QuarkXPress works on the concept of items (containers) and content (things that go inside of items).

Items are the building blocks of a page layout. The Item tool lets you do things like move, resize, rotate, reshape, cut, copy, and paste items.

The basic types of items are as follows:

• Boxes, including text boxes, picture boxes, and no-content boxes. Boxes can come in a variety of shapes, such as rectangular, round, and Bézier.
• Lines, including “plain” lines and text paths (which can include text). Lines, too, can be straight or Bézier.
• Groups, which are sets of items that have been “glued” together so that they act like a single item.
• Tables, which can contain both text and pictures.
• Forms, which let you create HTML forms (Web layouts only).
• Form controls, which let you create HTML form controls (Web layouts only).

Content is, basically, text and pictures. To create a layout, you will typically draw some text boxes and picture boxes, and then insert text and pictures into those boxes.

Because items and content are different, you use separate tools for manipulating each:

• The Text Content tool lets you create rectangular text boxes and format text in text boxes or on text paths. You can also use the Text Content tool to cut, copy, and paste text.
• The Picture Content tool lets you create rectangular picture boxes and manipulate pictures in picture boxes. You can also use the Picture Content tool to cut, copy, and paste pictures.