Changing the Format of a WordArt Object
If you aren’t happy with the way your WordArt looks,
you can format it in a bazillion different ways. But this is where
things can get slow and laborious, and where you start pulling your
hair out while you tinker with dozens of options and their collectively
infinite combination of settings.
Before going further, however, remember this: Any
piece of WordArt is part of a text box, which is basically an
AutoShape.
As for WordArt text, there are enough choices to
drive a formatting fanatic insane, which is why we can’t possibly cover
all of them here. Instead, I’ll hit the high points; you check out the
options that you find most interesting and experiment with them to your
heart’s content.
To format WordArt text, click the WordArt to select it and to open the Format tab. You can do any or all of the following:
- Change the quick style:
To apply a different quick style, click the Quick Styles button to open
the WordArt Quick Styles gallery; then pick a different style.
- Give the text a different fill: WordArt text is made of an outline and a fill. The fill can be a solid color or a gradient. Do one of the following:
- To apply a solid fill, click the Text Fill button to open the color palette; then pick a color.
- To apply a gradient, click Text Fill, click Gradient, and then pick a gradient style from the submenu, as shown in Figure 4.
- Change the text’s outline: You can change the outline’s color, weight (thickness), and line style. Do any or all of the following:
- To change the color, click the Text Outline button to open the color palette; then pick a color.
- To change the line’s weight, click Text Outline, click Weight, and then pick a line weight from the submenu, as shown in Figure 5.
- To change the outline from a solid line to a dashed line, click Text Outline, click Dashes, and then pick a line style.
- Apply a nifty special effect:
You can choose from dozens of special effects, such as glows, shadows,
beveled edges, and others. Click Text Effects to open a menu of effects
categories. Click a category; then pick a specific effect from the
category’s submenu. Figure 6 shows a transformation effect being chosen.
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In earlier versions of Word, most WordArt styles
were warped or arched in some way by default. Luckily for us, that
isn’t the case in Word 2010. By choosing a transformation option, you
can bend your text in lots of ways, make it follow a path, or even turn
it into a circle. Transformations are cool effects but are easily
overused, as is true of all special text effects. Use effects
minimally, or your WordArt will be hard to read.
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If you prefer to do all your formatting in one
place, click the dialog box launcher in the WordArt Styles group. The
Format Text Effects dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 7.
This dialog box offers all the same tools found in the WordArt Styles
group but throws in some nifty extras. For example, the dialog box
enables you to customize colors and gradients by setting transparency
levels.
But the nicest thing about the Format Text
Effects dialog box is that some of its pages have a Reset button. If
you go too far with your WordArt formatting, just find and click a
Reset button to remove formats you applied from that page of the dialog
box.
