9 Replies Latest reply: Jun 21, 2009 4:57 PM by ericgraig RSS

    Alignment in Columns

    ericgraig Community Member

      I have a document in MS Word that has various headline styles.  In MSW the document is single column.  I bring the document into ID which is set up for a three column layout. The lines of text no longer align column to column:

       

      junk.jpg

       

      How do talented ID people deal with this?  Should I get rid of the styles and recreate them in ID with vertical spacing that will even out, or what? Somebody smarter than me who uses ID everyday for long documents must have figured something out.

       

      Thanks much.  BTW: So far, Adobe Guys this release is excellent compared to the first one which was good for people designing short documents but didn't offer much to people like me who are creating longer ones.

        • 1. Re: Alignment in Columns
          P Spier CommunityMVP

          You probably need to set up a baseline grid (the spacing should be equal to the body copy leading you are using) and set the body paragraph style to align to grid. It looks as if your headings are on a different leading increment and forcing the body copy down in some columns. Aligning to grid will force the body copy to stay aligned across the columns, but it will also add additinal sapce between the headings and the body copy if the natural spacing doesn't all match the grid.

           

          You may also want to set the first baseline offset for your text frames to leading instead of ascent for a job like this.

           

          I like to set my grids (you do this in Preferences, by the way) from the top margin, rather than the top of the page, but I've heard good arguments in favor of both.

          • 2. Re: Alignment in Columns
            Ildhund Community Member

            Look up 'baseline grid' in Help. You might also profit from reading up about paragraph and character styles - they're not just for headlines. Use them wisely and save yourself a lot of grief with this and future documents.

             

            Noel

            • 3. Re: Alignment in Columns
              ericgraig Community Member

              This is enmormously helpful.   I have a huge  report to write and may well look to hire an inDesign person to layout it out.

               

              Eric

              • 4. Re: Alignment in Columns
                ericgraig Community Member

                BTW, what is 'first baseline offset'?

                 

                THX

                 

                PS: Now what I need is a really good tutorial on tables, in particular data tables.  Adobe's was good but I could use another as well.

                • 5. Re: Alignment in Columns
                  P Spier CommunityMVP

                  Thats the position for the baseline of the first line of text in a frame. You'll find it in the Text Frame Options dialog.

                  • 6. Re: Alignment in Columns
                    ericgraig Community Member

                    Last one before I go out to eat:

                     

                    Where is the text fram options dialof AND... I have a table the rows of which which want to use the same baseline as the text surrounding it.  THis appears to be what is throwing off my cell text (all other in tbale settings are zero best as I can tell):

                     

                    junk.jpg

                     

                    How would I "free" the text in the table frame from the snap to baseline of hte surrounding frame?

                     

                    Thanks so much.  It is tough having to elarn this stuff plus write the report for the client all due way too soon from right now.

                     

                    Eric

                    • 7. Re: Alignment in Columns
                      P Spier CommunityMVP

                      A lot of what you are asking is really basic stuff, and perhaps it's time for you to crack a book...

                       

                      With a text frame or text selected, right click and choose Text Frame Options... or choose it from the Object menu. You can also define this as part of an object style, which would be a good idea if you intend to do it for the whole document. Do it to the default [Basic Text Frame] object style, to start.

                       

                      Tables and grid alignment are a whole different kettle of fish. The cells in a table don't care about the baseline grid, but the text inside them will, if you tell it to, either through a style or manually. This means you will need to set up your row heights very carefully to avoid having overset text in cells where it is impossible to put text because there is not enough space above the baseline grid for the type to fit.

                       

                      I think it makes more sense NOT to worry about the grid inside the table, and to just add space before or after it as a whole. Your body text will resume it's grid alignment all by itself.

                       

                      Peter

                      • 8. Re: Alignment in Columns
                        ericgraig Community Member

                        I spent the afternoon looking for a book (I have books for cs but am out of date on CS4).  Need something that covers ID for publication design, also need the time to look at a book.  If there is something you'd recommend I'd love to hear about.  With this question, I just didn't know what the issue was 'called'.  Adobe now seems to have great online resources, but you have to know what to search for.

                         

                        Again, thatnks for your help.

                         

                        Eric

                        • 9. Re: Alignment in Columns
                          P Spier CommunityMVP

                          Others may have more recommendations, but two I highly recommend are Real World InDesign by David Blatner and Olav Kvern, and Mastering InDesign for Print Design and Production by Pariah Burke, but both are fairly advanced (though Real World doesn't presume you know anything).