Chapter 10. WordArt

Using WordArt for Interesting Titles and Headlines

WordArt is rewritten in the 2007 release of Office. As in previous versions, WordArt is best used sparingly—possibly for a headline or title at the top of the page. You probably would not want to create an entire 20-page document in WordArt. It is best used for impressive display fonts to add interest to a report or chart.

Note

In previous versions of Office, WordArt was a specific object. Now, in Office 2007, you can apply WordArt effects to any text that appears on a shape.

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Adding WordArt to a Document

To use WordArt, follow these steps:

1. Select a blank section of a document.
2. From the Insert tab, choose the WordArt drop-down.
3. Choose from the 30 WordArt presets in the drop-down shown in Figure 10.1. Don’t worry that these presets seem less exciting than the WordArt in prior versions of Office. You can customize the WordArt later.

   

   Figure 10.1 Office offers 30 WordArt presets.

4. Office adds generic WordArt with the text Your Text Here. Select the default text and type your own text.
5. Select the text. As shown in Figure 10.2, use either the Mini toolbar that appears or the Home ribbon to choose a new font style.

   

   Figure 10.2 After selecting text, change the font in the Mini toolbar.

6. Use the WordArt styles group on the Drawing Tools, Format ribbon to color the WordArt. To the right of the styles drop-down are icons for Text Fill Color, Outline Color, and a drop-down for effects. The effects drop-down includes flyout menus for Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Bevel, 3-D Rotation, and Transform.
7. To achieve the old-style WordArt effects, choose Drawing Tools, Format, WordArt Styles, Text Effects, Transform and then select a shape for the text. Figure 10.3 shows the WordArt with a Stop transformation.

Figure 10.3 WordArt includes the Transform menu to bend and twist type.

Controlling WordArt Options

WordArt has millions of variations. These options are controlled on the Drawing Tools, Format tab, Home ribbon, and Page Layout ribbon (or Design tab in PowerPoint).

Using the 30 WordArt Preset Text Effects

When you open the WordArt drop-down on the Insert ribbon, you have a choice of 30 preset text effects. Choosing one of these built-in effects is the first step in creating WordArt.

The preset effect controls the text fill and outline color, capitalization, gradients, glow, shadow, bevel, and reflection of the WordArt. The name of each style gives you an idea of the fill color and additional effects.

Although some fill colors are white, grey, or black, most are expressed as “Accent 3,” “Accent 1,” and so on. This indicates that the color of the WordArt style reflects one of the document’s theme colors styles. If you choose a new theme, the colors will change.

After creating the WordArt, you can choose one of the other effects. Click inside the WordArt to display the Drawing Tools Format ribbon. In the WordArt Styles group, use the drop-down gallery to choose a different style.

Figure 10.4 shows samples of each of the 30 built-in styles. The data in columns C through E explains the fill style and effects in the style. The 30 samples in F:M illustrate the 30 styles. The 30 samples are arranged in the same order as the WordArt drop-down on the right side of the figure.

Figure 10.4 These 30 preset text effects are available in WordArt. Click this link to see a larger picture.

Keep in mind that the document theme controls the colors used in the 30 styles. The theme shown in Figure 10.4 is the Office theme. If you switch to a different theme, the presets take on a different look. Figure 10.5 shows the presets in the Metro theme.

Figure 10.5 Change the document theme to get a new color scheme.

Note

To change the theme in Excel 2007 or Word 2007, use the Themes drop-down in the Themes group of the Page Layout tab. To change the theme in PowerPoint 2007, use the Themes gallery on the Design tab.

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Using Text Transformations in WordArt

The ability to twist type was one of the favorite features of WordArt in Office 97 through 2003. The same 40 transformation shapes that were available in prior versions of Office are still available in Office 2007.

Open the Text Effects drop-down in the WordArt Styles Group of the Drawing Tools Format ribbon. The Transform flyout offers 40 shapes for the WordArt.

Figure 10.6 shows the 40 available transformation shapes.

Figure 10.6 Forty transformation shapes are available.

Note

Although most WordArt adjustments work on any text, the Transformations work only on entire textboxes.

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Controlling the Adjustment Handle in WordArt

Many of the transformation options include additional adjustments. In Figure 10.7, the bottom-right WordArt is in edit mode. In addition to the eight white resize handles along the shape perimeter, a green rotation handle appears at the top of the figure and a pink diamond along the left side of the figure.

Figure 10.7 Use the pink slider to control the slant.

In this particular transformation, the Slant Down transformation, the pink diamond is a slider that controls the level of slant. Drag it up or down the left side of the shape to control the slant. The figure shows four different WordArt elements with different slant levels.

Note that the pink slider appears in many transformations. In each transformation, it might control the amount of curve, slant, bend, and so on.

The green rotation handle can be used to spin the WordArt. To use it, grab the green handle and move the mouse in a circular direction to spin the WordArt.

Figure 10.8 shows five different spin angles for WordArt.

Figure 10.8 Use the green handle to rotate the image.

