Working with layers and arranging objects in them

In this tutorial we are going to show how to use layers. Layers can help you a lot especially when dealing with background images. Let’s have a look at the example of the magazine cover page. Here you can see a background image, the title of the magazine on top and a short annotation at bottom right corner.

Now let’s open Layers’ panel and find out what do we have in there. Layers’ panel is located on right toolbar of Joomag editor. As you can see we have 3 layers on this page. Let’s take a closer look at them.

First layer named “Text” contains magazine title and the annotation. This layer is marked with Green color. The “eye” icon indicates that the layer is currently visible. Clicking this icon will hide the layer.

Hiding layers can be very useful when you have a lot of objects on your page and don’t want some of them to mess around while you’re working with the rest of them.

Please note that Hiding a layer will only hide it in the editor, but it will still be visible in reading mode.

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Introduction to Multiple object selection and object alignment

On October 2010 editor release Joomag introduced several new features. Here I’m going to discuss 2 of them: a new way of selecting multiple objects and means of aligning the selected objects.

In previous versions of Joomag editor, selection of multiple objects was done by making a rectangular selection. The objects that were in marked area were selected. This had the drawback that sometimes objects that were not intended to be selected were getting selected. (see the picture below, there is no chance to select red and blue ellipses without selecting the yellow one)

This method of selection is still available in Joomag editor, but to provide the ability of selecting only the objects you need, Joomag introduces the new way of selection.

Just press the Shift key and start selecting the objects by clicking on them with your mouse pointer. (see the picture below, we’ve selected 3 ellipses without selecting the yellow rectangle in the center as we’ve selected each ellipse separately)

Now let’s discuss the new aligning functions of Joomag editor.

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Using Joomag’s new Embedding features

On October the 5th Joomag has added some new options for Magazine Embedding, so let me introduce you to these new options and embedding in general.

To embed a magazine in a website one needs to get it’s embed code and place it in HTML of the website. To do so first go to Joomag Control Panel’s Magazine manager and press the “embed” link on the row of the magazine you want to embed.

Embed Button in Magazine Manager

When you click the “embed” link embedding dialog opens and you need to choose whether you want to embed full or light version of magazine.

Embedding light version will only put the thumbnail of the magazine in your website with link to the full publication while embedding the full version will put the viewer in the website.

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Modifying Image after placing on page

Often we need to modify sizes of an image we use in magazine to fit the page or other object on it. As using photo editing software requires some skills and often such software is simply unavailable on the PC we use, Joomag provides easy means to modify the image sizes.

There are 2 cases of size modification. We either need to crop the image or stretch it. In both cases first of all we need to place the image on the page. So just select the image you want to use from library and place it on the page.

Note that when placing image from library, size proportions are preserved.

Cropping of image in Joomag editor is performed by means of Selection Tool. Select the “Selection Tool” from the left toolbar of the editor and click the image you want to crop.

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