Because the route to this Options dialog is heavily traveled by regular DRAW users, the developers assigned a hotkey to it: Ctrl+J. DRAW’s hotkeys provide you with instant access to a dialog or command without having to pull down a menu. Whenever you want to access the Options dialog, pressing Ctrl+J will do it, no questions asked. Hotkeys are particularly handy if you just want to check a value for a setting without changing it. Ctrl+J opens the dialog box, and pressing the Esc key closes it, ignoring any changes you might have made. While experienced DRAW users had become used to the Ctrl+J/Esc shuffle, they don’t use it as often anymore, now that so many of the options for a selected object remain visible on the property bar.

NOTE All of DRAW’s keyboard shortcuts to dialogs are shown on the menus with their functions. For instance, pull down the File menu and you’ll see Ctrl+S associated with the Save command. A variety of “hidden” keystrokes also exist that have special jobs when used at specific times. All told, there are about 150 different hotkeys across the entire program—including such obscure gems as holding down the Shift key to erase a line drawn with the Freehand tool, and pressing Alt while moving an object to create a spray of objects. Furthermore, you can invent your own; Chapter 34 offers the details on that.

Understanding all of DRAW’s controls can be tricky, but working them is easy. DRAW lets you navigate with the mouse or the keyboard within almost every dialog. As you can see in Figures 1.4 and 1.5, you can access every field, check box, and button with a keystroke (press Alt plus the underlined letter). So, for instance, to change the value for Preview Fountain Steps in Figure 1.5, you have three choices:

•  Use the mouse to place the cursor in the entry box, press Backspace to erase the current value, and enter a new value.

•  Press Alt+R to highlight the box and type the new value.

•  Click on the little down-and-up arrow box to increase or decrease the value.

No surprise here—our preference is the second option, using the keyboard. Nothing is faster, or easier on your hands and wrists. Try all three and judge for yourself.

Exploring the Standard Toolbar

There was a time when we thought DRAW’s Standard toolbar was not worth mentioning. We just couldn’t get that excited about a little button that saves a drawing, since File Ø Save or Ctrl+S both do that just fine. Vertical screen space on even a high-resolution display is far too valuable to waste on redundant controls, we thought.

But we’ve been singing a different tune since DRAW 6. You now have the ability to determine what goes on the Standard toolbar and where the toolbar resides. You can now position the Standard toolbar anywhere on the screen, add and remove functions, or drag tools from the toolbox to the toolbar.

This is also true for the property bar, which is potentially of even greater value, thanks to its context-sensitivity. Just remember this: once you set up your Standard toolbar, it will always look the same, no matter what you’re doing in the program. However, the property bar is ever-changing, reflecting the set of controls that are most relevant to the particular task you are performing.

Working with Dockers

Introduced in version 8, dockers perform many of the same functions as conventional dialogs, but they are more interactive. For instance, they don’t disappear as conventional dialogs do after carrying out a command. And because of their flexibility, you can place dockers right next to the object you are drawing for quick mouse action, or dock it (hence the name) to any of the four edges of the DRAW window. Dockers have been gradually replacing roll-ups, the old-style interactive control, and as of DRAW 9, that replacement is complete.

Different dockers relate to different tasks you may be working on, and DRAW lets you open only the ones you need at a given time. For example, when you are working with multiple objects in your illustrations, you can open the Object Manager docker window to help you keep track of the different objects on your pages.

Figure 1.6 shows one of the many dockers available to you in DRAW. This one enables you to choose the position of objects. Instead of clicking on an OK button to enact a change, you click on the Apply button. And instead of disappearing promptly, this docker can stick around, making a series of tweaks a friendlier task.

Note in Figure 1.6 the name of the docker, running vertically, and also that another docker, Shaping, is also available. You can open many dockers at once, and those that are not active lie in wait behind the one that is. To see a list of all dockers in the program, go to Window Ø Dockers.

FIGURE 1.6  Transformation is a typical CorelDRAW docker, in that it packs a lot of commands into a compact space and remains on screen until you close it.

Exploring the Toolbox

The tools that make up the toolbox are the electronic lifeblood of DRAW. You can create hundreds of complete drawings using just these tools and no menu commands (except Save!). Following is a brief rundown on each tool.

The Pick Tool

The Pick tool acts as home base for DRAW. It is the tool that you use to select objects before altering them, and it is the active tool every time you start the program. You can select an object by clicking on it with the Pick tool, or by dragging across it with a marquee (see Chapter 3, “The Miracle of the Click”).

	TIP When you drag a marquee around an object or group of objects, you must make sure to completely surround them—unless you know the secret shortcut, introduced in version 6: hold the Alt key while dragging your marquee, and you need only touch an object with the marquee to select it.

Once you’ve selected an object, you also use the Pick tool to move and/or resize it. Most advanced DRAW users take the Pick tool so much for granted that they may not even know its name. They might describe it as “that thing at the top that is always highlighted when you aren’t using anything else. You know, the one that pretty much does everything.” That about sums up the Pick tool.

Hotkey: the spacebar (except when you are editing text, then use Ctrl+spacebar)