Quark XPress Tags User Manual
A Guide to XPress Tags 2019
2019/08/07
A GUIDE TO XPRESS TAGS 2019 | I
Contents
Understanding XPress Tags..........................................................1
Importing tagged text ......................................................................................1
Generating tagged text in another application ................................................1
General information on XPress tags .................................................................1
Character and paragraph formatting ...........................................3
Character attributes..........................................................................................3
Languages.................................................................................................................4
Rubi text....................................................................................................................6
Group characters ......................................................................................................7
Font sets ...................................................................................................................7
OpenType attributes.................................................................................................8
Paragraph attributes.......................................................................................11
Other attributes..............................................................................................14
Turn on/off styling...........................................................................................14
Revert styling to style sheets .........................................................................14
Style sheets................................................................................15
Defining style sheets.......................................................................................15
Applying style sheets......................................................................................15
Additional XPress Tags for style sheets..........................................................16
Colors .........................................................................................18
Defining a custom color ..................................................................................18
Applying a custom color .................................................................................19
Special characters.......................................................................20
Encoding .........................................................................................................20
Escaped characters .........................................................................................20
Other special characters .................................................................................20
ASCII codes.....................................................................................................22
Indexing .....................................................................................23
Marking text for an index ...............................................................................23
Specifying index tag information....................................................................23
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Legal notices ..............................................................................25
UNDERSTANDING XPRESS TAGS
A GUIDE TO XPRESS TAGS 2019 | 1
Understanding XPress Tags
With XPress Tags Filter XTensions software, you can use plain text files to import
and export text into QuarkXPress layouts with paragraph and character attributes
already applied. Because the plain text file format doesn’t actually support
attributes, the formatting is indicated with codes that are translated by the XPress
Tags filter. As the new character and paragraph formatting options are added to
QuarkXPress, new XPress Tags codes are added to support the new attributes.
Importing tagged text
To import a plain text file that contains embedded XPress Tags codes:
Choose File > Import. 1.
Select the target XPress tags file. 2.
The application attempts to detect the encoding of the XPress Tags file. To 3.
specify a different encoding, choose an option from the Encoding drop-down
menu.
To convert XPress Tags codes into actual character attributes and paragraph 4.
formats, check Interpret XPress Tags in the Import Text dialog box. If you do
not check Interpret XPress Tags in the Import Text dialog box before
importing tagged text, QuarkXPress does not convert XPress Tags codes. Instead,
the program imports the codes as text characters.
Generating tagged text in another application
To include XPress Tags information in a text file that you created in another
application, precede the text with the codes you want. Begin the text file with a
version code and encoding indication (for example: <v15.00><e9>). For more
information about encoding codes, see “Encoding“.
Save the text you generate in the plain text file format using the appropriate
encoding.
General information on XPress tags
When entering XPress Tags codes, keep the following in mind:
XPress Tags codes are case-sensitive. •
UNDERSTANDING XPRESS TAGS
2 | A Guide to XPress Tags 2019
XPress Tags codes for character and paragraph attributes must begin and end •
with angle brackets (< >). For example, the XPress Tags code for boldface text is
<B>.
To combine character attribute codes, begin with a left angle bracket, then enter •
the codes you want to specify, and complete the code with a right angle bracket.
For example, the code for bold italic text is <BI>.
XPress Tags codes for character attributes must be placed immediately preceding •
the characters to which you want to apply the attributes. When you apply a
character attribute using an XPress Tags code, the attribute remains in effect
until you cancel it or until you enter codes that change the style sheet. You can
cancel an attribute by re-specifying its code following the last character to which
you want it applied (or for type styles, you can enter the code for plain text,
<P>).
For XPress Tags code commands that let you specify more than one value (such •
as paragraph attributes), you can enter a $ in place of an actual value. When
QuarkXPress encounters a $ code, the program substitutes the value specified in
the currently applied style sheet. (If no style sheet is currently applied, the value
of the Normal style sheet is used.) For example, you might want a paragraph to
contain all the formats specified in the applied style sheet, but you want to
apply 18 points of leading instead of the value specified in the style sheet. The
code for this would be: <*p($,$,$,14,$,$,$,$)>.
Names you specify as XPress Tags codes must be preceded and terminated by an •
inch mark “ character. For example, if you want to specify the font
AvenirLTStd-Roman, use the <f"AvenirLTStd-Roman"> code.
Some features (such as rubi text, group characters, and emphasis marks) are only •
available when you have the East Asian preference enabled (QuarkXPress/Edit( >
Preferences > East Asian). However, you can open a project that uses such
features in any edition of QuarkXPress, and you can import and export text that
uses these features in XPress Tags format using any language edition of
QuarkXPress.
CHARACTER AND PARAGRAPH FORMATTING
A GUIDE TO XPRESS TAGS 2019 | 3
Character and paragraph formatting
When you specify type styles using XPress Tags codes, <P> always sets the type style
to Plain. When you specify any other type style (for example, <B> for Bold), that
style is applied if it isn’t already specified, and is removed if it has been specified.
For example, the first time you specify <B>, the Bold type style is applied to the text
that follows. If you enter <B> again, the Bold type style is not applied to the text
that follows. If you enter <$>, the type style is set to the one specified in the current
style sheet. If a style sheet is not currently applied, the Normal style sheet is used.
