Full Measure 1 was, and still is, a free XTension that extends XPress’s measurements palette (literally) to supply additional (editable) information about type and paragraph specs. Version 2 is a commercial release that adds a wealth of information about all aspects of your document. So much, in fact, that it eliminates the need for many of the palettes and dialogue boxes that clutter the screen.
 
When working in a text box you get editable info on horizontal scale, baseline shift, colour and tint, indents (left, right and first line), space before and space after, Text inset and Vertical alignment.
 
With picture boxes you get a similar array of functionality and detail. It will tell you the name of the file with a pop-up menu to show its directory path. It will tell you file type and size, colour depth and resolution (for Bitmaps), you can also adjust the position within the box or even fit the box to the picture. It shows the program that created the image and allows you to open that program or choose another in which to edit the image. This is a far better solution than XPress’s ‘Open Publisher’, and it works! And another neat trick - it can ‘greek’ individual pictures. Now if you have a huge image that slows down screen redraw you can now ‘turn it off’ and leave the smaller ones visible. This was something on my wish list for Quark to incorporate into the next release.
By holding down the control key you get access to information about the box/object including; skew angle, corner radius, background colour and percentage, box shape, border rule size and colour plus you can specify the type of runaround. The clever thing is it doesn’t override the ability to use the magnifying tool shortcut.
Holding down the control and option keys together gives more general document/application info. Here you can specify your measurements (ie mm, inches, points etc), greek pictures, hide guides, adjust magnification from a pop-up menu, specify magnification increments and a unique ability to specify the positions of guides. As it is almost impossible to accurately position guidelines in anything less than 200% view, this is a real boon.
This is another top quality, well designed XTension from BadiaSoftware (see review of Duplica in issue 10). They literally extend the existing functions of XPress, which is pretty much what XTensions should do, without cluttering up the interface. It incorporates functions that are found in several of the XTensions in both alap’s XPert Tools and Extensis QX-Tools, and not an extra palette in sight. And it weighs in at a tiny 104k.
For anybody who uses XPress on a daily basis this is an indispensible XTension. It takes a little getting used to using it, especially if you are in the habit of using keyboard shortcuts, but this is really a lot faster. The only down side is that it requires a minimum of a 17" monitor (832x624 resolution) and XPress 4.03, but anyone that would benefit from this XTension probably isn’t using anything less anyway. I really can’t recommend it enough and eagerly look forward to their next offering.
X rating: XXXXX
Pros: All the information you need about a document in one place. Individual picture greeking. Definable guides. Well conceived and designed
Cons: None (apart from minimum requirements)
Available only from http://www.badiasoftware.com for $34.99. Demo version available. Version 1.0 is available as a free download from this site.
If you have any questions about XPress or suggestions for topics you would like covered please e-mail.
