Use the Layout versions of the General pane of the Preferences dialog box (QuarkXPress/Edit menu) to specify various default settings for page layout, such as the snap distance for guides and the colors of hyperlinks and anchors.

In the Display area:

• When you check Greek Text Below and enter a value in the field, QuarkXPress speeds screen redraw by “greeking” — displaying gray bars in place of text smaller than a specified size. Greeking does not affect printing or export. Text greeking is affected by the viewing percentage.
• Check Greek Pictures to enable QuarkXPress to display imported pictures as gray boxes. Selecting a box that contains a greeked picture displays the picture normally. This option is unchecked by default.

Use the Hyperlinks area to choose the color for anchor icons and hyperlinks. Anchor icon colors are available for all layouts, whereas hyperlink colors are available for Print and Interactive layouts only. You might want to choose anchor and hyperlink colors for a Print layout if you are planning to export that layout as a PDF file.

Use the Master Page Items area to control what happens to master items when master pages are applied. New master pages are applied to layout pages whenever you (1) drag and drop a master page icon from the master page area in the Layout palette onto a layout page icon in the Layout palette (Window > Show Layout); (2) delete a master page that is applied to layout pages using the Layout palette; or (3) add, delete, or move an odd number of pages in a facing-page layout.

• Click Keep Changes if you intend modified master items on your layout pages to remain when a new master page is applied. The items that are kept are no longer master items.
• Click Delete Changes if you want modified master items on your layout pages to be deleted when a new master page is applied.

Use the Framing area to specify whether frames are placed inside or outside text and picture boxes.

• When you click Inside, the distance between the text and the frame is determined by the box’s Text Inset values (Item > Modify). When you place a frame inside a picture box, the frame overlaps the picture.
• When you click Outside, the frame is placed outside the box, increasing the box’s width and height. The frame cannot extend beyond a constraining box or the pasteboard.

Print layouts only: Use the Auto Page Insertion options to determine whether pages are inserted automatically to contain text overflow from an automatic text box or a chain of text boxes (on a page associated with a master page that contains an automatic text box). The drop-down menu also enables you to determine where any pages will be inserted.

Web layouts only: Use the Image Export Directory field to specify the name of the folder in which all image files are placed when a Web layout is exported. The folder is created at the same level as the exported layout (or in the site root folder, if one is specified). If you leave this field blank, the image files are placed in the same folder as the exported layout (or in the site root folder, if one is specified). By default, a folder named “image” is created at the same level as the exported layout and exported images are placed in that “image” folder.

Web layouts only: Use the Site Root Directory field to specify the name and location of the folder to be used as the root folder for the exported version of the active Web layout. Click the Select/Browse button to the right of the field to locate the site root folder with a dialog box.