Adobe InDesign is a powerful tool for creating professional-quality layouts for print and digital publications. One of the most important aspects of working with InDesign is knowing how to effectively adjust text to create visually compelling designs. Text adjustment in InDesign encompasses a wide range of tools and features, from basic formatting to advanced typographic controls that ensure both aesthetics and readability. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to adjust text in InDesign, covering everything from basic text adjustments to more complex features such as text wrap, alignment, and character styles.
1. Setting Up and Importing Text
Before adjusting text, you need to place it within your InDesign document.
Creating a Text Frame
- Select the Type Tool: Click on the Type Tool (T) from the Tools panel.
- Draw a Text Frame: Click and drag to create a text frame where you want your text to appear. The text frame will define the area for your text content.
- Enter or Import Text: You can type directly into the text frame or import text by going to File > Place and selecting a text file (e.g., .txt, .docx) to import text content into your document.
2. Basic Text Adjustments
InDesign offers a number of basic text formatting options that allow you to adjust the appearance of your text within a frame.
Font and Font Size
- Select Text: Highlight the text you wish to adjust using the Type Tool (T).
- Change Font and Size: Use the Control Panel or the Character Panel to change the font and font size. Choose a font that suits your design aesthetic and adjust the size to match your layout.
Leading, Tracking, and Kerning
- Leading: Leading controls the vertical space between lines of text. To adjust leading, use the Leading field in the Character Panel or Control Panel. You can also press Option + Up/Down Arrow (Mac) or Alt + Up/Down Arrow (Windows) to make adjustments.
- Tracking: Tracking adjusts the spacing between letters in a word or block of text. To adjust tracking, use the Tracking field in the Character Panel. Tracking can be useful to make text appear less crowded or more visually appealing.
- Kerning: Kerning adjusts the space between individual letter pairs. You can place the cursor between two letters and use the Kerning field to fine-tune spacing. Adjusting kerning can make your text look more professional, especially for headlines or logos.
Text Alignment and Indents
- Alignment: InDesign allows you to align text to the left, right, center, or justify it. You can use the Paragraph Panel or Control Panel to set the alignment of your text.
- Indents: To control how far your text is set in from the margins, use the Indent Left, Indent Right, and First Line Indent options in the Paragraph Panel. Indents can be useful when creating lists or when you need to differentiate sections of text.
Baseline Shift
Baseline Shift allows you to move selected text up or down relative to the baseline. This feature can be useful for adjusting superscripts, subscripts, or aligning text with specific graphic elements. Select the text and adjust the Baseline Shift in the Character Panel or Control Panel.
Text Color
- Select Text: Highlight the text you want to color.
- Open the Swatches Panel: Go to Window > Color > Swatches to open the Swatches Panel.
- Choose a Color: Click on a color swatch to apply it to the selected text. You can also create a custom color by using the Color Panel.
3. Text Frame Options
InDesign provides options to adjust how text behaves within a text frame, ensuring that the content fits your layout requirements.
Text Frame Fitting
- Auto-Size Text Frame: To make a text frame automatically adjust to the amount of text, right-click the text frame, choose Text Frame Options, and set the Auto-Size settings. This is useful when dealing with dynamic text that may vary in length.
- Inset Spacing: You can add inset spacing to create padding between the text and the edge of the text frame. Go to Object > Text Frame Options (or press Command + B (Mac) or Control + B (Windows)) and set the Inset Spacing values.
Text Columns
You can divide a text frame into multiple columns by using the Text Frame Options dialog box.
- Select the Text Frame: Use the Selection Tool (V) to select the text frame.
- Open Text Frame Options: Go to Object > Text Frame Options or press Command + B (Mac) or Control + B (Windows).
- Set Number of Columns: In the Columns section, set the desired number of columns and adjust the Gutter (space between columns).
4. Text Wrap
Text Wrap allows you to adjust how text interacts with objects such as images or shapes. This is useful for creating visually dynamic layouts.
Steps to Apply Text Wrap
- Place an Object: Use the File > Place command to insert an image or draw a shape using the Shape Tool.