Character attributes
Plain: <P> •
Bold: <B> •
Italic: <I> •
Underline: <U> •
Word Underline: <W> •
Strikethrough: </> •
Double Strikethrough: <R> •
Outline: <O> •
Shadow: <S> •
All Caps: <K> •
Small Caps: <H> •
Superscript: <+> •
Subscript: <-> (hyphen) •
Superior: <V> •
Change font : <f"font name"> •
Change font size : <z###.##> in points •
Change color*: <c"color name"> or <cC, cM, cY, cK, and cW> •
Change shade : <s###.#> in percentage of shade •
CHARACTER AND PARAGRAPH FORMATTING
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Horizontal scale : <h###.#> in percentage of scale •
Vertical scale : <y###.#> in percentage of scale •
Kern : <k###.##> in 1/200 em space •
Track : <t###.##> in 1/200 em space •
Sending : Same tag as tracking but with a value in points added to the end •
Baseline shift : <b###.##> in points •
Ligatures: <G1> to turn on, or <G0> to turn off •
Opacity : <p###.#> in percentage of opacity •
OpenType: <o("xxxx")> where “xxxx” = the OpenType feature •
Language: <n##> (see “Languages“) •
Character alignment : <*An>, where n indicates the type of alignment; <AT> = •
Em box top/right, <AO> = ICF top/right, <AC> = center, <AM> = ICF bottom/left,
<AB> = Em box bottom/left, <AL> = baseline
Keep half width characters upright (a character attribute used only in vertical •
stories): <Ln>, where <L0> = sideways, <L1> = upright, and <L$> = revert to style
sheet
Emphasis marks : <Mn>, where n is the emphasis mark •
Apply sending to non-CJK characters : <Y1> to turn on, <Y0> to turn it off, or •
<Y$> to use the current style sheet setting
When any of these commands is followed by a$ (for example, <f$>), the
attributes are set to the values specified in the current character style sheet. If a
character style sheet is not currently applied, the Normal style sheet is used. (A
# character in this list indicates a numeric value.)
The icon indicates text features that are considered East Asian features and
are only available when you have the East Asian preference enabled
(QuarkXPress/Edit( > Preferences > East Asian). However, you can import and
export text that uses these features in XPress Tags format using any language
edition of QuarkXPress.
Languages
You can apply the following languages with the <n##> character tag.
None: <n254> •
Bulgarian: <n72> •
Catalan: <n73> •
Chinese (Simplified): <n52> •
Chinese (Traditional): <n53> •
CHARACTER AND PARAGRAPH FORMATTING
A Guide to XPress Tags 2019 | 5
Croatian: <n68> •
Czech: <n56> •
Danish: <n9> •
Dutch: <n5> •
English (International): <n2> •
English (US): <n0> •
Estonian: <n44> •
Finnish: <n17> •
French: <n1> •
German: <n3> •
German (Reformed): <n70> •
German (Swiss Reformed): <n69> •
German (Swiss): <n19> •
Greek: <n20> •
Hungarian: <n43> •
Icelandic: <n21> •
Italian: <n4> •
Japanese: <n14> •
Korean: <n51> •
Latvian: <n45> •
Lithuanian: <n41> •
Norwegian (Bokmal): <n12> •
Norwegian (Nynorsk): <n80> •
Polish: <n42> •
Portuguese (Brazilian): <n71> •
Portuguese (European): <n10> •
Romanian: <n39> •
Russian: <n49> •
Slovak: <n57> •
Slovenian: <n66> •
Spanish: <n8> •
Swedish: <n7> •
Turkish: <n24> •
Ukrainian: <n62> •
CHARACTER AND PARAGRAPH FORMATTING
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Hindi: <n33> •
Bengali: <n60> •
Punjabi: <n95> •
Tamil: <n90> •
Malayalam: <n89> •
Odia: <n63> •
Telugu: <n87> •
Kannada: <n93> •
Gujarati: <n94> •
Marathi: <n99> •
Assamese: <n38> •
Rubi text
Rubi text lets you annotate base characters with smaller rubi characters. This
feature is an East Asian feature and is only available when you have the East Asian
preference enabled (QuarkXPress/Edit( > Preferences > East Asian). However, you
can import and export text that uses these features in XPress Tags format using any
language edition of QuarkXPress.
Rubi text tags use the following form:
<A(\#68Base text\#36<@><Character attributes><\#9Rubi
text\#132,50,C,A,0,2,B,T)>
The contents of this tag are as follows:
<A()> encloses the tag. •
/#68 and /#36 mark the beginning and end of the base text. •
<@><Character attributes> lets you style the rubi text (see “Character •
attributes“).
\#n marks the beginning of the rubi text, where n = the number of rubi •
characters (in the above example, 9).
\#132 marks the end of the rubi text and the beginning of the rubi positioning •
codes.
50 is a percentage of the base font size. •
C is alignment, where L = left, C = center, R = right, J = justified, F = forced, O = •
1–2–1 (JIS) rule, and E = equal space.
A is base alignment, where A = none, L = left, C = center, R = right, J = justified, F •
= forced, O = 1–2–1 (JIS) rule, and E = equal space.
0 is horizontal offset of the rubi in points. •
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