Adding Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Bevel, and 3-D Rotation to WordArt

Three drop-downs appear next to the gallery in the WordArt styles group. The first drop-down allows you to change the fill color of the WordArt. The second drop-down allows you to change the outline color of the text. The third drop-down features six additional flyout menus for Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Bevel, 3-D Rotation, and Transform.

In the Shadow flyout menu, choose one of the 23 built-in shadow styles. Figure 10.9 shows a Perspective Diagonal Lower Right shadow.

Figure 10.9 Choose from the preset shadow styles.

If the built-in styles are not suitable, choose the Shadow Options item. In the Format Text Effects dialog box, you can control the shadow color, transparency, size, blur, angle, and distance. Increasing the size makes the shadow appear as if the light source is closer to the WordArt. Changing the angle makes it appear as if the light source is rotating in front of the object.

Figure 10.10 shows a reflection that has been customized using the Format WordArt dialog box.

Figure 10.10 Use the Format WordArt dialog box for more control over the shadow.

As shown in Figure 10.11, the Reflection flyout menu allows you to choose from nine variations of reflection. In general, the choices farther to the right provide a darker reflection. Unlike the shadow settings, no additional reflection settings are available in the Format dialog box.

Figure 10.11 Nine variations are available for reflections.

You can apply a glow in any of the six accent colors available in the current theme, as shown in Figure 10.12. Choose from a thickness of 8, 12, 15, or 20 points.

Figure 10.12 Twenty-four glow options are available for each theme.

Although the flyout menu offers a choice for More Glow Colors, it is tricky to use. To customize the glow, follow these steps:

1. Select the WordArt.
2. Choose Drawing Tools, Format, WordArt Styles, Text Effects, Glow. From the menu, choose a built-in color in one of the four thickness settings. The thickness here is important, because it persisst after you select another color.
3. After you click on a built-in style to assign a thickness, the flyout menu closes. Choose Drawing Tools, Format, WordArt Styles, Text Effects, Glow, More Glow Colors.
4. The menu offers 60 theme colors, 10 standard colors, and a link to More Colors. Choose More Colors.
5. In the Colors dialog box, you can choose from 175 standard colors on the Standard tab or create any of 16.7 million colors on the Custom tab, as shown in Figure 10.13. To enter a custom color, you can

   • Click anywhere in the color block to select a color.

   • Specify values from 0 to 255 for each of red, green, and blue.

   • Change the drop-down to HSL and specify values from 0 to 255 for each of Hue, Saturation, and Luminescence.

   

   Figure 10.13 Choose any of 16.7 million colors for the glow. You cannot see the changes from this dialog box until you click on OK; there is no Live Preview.

6. Click OK to apply the selected color as the glow around the WordArt.

Controlling Bevel

The built-in bevel effects shown on the Bevel flyout menu do not begin to represent the available styles. As shown in Figure 10.14, the flyout offers 12 basic bevel shapes, but far more powerful options are available.

Figure 10.14 Skip the built-in bevel choices and head straight for the 3-D Options.

I recommend skipping the 12 presets and going straight to the 3-D Options menu choice to access the dialog box shown in Figure 10.15.

Figure 10.15 Using this dialog box, you can create a visible bevel.

In the 3-D Format category of the Format WordArt dialog box, you can choose from a variety of settings:

• In the first drop-down, you can choose from the same 12 bevel styles as in the flyout menu. However, you can dial up the effect’s width and height to make it more visible. The first three controls apply the bevel to the top of the shape.
• In some rotations, you can see the shape’s bottom surface. There are three more icons where you can apply a bevel to the bottom surface.
• The depth settings control the accent color used to indicate a sunken bevel. Again, a spin button allows you to control the amount of depth effect to apply.
• The contours settings apply a very thin line around the entire shape. Although the many default sizes such as 0.7 are too small to see, increasing the size to 2 points makes the line visible in the WordArt.
• The Material drop-down includes 11 surface types. Figure 10.16 compares each of them.

Figure 10.16 Choose from the 11 material types.

• In the Lighting section, you can choose 15 different types of lighting. Figure 10.17 compares the 15 types of lighting on a metal finish. In reality, each combination of 11 surface types looks different with the 15 lighting schemes.

  

  Figure 10.17 These 15 lighting schemes are shown on a metal finish.

• Below the Lighting drop-down, you can adjust the lighting angle in 10-degree increments from 0 to 360 degrees. Note that the spinbutton moves the setting in 10-degree increments. For finer control, you can type any number in the box. Figure 10.18 shows the various lighting angles.

Figure 10.18 You can adjust the lighting angle from 0 to 359.9 degrees.

Adjusting 3-D Rotation

The 3-D Rotation menu offers 25 built-in rotation schemes. A fair number of good styles are available here, as shown in Figure 10.19.

Figure 10.19 A variety of built-in 3-D Rotation styles is available.

If you want more control, choose 3-D Rotation Options to access the 3-D Rotation category of the Format WordArt dialog box. In the dialog box, you can choose angles from 0–359.9 degrees for the x-, y-, and z-axes. To me, the z-axis is identical to using the green rotation handle. However, the y-axis adjustment tilts the text forward or backward. In Figure 10.20, the y rotation of 285 degrees, combined with perspective, creates the opening crawl effect from the Star Wars movies.

