Should vertical justification override paragraph space before and after?

[carols81056247]

I use vertical justification to line up text at the bottom of text boxes. Sometimes the text does not line up at the bottom of the text box when vertical justification has been applied. This occurs when there is a mug in the story or copy that contains paragraph space before or after. Adjusting the position of the mug fixes the problem. Removing the space before or space after fixes the problem.

I read that vertical justification overrides leading. Is it supposed to override paragraph space before and after? Is there a solution for this issue, or should I simply stop using space before and after when vertical justification will be used?

Baseline grid is turned off. There is no leading limit in place.

[rob day]

Sometimes the text does not line up at the bottom of the text box when vertical justification has been applied.

If you include a paragraph return at the end of the last paragraph you will get the space:

Make sure the last paragraph ends with an # end of story invisible

[carols81056247]

It was a very good suggestion to check for a hidden return. I turned on show hidden characters, but there was not an extra return in this case.

[carols81056247]

It seems the latter problem only occurs when the headline and body copy are in the same box.

The story on the left has the headline and body in the same box. The image on the right has the headline in a separate box. Both have a byline with p3 space after.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Seems like vertical justification for a multi column design like this would do more harm then good—mixed leading and lines that don't line up across columns.

You are not using space before or after for the text paragraphs, so all you have to do is set both the headline and the byline to span all columns. Something like this where all of the text lines are on the same baseline with equal leading.

[carols81056247]

Vertical justification works when span columns is set on the headline and byline. However, I don't think my employer will go for the byline being centered. I suggested to my employer that baseline grid may be a better tool for aligning newspaper text. Vertical justification seems pretty quirky.

[rob day]

However, I don't think my employer will go for the byline being centered.

You don't have to center to use the span feature, and I don't think you'll find a professionally designed newspaper using vertically justified columns.

You can run the byline with the body text with the same leading, or span it left justified so the first lines of the body text line up:

#5 here might help

Re: Adding spacing after a paragraph?