- Creating Text Frames
- Typing Text
- Selecting Text
- Moving and Deleting Text
- Using the Character Palette
- Setting the Typeface and Point Size
- Styling Text
- Setting Line and Character Spacing
- Applying Text Distortions
- Setting the Language
- Applying Paragraph Formatting
- Setting Alignment and Indents
- Inserting a Manual Indent
- Setting Paragraph Effects
- Working with Hidden Characters
- Using the Glyphs Palette
- Working with Text Flow
- Setting Text Frame General Controls
- Using the Control Palette for Text
- Using Special Text Characters
Setting Text Frame General Controls
Once you create a text frame, you can still control the flow of text within the frame. This is similar to creating a mini-layout within the text frame.
To create text frame columns:
- Select the text frame.
- Choose Object > Text Frame Options. This opens the Text Frame Options dialog box
.
- Click the General tab.
- Make whatever changes you want to the settings.
You can create columns within a text frame.
To create text frame columns:
- Set the following options in the Columns areas
:
- Number sets the number of columns.
- Width sets the column width.
- Gutter controls the space between the columns.
InDesign also has a powerful feature that helps you maintain a fixed column width when working with a text frame. This is very helpful for magazine and newspaper layouts where all text is in the same column width.
To use Fixed Column Width:
- Click Fixed Column Width in the Text Frame Options dialog box.
- Drag to resize the frame width. The width automatically jumps to whatever size can accommodate an additional column
.
You can also add space between the text and the frame. This is called the inset spacing.
To control the frame inset:
- Select the text frame and open the Text Frame Options dialog box.
- Enter the values in the Inset Spacing controls to control the amount of space between the top, bottom, left, and right edges
of the frame
.
- Click OK to apply the changes to the column
.
The vertical justification of a text frame controls where the text is positioned from the top to the bottom of the frame.
To set the vertical justification:
- Select the text frame and open the Text Frame Options dialog box (see page 76).
- Choose one of the four options in the Vertical Justification Align pop-up list
:
- Top positions the text so that the first line sits at the top of the frame
.
- Center positions the text so it is centered between the top and bottom of the frame
.
- Bottom positions the text so that the last line sits at the bottom of the frame
.
- Justify positions the text so that it fills the entire frame from top to bottom
.
- Top positions the text so that the first line sits at the top of the frame
When you set the vertical alignment to Justify, you can set how the space between paragraphs is applied.
To set the paragraph spacing limit: