Posts Tagged ‘ Alignment ’

Adobe FrameMaker: Aligning Punctuation in Numbered Lists

When I teach Numbering Properties to new FrameMaker users, about half of them ask me how to line up the punctuation on a numbered list. The picture on the left shows what I am supposed to teach them, the picture on the right show what they actually want.

Example of Punctuation in Numbered Lists

How do you do it? The trick is setting two tab stops per list item: one decimal tab for the punctuation, and one left align tab for the text. Here you go:

  1. Create a Paragraph Format for your list. I used List2 in my example.
  2. Open up Numbering Properties and add the following to the Autonumber Format line: \t<n+>.\t
    Autonumber format
  3. Click Update All.
  4. Open up Basic Properties and set the Left Indent value. I used 30 pts.
  5. Still in Basic Properties, add two tab stops.The first tab stop should be a Decimal tab. (I used 20 pts in my example.)The second tab stop should be a Left aligned tab. Be sure that the number matches your left Indent value (again, I used 30 for my left indent, so I’m using 30 here).Basic Properties: add two tab stops
  6. Update all and voila!

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2010
03/17
CATEGORY
Adobe FrameMaker
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Adobe FrameMaker: Aligning Text Across Columns, Part I of II

By Barb Binder

Students come to my page layout classes (FrameMaker & InDesign) and often ask how they can easily line up baselines across columns, and easily force the last lines of every column to line up with the bottom margin. The word easily is often a clue to their pain: it always means they are adding and subtracting leading and paragraph spacing values to achieve their goals. Might be OK if there aren’t going to be any further edits, but if there are, it becomes a total nightmare.

We have three techniques in FrameMaker to automatically align text in the columns of a multi-column layout so that text has an even appearance:

  1. Balancing text across columns. FrameMaker distributes text evenly across the columns of a text frame that isn’t full of text such as the last page of a chapter.
  2. Feathering text to the bottom of text frames. Also known as vertical justification, which means that the last line of text in each column reaches the bottom of the column.
  3. Synchronizing baselines across columns. The first lines of body paragraphs line up whenever they appear side by side in columns.

Balancing text across columns. The first one is the easiest: in a multi-column layout, just place your cursor in Flow A (or the main text flow) and chose Format > Page Layout > Column Layout. Select Balance Columns and click Update Entire Flow. The results are most evident on the final page of the flow: instead of having one long and one short (or empty) column, you will end up with columns that end at the same place.
Adobe FrameMaker: Balance columns

Before and after example:
Adobe FrameMaker: Balance columns examples

Feathering text to the bottom of text frames. To force all columns to end even with the bottom margin on each page, you can turn on feathering. You specify the maximum amount of space to be added between paragraphs (Interline Padding) and within paragraphs (Inter-Pgf Padding). The space is added first between the paragraphs, and if that doesn’t do the trick, it will add the space within the paragraphs.

  1. If a document window is active, place the insertion point in the main text flow.
  2. Choose Format > Page Layout > Line Layout.
  3. Select Feather, and enter the maximum amount of space FrameMaker can add between lines (Interline Padding) and between paragraphs (Inter-Pgf Padding). FrameMaker won’t exceed the padding limits you set. I’m using the fairly conservative default values of inter-line padding of 2 pts, and maximum inter-paragraph padding of 6 pts.
    Adobe FrameMaker: Line Layout dialog box
  4. Click Update Flow.

Before and after example:
Adobe FrameMaker: Feather examples

If it’s not possible to feather text in a column without exceeding the limits, FrameMaker does not even try to feather text in that column, which is great for the last page in the flow that most likely should end short.

If you’d like to learn about the third option of aligning text across columns in FrameMaker, continue on to Adobe FrameMaker: Aligning Text Across Columns, Part II of II.

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2010
01/23
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Adobe FrameMaker
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Adobe InDesign: Aligning Punctuation in Numbered Lists

By Barb Binder

When I teach numbered lists to InDesign users, about many of them ask me how to line up the punctuation on a numbered list. The picture on the left shows the default alignment (note that the numbers line up on the left side), while the picture on the right shows the numbers lining up on the decimal. 

On the left, default alignment; on the right, the numbers are aligned on the punctuation.

On the left, default alignment; on the right, the numbers are aligned on the punctuation.

How do you do it? The trick is to set the numbers to a right alignment (but not the paragraph) and then increase the left indent and the first line indent values until the punctuation is aligned. All of the magic happens in the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. Here are the details:

  1. Select the numbered paragraphs.
  2. Click Paragraph View in the Control panel.  

    Click the Paragraph View

    Click the Paragraph View. Note that the Paragraph alignment is set to align left.

  3. Click the Numbered List button to number the selected paragraphs.  

    Click the Numbered List button to apply numbering to selected paragraphs.

    Click the Numbered List button to apply numbering to selected paragraphs.

  4.  Now go back and Alt/Option click the Numbered List button in the Control panel to open the Bullets and Numbering dialog box.
  5. Begin by clicking the check box for Preview, so that you can see what your changes do to the text.  

    Aligning punctuation in a numbered list.

    Aligning punctuation in a numbered list.

  6. Make the following changes from the Bullet or Number Position section:
    1. Choose Right from the Alignment menu.
    2. Increase the Left Indent value to push the whole paragraph right (I used 2p0 in my example).
    3. Increase the First Line Indent value to push the numbers to right. Keeping an eye on your text, keep going until the periods are aligned. (I used -0p6 in my example. Note that the First Line Indent is a negative number).
  7. Click OK and you are good to go!

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2009
11/29
CATEGORY
Adobe InDesign
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