- Open the Text Wrap Panel: Go to Window > Text Wrap to open the Text Wrap Panel.
- Choose a Wrap Option: Select the object and choose a wrap style from the Text Wrap Panel. You can adjust the Offset values to control how closely the text wraps around the object.
This feature is especially useful for magazine-style layouts, where you want text to wrap around images or decorative shapes in an appealing way.
5. Advanced Text Adjustments
Character and Paragraph Styles
Using Character Styles and Paragraph Styles helps maintain consistency throughout your document and saves time when making formatting changes.
- Creating Character Styles: Go to Window > Styles > Character Styles to open the Character Styles Panel. Click New Style to create a new character style, and set attributes like font, size, color, and more.
- Creating Paragraph Styles: Similarly, go to Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles to create a paragraph style that can be applied to entire blocks of text. This is particularly useful for headings, subheadings, and body text to ensure consistency throughout your document.
OpenType Features
OpenType fonts come with advanced typographic features such as ligatures, small caps, and stylistic alternates.
- Select Text: Highlight the text you want to adjust.
- Open the Character Panel: Go to Window > Type & Tables > Character.
- Access OpenType Features: Click on the OpenType dropdown and enable features such as Ligatures or Fractions for a more professional and polished look.
Glyphs Panel
The Glyphs Panel allows you to access and insert special characters and symbols that are part of the selected font.
- Open the Glyphs Panel: Go to Window > Type & Tables > Glyphs.
- Insert a Glyph: With the Type Tool (T), click where you want to insert the character, then double-click the glyph in the Glyphs Panel to insert it.
6. Working with Justification and Hyphenation
Proper text justification and hyphenation settings help to create clean, readable layouts, especially when dealing with large amounts of text.
Justification
- Select the Paragraph: Place your cursor within the paragraph you want to adjust.
- Open the Paragraph Panel: Go to Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph.
- Adjust Justification: Click the Justify button to justify the text. To customize justification settings, click on the More Options button in the Paragraph Panel and adjust the spacing values for Word Spacing, Letter Spacing, and Glyph Scaling.
Hyphenation
- Enable or Disable Hyphenation: In the Paragraph Panel, you can enable or disable hyphenation by checking or unchecking the Hyphenate box.
- Customize Hyphenation Settings: Click on the Hyphenation options to control how often and where hyphenation occurs, helping you to prevent awkward line breaks or too many hyphenations in a row.
7. Fitting Text to a Frame
InDesign provides tools for adjusting the text to fit perfectly within a text frame without manually resizing the frame or changing the font size.
- Select the Text Frame: Use the Selection Tool (V) to click on the text frame.
- Go to Object > Fitting > Fit Frame to Content: This option will automatically resize the frame to fit the text content.
- Auto-Size Text Frame: You can also make the text frame automatically adjust as you add or delete content by selecting Auto-Size in Text Frame Options.
8. Flowing Text Across Multiple Frames
In complex layouts, you may need your text to flow across multiple frames, especially in magazine or book designs.
- Create Multiple Text Frames: Use the Type Tool (T) to create multiple text frames on the page or across multiple pages.
- Link Text Frames: Select the first text frame, and click the Out Port (a small box at the bottom right of the text frame). Your cursor will change to a text flow icon. Click in the next text frame to link them. Text will now flow between the frames.
This feature is very useful when dealing with long articles or text-heavy layouts, as it allows you to maintain a consistent flow across multiple frames or pages.
Conclusion
Adjusting text in Adobe InDesign is a key skill for creating professional and visually appealing designs. Whether you are making basic adjustments to the font and size, working with advanced typographic features like OpenType and styles, or using text wrap and justification to fit your layout requirements, InDesign offers all the tools you need to have complete control over your text.
Experiment with the various text adjustment options covered in this article to find what works best for your particular project. With practice, you’ll become adept at using these tools to enhance both the visual appeal and readability of your designs, allowing you to create layouts that are engaging and well-structured. Happy designing!
