Shading and Borders

							Shading and Borders
Borders and shading are a nice way to create some visual interest in your document, giving them
more impact and making them more memorable. When used tastefully, they also make you look
good.

    Quick and Easy Borders
    The easiest way to add a border to any document or portion of a document is to use the
    Borders button on the formatting toolbar ( ). Click on the list box arrow, select a border
    style, and that style becomes the default style. At that point, all you have to do to apply that
    same border style to another section of text is select the text and click on the button. Let’s
    experiment with borders.
     Select the first paragraph
     Put a border around the entire paragraph
     Remove the border
     Place a border only on the top of the paragraph
     Now on the left, right, and bottom
     Place a border around the only the first sentence in the second paragraph
     Select a phrase and put a border around it
     Select a word and border it
     Place a border only on the left side of a single sentence… and a single word (it doesn’t
        work)
    Again, that is the “quick and easy” way to do borders but you don’t have much control over
    what you can do and it is really quite plain. As with most other things, Word gives you a
    way to customize borders.

    Customizing Borders
    The Borders and shading dialogue box gives you the ability to add special effects to your
    borders such as a shadow or a three-dimensional appearance, and you can even change the
    line style. Let’s see how it works.
     Remove any borders that you currently have added to the practice document. (Hint: Use
         undo key)
     Select first paragraph and select Format – Borders and Shading
     Select one the five setting (not “None”), a different style, a different color, and a different
         width.
     Note the “Preview” box… it gives you a sample of what the options you have selected
         will look like in your document
     Check the effects on your document
     Change the options and check the effect
     Select multiple paragraphs and place a border around them
     Check the document for the effects
    The Custom setting (on the bottom) allows you to access all the other features of the border
    dialogue box but choose which side of the paragraph you want the border to appear on. Also
    notice that there is an “Apply to:” list box in the lower right hand corner of the dialogue box.
     Select a paragraph
     Apply a border from the Borders and Shading Dialogue box
     In the “Apply to” list box, select “Text”
 View the results (this doesn’t seem to be too useful to me)

Creating Page Borders
Page borders are the same as the borders we have been looking at, only they apply to an
entire page. This can create a stunning effect and really make your documents (and
therefore, you) look really good.
 Format – Borders and Shading – Page Border Tab
 Select a setting, style, color, and width
 Check the effects on your document
  In order to view the document with the border you will have to either be in Page Layout
  view or Print Preview Mode
 For a really nice effect, center the text vertically on the page
      File – Page Setup – Layout Tab
      In the “Vertical Alignment” list box, select “Center”
      View document in Page Layout View or Print Preview Mode
      You can also justify to the text vertically from the same list box. These two features
       are very useful and give your documents a very professional look.
 Remove the page border you currently have (undo button)
 Add another one, this time selecting “Border Art.”
  With Border Art you have many options for you border. You can change the size and the
  color of many of the border art selections for a very customized effect.

Working with Shading
While borders surround your text, shading covers it and acts as a background.
 Remove all borders in your document
 Select the first paragraph
 Format – Borders and Shading – Shading Tab
 Select a color
 View results
 Add shading to a word and a sentence

Putting it All Together
Spend a few minutes adding both borders and shading (and vertical alignment) to your
document to make it look “really cool.”