Just What Does CorelDRAW Do?--Chapter 1

Since its introduction, CorelDRAW has become the largest selling graphics software in the world. There's a reason for it. Frankly, it is a great program. You'll love it.

It is a wonderful drawing tool, enabling anyone to create vector based art easily. It comes complete with a host of drawing tools and effects, allowing you to create anything from simple graphics and headlines to sophisticated artwork and technical drawings.

Coupled with more powerful text handling features, including multi-page options, text-flow and style creation, CorelDRAW has evolved into a wonderful tool for short document page layout.

Your graphic creations can easily be exported for use in other programs, or any of the Corel companion programs. CorelDRAW takes full advantage of the Windows 95 operating system and OLE functionality, making file sharing easy and convenient.

It is a superb text manipulator. You can easily perform all sorts of transformations on text. The examples shown below took all of 90 seconds to do.

It provides full support for Kodak CD-ROM format images as well as a whole host of other file formats.

You can now import bitmap images and edit them with much of the same functionality provided in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Alternatively, bitmaps can be converted to vector-based artwork by manually tracing, auto-tracing, or using the companion Corel OCR-TRACE 8 program.

With the preset recorder and scripting you can create macros for often used graphic effects. From drawing simple graphics to sophisticated artwork, the list of capabilities goes on and on. It is no wonder that CorelDRAW has received just about every award that can be given a piece of software.

What's new in CorelDRAW 8?

CorelDRAW 8 has been enhanced to offer greater usability, interactivity and productivity than earlier versions. Some of these improvements permeate all aspects (both basic and advanced) of CorelDRAW, for example, screen rewrite is vastly improved over earlier versions.

Most of the new features enhance the basic features:

• Accelerator keys can now be used in place of dialog box functions. For example, diagramming objects can be aligned with a single keystroke!
• Enhanced Import Options allow you to import multiple files and specify their placement and size on the page interactively.
• The workspace has added features! A new type of window called a Docker allows you to dock roll-ups together. Multiple users can create their own customizable personal workspaces. Even the Color Palette has undergone a change in personality. It is no longer a passive component of the workspace merely waiting to be clicked! You can now mix colors interactively on the color palette. And, if you hold the mouse button down on any color swatch, a new palette opens revealing related tints of the parent color.
• New tools have been added including an interactive drop shadow tool, an interactive extrude tool, an interactive distortion tool.
• 3D Text effects can be applied with lighting effects inside CorelDRAW.
• And much, much more!

Amazingly, the list of improvements is quite long. Every year Corel comes out with a new program...and every year, we at Retlab wonder, "What can they possibly add to the previous version?" But, we must confess, every year we are impressed with the improvements, and this year is no exception.

Should we interact or dialog?

Note There are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the dialog box offers no learning advantage over its interactive partner. For example, the Interactive Envelope tool offers precisely the same controls as the Envelope Roll-Up. In this case, we opt for the interactive tool because it is faster.

CorelDRAW is evolving from being merely a vector-based drawing program to the most thorough creative graphical environment available. In a single program you can handle most any graphic challenge. In the course of this evolution, more and more emphasis is being placed on interactivity, that is, tools that perform their function directly on the screen without the use of a dialog box. This is very useful once a user learns the basics of the program.

For the most part, all of the functions of the interactive tools can be performed in and through a dialog box or roll-up. In general, we feel it is easier to first learn using the dialog box. Here's an example.

Shown on the left is a circle filled with a fountain fill that can be applied using either the Interactive Fountain Fill tool or using the Fountain Fill dialog box.







Above are the controls that you would see if you applied the fountain fill with the tool. Note that there are no verbal cues. For example, the little rectangle handle controls the mid-point, but how would you know?






In contrast to the Interactive Fill tool, all of the controls in the above dialog box are labeled, thereby making learning the control a little easier.




All of the controls shown in the dialog box can be applied with Interactive Fill tool, but there are no verbal cues to inform you how a function performs. Therefore, from a learning perspective, it is easier to first learn using the dialog box. Once the feature set is understood, the transition to the related interactive tool is much easier. In general, this is the approach we'll take in training...dialog box first, interactivity second.

Starting CorelDRAW 8

Note You can customize the Win95 (or 98 or NT) Desktop to your liking. If you use CorelDRAW often, you might consider placing a shortcut icon directly on your desktop!



To start CorelDRAW, click on the Win95 Start button and select PROGRAMS > CorelDRAW 8 > CorelDRAW.

If you are starting CorelDRAW for the first time, you'll be confronted by your first dialog box decision:





Note This dialog can be turned off by deselecting the Show option at the bottom of the dialog box.

Simply click on the New Graphic. (If this dialog box does not present to you, your system may be set up to open to a new document automatically. You can get to the same place by choosing FILE/New.)

You're ready to begin!





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_{Last Updated September 1, 1998.}


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