

If you want to resize a frame, click one of its gray grab points which we mentioned before. Now drag the grab point in the desired direction, keeping the mouse button pressed. When you move grab points from the frame borders, the other borders of the frame stay in their position. Using the grab points of the frame corners, you can change the frame's size in two directions at the same time.

Wskazówka: Of course you can create frames by numeric input, too. Simply click once into the document page. This opens a dialog where you can enter the coordinates of the new frame.

For numeric moves and resizings, please use the Geometry inspector, which cannot be described here. You will find each single button and switch described in detail in the reference manual chapters.

Wskazówka: We talked about distinct frame types in this introducing chapter (like text frames, image frames, etc.). But to be true, these frame types do not exist at all. In iCalamus, a frame can contain just everything. An image frame can become a text frame, a shape frame can contain an image, etc. But this may be told here just for the records. You will discover the resulting possibilities later step by step.