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Anthonymcp
Anthonymcp
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Vertical spacing of text frames

Apr 9, 2012 1:37 PM

Hi,

 

I am creating an eBook and have defined a couple paragraph styles (Chapter, Title, Subtitle, and Paragraph). Is there a best practice for controlling the vertical spacing of text frames? I want to be sure the spacing below my text frames is the same everywhere. I don't want the spacing between "Chapter 4" and its subtitle to be different than the spacing between "Chapter 1" and its subtitle.

 

Thanks

872 Views   12 Replies   Latest reply: Daniel Flavin, Apr 10, 2012 1:16 PM
 
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  • Bob Levine
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    1. Bob Levine,
    Apr 9, 2012 1:51 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Spacing between frames is pretty much meaningless. If you’re laying out text for epub the entire document should really be on flowing story.

     

     

     

    How are your HTML/CSS skills?

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    2. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 9, 2012 1:55 PM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    My HTML/CSS is great. How can I take advantage of that?

     

    Instead of using separate text frames for the paragrah text, chapters, and titles, should I use one large text frame? What's the best method of creating a small eBook that will contain some screenshots?

     

    I'll google "flowing story" and see what I come up with... http://help.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/6.0/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001 ea8cb3f-6f99a.html

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    3. Bob Levine,
    Apr 9, 2012 2:13 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Let’s back up…you are talking about epub, right?

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    4. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 9, 2012 2:19 PM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    We created a document about an application (how to use it and best practices). Now I am going to take the contents of that document and put it into InDesign so I can create/export a nice PDF with table of contents, bookmarks, some graphic elements, and page numbers. If epub is short for e-publication, that's what this is, right? Is the popular term "eBook" and the professional term is "epub"?

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    5. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 9, 2012 2:21 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Oh, I'm not designing this specifically for an ereader or an iPad, I just want to create a professional-looking PDF.

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    6. Bob Levine,
    Apr 9, 2012 2:24 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Sorry, that’s why I wanted you to clarify.

     

     

     

    No, a PDF is not an epub. As far as making sure things are the same, that’s what master pages and guides are for.

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    7. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 9, 2012 2:35 PM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    Yes, I am using Master Pages for our header, footer, and page numbers. I don't need the guides because I'm not setting up columns. My concern is for the relative vertical positioning of chatper titles, subheadings, and paragraph text. Is the best method to just create one large text frame, paste all the text inside it, and then apply the Styles? Currently I have separate text frames for chapter titles, subheadings, and the normal paragraph text.

     
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  • Manish-Sharma
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    8. Manish-Sharma,
    Apr 10, 2012 3:53 AM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Guides are for the references only , they will not show up in the PDF after export , you can create the Guides on the master page which help you in layout the pages content properly in the documnet.

     

    in your document , Go to master pages , craete GUides as you want , come back to the document pages and align the text frames based on the guides, check the PDF.

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    9. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 10, 2012 12:30 PM   in reply to Manish-Sharma
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    Manish_1988, this is a single column layout so I'm not sure how Guides will help me. And the headings, subheadings, and paragraph text are positioned relative to eachother.

     

    Is there a way to efficiently manager the vertical space between headings, subheadings, and paragraph text? Or should I just use a single text frame for the whole page?

     
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  • Daniel Flavin
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    10. Daniel Flavin,
    Apr 10, 2012 12:41 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    IMO, you should use one text frame for the whole document with Space after defined for the Chap Title and such. (It's worthwhile at the start of a project to set Next Style > Author for Chap Title and Next Style > Body for Author, but at this late in the project, it doesn't speed much up)

     
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  • Anthonymcp
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    11. Anthonymcp,
    Apr 10, 2012 12:53 PM   in reply to Daniel Flavin
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    Thanks! Your reply influenced me to search for "Space After" and then I found out my problem was that I was using Character Styles. I am now using Paragraph Styles and it's working great. I simply removed all the line breaks and added Space Before and Space After.

     
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  • Daniel Flavin
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    12. Daniel Flavin,
    Apr 10, 2012 1:16 PM   in reply to Anthonymcp
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    Good - avoid Character Styles beyond a few words, perhaps a sentence length for a call out or quote. Character styles are too often mis-used for entire blocks of type, you've got the grasp

     
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