Typography Tips

8/10/2019 Typography Tips

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Defaults for

Keyboard Increments

e Units & Increments preferences pane:

Size/Leading:Set the increments in points (.5). Enlarge type: Command Shi > Reduce type: Command Shi < x5 times: Option Command Shi < o>

Baseline Shift:Set the increments in points (.5). Shi up or down: Shi Option UpArow oDownArow

In the Text pane:

Small caps:Set in percentage of point size.

Aply smal caps: Command Shi H

Super- and subscript:Set in percentage of point size and relativeposition to baseline.

Superscript: Command Shi +

Subscript: Command Shi Option +

Togle to remove super- or subscript

Leading Because leadingin InDesign does not have to aply to the entireparagraph, youl find it in the Charaer palee.

To add or decrease leading to selected text:Option DownArow (ad) oOption UpArow (decrease)(If youre increasing the leading for an entire paragraph,

be sure to triple-click to select the entire paragraph!)

If you like, you can make the leading apply to the entire paragraph,like it does in Quark. (e auto-leading value is in the Justifica-tion dialog box, found in the Paragraph palee menu.)

Apply auto-leading to selected text:Command Option Shi AJustified lines You have a choice of four justified alignments:

With the last line justified on the le side.

With the last line centered.

With the last line aligned to the right.

With the last line stretched across the paragraphto align it both le and right.

Typo gr aphy

T R A I N I N G 3

InDesi n2004 Robin Will iams

A

Ad the Shi key to increaseo decrease by five times

the default aount.

Ad the Shi key to increase

o decrease by five timesthe default aount.


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Kerning and Tracking Kerningaplies when the insertion point is flashing betweentwo charaers. e kerning value is actualy aplied to theleer on the le.

Auto pair-kerns and Metrical kerning:is is the default.

Optical kerning:Use when a font has minimal pair kernsor when mixing typefaces.

To see the exact value (shown in in parens), click betweentwo charaers aer aplying Optical kerning .

Manual kerning:Insertion point is between two charaers.

Add space: Option RightArow

Delete space: Option LeArow

x5 increment: Command Option RightArow oLeArow

Trackingaplies when more than one charaer is selected. Trackingis aded to the manual kerning (if any). Uses the same shortcutsas above.

Remove all kerning and tracking from selected text:Command Option Q (Do not ad the Shif key!!!!!)

Adobe Composer InDesign uses one of these composition methods for al type.Set the apropriate choice in your style sheets.

Paragraph Composer:Adjusts entire paragraphs of type to createthe best right edge with the smoothest rag. Works in conjunctionwith al the other text seings. Use this seing when you have

paragraphs of type.

Single Line Composer:Gives you more control over where linesbreak. Use this when you are seing several individual lines.

Single lines of type Here are several tricks for single lines of text:

Flush left and right on flexible line:Type the text you want to alignon the le; hit the Tab key; type the text you want on the right.

Now align right (Command Shi R). You can resize the linelength and the text wil always line up on the le and the right.(orinsert a Right Indent tab; use the contextual menu.)

Justify on a flexible line:Use the Justify Al Lines option in theParagraph palee. Use a non-breaking space for word space:Command Option X.


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Balance ragged lines Use this feature to smooth the right edge even more, eecialyon healines or short pieces of text. e Paragraph Composermust also be chosen.

Distort text Condense, stretch, squish:Select the charaers with the Text tool

and use the Charaer palee.Rotate, shear:Select the text lock with the Pointer tool and use

the Transform palee.

Scale text To make selected text larger or smaller:See page .

Text info Use the Info palette (Window menu). is displays the charaercount, word count, line count, and paragraph count for the storyin which the insertion point is flashing.

Text frames In the Text Frame Optionsdialog box, you can choose the number ofcolumns for a frame, the offsets, alignment, and more. Open thisdialog box from the Object menu or press Command B.

To move or resize a text frame:Use the Pointer tool.orif you are typing in the text frame, get the Pointer tooltemporarily by holding down the Command keythen youcan move or resize the frame without losing your Text tool.

When you resize a text frame, the text automaticaly adjusts itsmargins and depth to fit.

Scale a text frame

and the text in it

To scale a text frame and the text:With the Pointer tool, hold downShi and Command when you resize a frame. e Charaer

palee wil display the original point size and the scaled point sizein parentheses.

Paragraph spacing Use the Paragraph palee. If the Space Before and Space Aer editboxes are not visile, use the palee menu to Show Options.

Drop caps Create drop caps in a selected paragraph:Use the Paragraph palee.In the le-hand Drop Cap field, enter the number of linesto drop.In the right-hand Drop Cap field, enter the number of lettersto drop.

To remove the drop caps:Select the paragraph and enter 0 (zero) inthe right-hand Drop Cap field.

Glyph palette Indiensale for use with OpenType fonts!

Story palette Hang the punctuationwith the click of a buon! is aplies to theentire story and seriously slows down redraw and composition soonly use it when necessary. Its in the Type menu.

Help! Im trapedinside an enigmaand cant get out!


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Eyedropper tool

to copy text attributes

Eitherselect the text that has the aributes you want to copy, thenaply those aributes to other (unselected) text.

. Choose the Eyedroper tool.2. Click on the text whose aributes you want to copy.3. e tool changes to a ful Eyedroper with an I-beam.

4. Drag over the text you want to aply the aributes to.5. To deselect, click any other tool.

Orselect text, then copy aributes ofothetext to theselectedtext:

. Choose Text tool.2. Select the text to which you want to aply aributes of

other text.3. Choose the Eyedroper tool.4. Click on the text from which you want to copy aributes.5. e text you selected earlier now has the copied aributes.

6. e Eyedroper tool is stil loaded with aributes so youcan drag over other text.

7. To deselect, click any other tool.

To pick up and apply only paragraph attributes: Keep the Shi keydown as you copy and aply aributes.

To change attributes in a loaded Eyedropper:Option-click on othertext.

To specify attributes to be loaded:Doule-click on the Eyedropertool in the Toobar.

White spaces You can either use the keyboard shortcut, if there is one, or thecontextual menu.

Em space Equal to the point size of the type Command Shi

En space Equal to one-half the point size of the type Command Shi

Thin space Equal to one-eighth the point size of the type Command Option Shi

Hair space Equal to one-sixteenth the point size of the type Command Option Shi I

Flush space In justified text, this expands the last space toforce the last word or dingbat to the right edge

Figure space Equal to a tabular (monospaced) number

Punctuation space Equal to a comma, period, or other smalpunctuation

Non-breaking spaceForces two words to stay together Command Option


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Special characters Hyphen - Hyphen

En dash Option Hyphen

Em dash Option Shi Hyphen

Non-breaking hyphen Option Command Hyphen

Discretionary hyphen (it disapears when necessary; also use it infront of a word to prevent hyphenation)Command Shi Hyphen

Create outlines To change a single letter to outline, or a word, sentence, or

paragraph:Select the text with the Text tool. Go to the Typemenu and choose Create Outlines.

To change an entire text block to outlines:Select the frame with thePointer tool. Go to the Type menu and choose Create Outlines.

To manipulate the points:Use the white Direct Selection tool.

Drop shadows To add a drop shadow to type:You have to select the text frame with

the Pointer tool. en ad a drop shadow as you wouldto a graphic (get Drop Shadow from the Object menu).

Experiment with text and a drop shadow on top of a photograph;use the Mode menu in the dialog box.

Although you have to select the text with the Pointer tool to adthe shadow, you can then edit the text and the shadow wilredraw to match.

Gradient tool Select the text with the Text tool, then get the Gradient tool. Press-and-drag the tool over the text. It wil use the default gradient.

If you select text with the Pointer tool, the Gradient tool wil fil thetext frame, not the text itself.

OpenType fonts OpenType fontsare incredily wonderful. ey can have up to6, charaers in one font. Use the Glyph palee to accessand type with OpenType fonts.

Santa Fe mugSanta Fe mug

Bioso Pro Regula60 point(too heay)

Bioso Pro Display60 point(so lovely)

R


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Style sheets InDesign has Paragraph Styles, Character Styles,and Nested Styles.One cannot live without style sheets.

Paragaph stylesaply to entire paragraphs. is is where you putyour first-line indent for paragraphs orparagraph space aer.You can ad drop caps, leading values, alignments, etc.

Character stylesoveride paragraph styles and aply only to theecific charaers you select.

Nested styleslet you set up any number of charaer styles within aparagraph style. e paragraphs below show a nested style, wherethe bold sans Myriad font apears until I type a colon, then itswitches to Brioso Pro.

Be careful with the Based On optionbe thats what yourealy want because as soon as you change anything in the linkedstyle, it wil aply to everything that is based on it. is canbe

great, but can also wreak havoc if you aply Based On indis-criminately.

Next Style is fabulous. It only works as you are writing the text,thoughit wil not automaticaly aply to any next text thatis already on the page.

To remove a style:Select the text and Option-click No charaer/paragraph style.

To remove character formatting but preserve Character style sheets: Option-click the name of the paragraph style.

To remove character formatting ANDCharacter style sheets:Shi-Optionclick the name of the paragraph style.

Shortcuts for all styles:In the dialog box, click in the Shortcut field.Hold down any combination of the Shi, Command, or Optionkeys, then press a number in the numeric keypad.Only the

numeic keypad works.To import Paragraph and/or Character styles:Use the palee menu

to Load Styles from another InDesign document.

Nested styles:First create the charaer styles you want to nest.en create a new style and choose the basic format of your para-

graph for the main body copy.

Use the Drop Caps and Nested Styles pane.

Click New Nested Style.

In the Nested Styles area, click on each option to get its menu,then choose your options.


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Tabs and Indents Oh mythis would be a two-hour class al by itself. Some tips:

Right-indent tab:Shi-Tab at the point in the line where you want itto break. Il show you what I mean!

Indent to Here:Click in the line above the rest of the text you wantto indent. Control-click to get the pop-up menu, choose InsertSpecial Charaer, then Indent to Here. Way cool. You can evenedit.

Repeat Tab:is a marvelous feature. It wil repeat a tab across theline the distance the selected tab is from the tab to its immediatele or the margin.

Align On:In the Tab ruler, set a decimal tab and select it; typea charaer in the Align On box. You can align on a colon,question mark, number, or anything else you like.

Leaderscan be customized: ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ 56.You can use up to eight charaers.

The Magnet button:is snaps the ruler to the margins of the story

that has the insertion point flashing in it.

Te row above is actuay a text frae. I pasted the lile face graphics into a line of text with a tab between eac face, then

used the Reeat tab to space the evenly. I presed Comand Option C to fit the frae to the content. I colored the inside of

the frae saffron, hic makes it apea as if there are sma boxes between the graphics. I gae the frae a thin lac stroke.

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Typography Tips