A new Illustrator user recently asked me if Illustrator had any basic pattern fills, something less gaudy than the default ones in the Swatches panel. Truthfully, I haven't investigated the state of pattern swatches in Illustrator since about version 3. I remember how they used to choke my old Apple LaserWriter, though!

So I opened Illustrator CS3 to remind myself of the exact path to the pattern swatches and see if there were any simple ones he could use. You know, just do a quick check so I could e-mail him a how-to.

I think messy Word files have some sort of cosmic connection with ragweed. Over the past few weeks I've received an inordinate number of e-mails from people (half of whom I don't know and just found my site on Google) pleading for help with Word documents that misbehave when imported into InDesign or QuarkXPress.

And over the same period I've had to keep a bottle of Claritin and Windex on my desk because my hay fever is acting up and it's hard to read my laptop monitor with sneeze droplets all over it.