Formatting panel controls

You can change the appearance of tab controls and slide controls and objects on panels. In addition, you can format:

•	display states for individual tab panels (see Specifying the display state for an object)

•	components of slide controls (the slide control area, slide panels, and the dots)

Note Your formatting changes are saved to this layout only. To save changes as a style that can be applied to other panel controls, see Creating and working with styles for layout objects, parts, and the layout background. To save changes to a theme, see Saving a layout theme.

To format a panel control:

1.	In Layout mode:

•	To format a display state for a tab panel: In the Inspector, choose from the object state list (near the top of the Appearance tab).

•	To format a component of a slide control: In the Inspector, choose Slide Control, Slide Control: Panels, or Slide Control: Dots from the object type list (near the top of the Appearance tab).

2.	Do one or more of the following.

Do this

Change the fill of the front-most tab, the area of a slide control below the slide panels, or objects on a tab panel or slide panel

In Layout mode, select the tab control, slide control, or objects you want to change. (See Selecting and working with objects on panel controls.) Click Inspector

in the layout bar, then click Appearance, and choose a fill in the Graphic area. See Setting the fill, line style, and borders for objects, layout parts, and the layout background, Filling objects, layout parts, or the layout background with a color gradient, or Filling objects, layout parts, or the layout background with an image.

Tip To apply the same fill to all tabs on a tab control, drag the arrow pointer to make a selection box that surrounds the tab control, then apply a fill.

Change the style and color of the border around a panel control

Select the tab control or slide control, then:

•	Click Inspector in the layout bar, click Appearance, then choose Line options in the Graphic area.

•	Or, choose Line options in the formatting bar. If you don’t see the formatting bar, click Formatting in the layout bar.

For more information, see Setting the fill, line style, and borders for objects, layout parts, and the layout background.

Change the shape of the corners of a tab control or slide control

Select the tab control or slide control, click Inspector

in the layout bar, then click Appearance. In the Graphic area, for Corner radius, choose each corner that you want to have a rounded appearance and specify a value in points. The larger the value, the more a corner is rounded.

Place all tabs on tab panels to the far left, center, or far right, or spread them across the tab panels

Double-click the tab control. In the Tab Control Setup dialog box, choose from Tab Justification.

Change the format of a tab panel’s name

Select a tab control, then:

•	Click Inspector in the layout bar, click Appearance, and choose options in the Text area.

•	Or, use the text options in the formatting bar. If you don’t see the formatting bar, click Formatting in the layout bar.

See Formatting text.

Change the width of all tabs in a tab control

Double-click the tab control. In the Tab Control Setup dialog box, choose from Tab Width.

For Label Width + Margin of, Minimum of, or Fixed Width of, choose Inches, Centimeters, or Points, then enter a value.

Change the fill or the color and style of the border around slide control dots

Select the slide control and click Inspector

in the layout bar. Click Appearance, then choose Slide Control: Dots in the object type list (near the top of the Appearance tab). In the Graphic area, choose a fill and choose Line options. Or, choose Line options in the formatting bar. If you don’t see the formatting bar, click Formatting

in the layout bar.

Add outer shadows to a tab control or slide control

Select the tab control or slide control, click Inspector

in the layout bar, then click Appearance. In the Advanced Graphic area, select Outer Shadow. Click

to change shadow effects.

Add inner shadows to slide panels

Click Inspector

in the layout bar, click Appearance, then choose Slide Control: Panel in the object type list (near the top of the Appearance tab). In the Advanced Graphic area, select Inner Shadow. Click

to change shadow effects.

Adjust the padding of a tab control or slide control to change its dimensions

Select the tab control or slide control, click Inspector

in the layout bar, then click Appearance. In the Advanced Graphic area, for Padding, specify values (in points) for Left, Right, Top, and Bottom.

•	Adjusting the padding for a tab control changes the size of the tab label area.

•

Adjusting the padding for a slide control changes the size and orientation of slide panels. Changing the bottom padding of a slide control increases or decreases the height of the area containing the dots. Objects placed in the slide control area outside the panels remain displayed when you switch between panels.

Notes

•	You can’t format a locked object. See Protecting objects from change.

•	You can’t change the fill or border of individual slide panels.

•	You can’t apply outer shadows to slide panels or inner shadows to tab controls or slide control dots.

•	Format changes applied to panel controls do not affect the objects on tab panels or slide panels unless you select objects before applying formatting. See Selecting objects.

•	You can format the appearance of one or more tab panels or slide panels to be conditional (for example, format a tab panel to appear red when a certain condition is met). See Defining conditional formatting for layout objects.