Figure 10.20 You can control the rotation angles in this dialog box.

Note

The perspective settings are available only if you select a perspective preset from the preset drop-down.

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Adding Pictures to WordArt

If you have WordArt with large letters in a slab font, this technique could add some cool effects. You can place a photograph in the letters of the WordArt by following these steps:

1. Insert WordArt by clicking the WordArt icon on the Insert ribbon.
2. Resize the WordArt to be two to three times larger than the default.
3. On the Home ribbon, choose a slab font; these fonts have thick lines and features.
4. In the Drawing Tools Format ribbon, there are two Fill drop-downs. You do not want the one called Shape Fill in the Shape Styles. Instead, use the A drop-down in the WordArt Styles group.
5. Choose Picture from the drop-down.
6. Browse to a picture and choose Insert.

As shown in Figure 10.21, the image shows through the letters.

Figure 10.21 The background of the letters is actually a photo of a rose.

In the preceding steps, you were not supposed to use the Shape Fill setting. This setting controls the rectangle around the WordArt.

In Figure 10.22, WordArt creates a picture postcard. To achieve this effect, follow these steps:

1. Insert WordArt.
2. Use the resize handle to make the rectangle larger.
3. Select the text and choose a smaller font size so the text takes up a small portion of the rectangle.
4. Type Greetings from ... as the text.
5. Change the fill of the text to white or a light color.
6. Choose a border for the text.
7. In the Shape Styles group, select the Shape Fill drop-down.
8. Choose Picture.
9. Select a picture. Click Insert.

Figure 10.22 A picture postcard created with WordArt.

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SHARE YOUR PICTURE POSTCARDS

Try this technique to make a picture postcard from one of your vacation photos. Visit http://www.mrexcel.com/postcards.html to see postcards created by others and for instructions on how to mail in your postcard for inclusion on the site.

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Converting Chart Titles to WordArt

WordArt can be used in chart titles. To convert a chart title from regular text to WordArt, follow these steps:

1. Insert a chart by selecting one of the Chart icons from the Insert ribbon.
2. On the Design tab, choose a chart layout that includes a title.
3. Type the text for the title.
4. Select the title.
5. On the Chart Tools, Format ribbon, choose a WordArt style from the WordArt Styles gallery.
6. You can apply a text fill and text outline. On the Text effects drop-down, you are limited to Shadow, Reflection, and Glow. The Bevel, 3-D Rotation, and Transform options are not available.

Figure 10.23 shows the resulting title.

Figure 10.23 Converting a chart title to WordArt.

Using Text Boxes to Flow Long Text Passages in Excel

WordArt is perfect for short titles. You run into a different problem when you have long text passages to fit in a range.

Figure 10.24 shows a series of sentences in a column; the sentences are of different lengths. You would like to have them fit in a range from column A through column D.

Figure 10.24 Sometimes you need Excel to act like a word processor.

You can solve this particular problem with Home, Editing, Fill, Justify. First, select a range to include the sentences and extend the range to column D.

Select Home, Editing, Fill, Justify. Excel basically word-wraps the sentences to fit the current widths of columns A:D, as shown in Figure 10.25.

Figure 10.25 The Justify command wraps the text to the width of the range selected before the command was invoked.

Keep in mind, however, that this solution is not perfect. It was written over a decade ago, when a cell could not contain more than 255 characters. Here are some factors to consider:

• If you subsequently resize column A, the text does not reflow. You have to use the Justify command again.
• If you change the font size of the text in column A, you have to use the Justify command again.
• If any cell in the input range contains more than 255 characters, the cell is truncated. This is the fatal flaw that causes Justify to fail most often. To solve this problem, use a TextBox object. The TextBox is improved in Excel 2007 to easily allow multiple columns in the text box.

To use a TextBox object, follow these steps:

1. Select a blank section of your worksheet.
2. From the Insert ribbon, choose TextBox from the Text group.
3. Drag in your document to draw a large text box on the worksheet.
4. You can either type your text or switch to Word, copy the text, switch back to Excel, and paste the text.
5. Right-click the text box and choose Exit Edit Text.
6. Use the Font group on the Home ribbon to adjust the font size and face.
7. Right-click the text box. Choose Format Shape.
8. In the Format Shape dialog box, choose the Text Box category.
9. You can adjust the margins and alignment, if desired.
10. Click the Columns button.
11. Choose two columns with nonzero spacing between, as shown in Figure 10.26.

    

    Figure 10.26 Change the number of columns.

12. Click OK to close the Columns dialog box. Click Close to close the Format dialog box.

The result, as shown in Figure 10.27, is a text box with two columns of text. As you change the size of the text, it automatically reflows to fit the desired columns.

Figure 10.27 A text box can hold long passages of text.

Next Steps

In the next chapter, you learn about Shapes. This feature was known as AutoShapes in prior versions of Office.