Adjusting Columns

The placement of columns on the page and the amount of space between them has significant impact on readability. Column width, in general, works with type size and leading to create lines and rows of text that you can read easily. This means you're not getting lost from one line to the next , that you're not accidentally jumping across columns, and that you're not getting a headache while squinting at the page.

Tip ‚

As a rule of thumb, as columns get wider, the type size and leading increase. For example, you might see 9-point text and 16-point leading in 2 ‚ ½-inch columns, while 16-point text and 13-point leading might work better in 3 ‚ ½-inch columns.

InDesign lets you place columns on the page automatically, create any number of columns within a text frame, and change columns at any time.

Specifying columns in master frames

If you choose to create a master text frame ‚ an automatically placed text frame within the margin guides ‚ when you create a new document, you can specify the number of columns in it at the same time.

In the Columns area in the New Document dialog box, shown in Figure 16-2, use the Number field to specify how many columns, and the Gutter field to specify how much space to place between the columns. (The gutter is the space between columns.) Whether or not you check Master Text Frame (which makes the frame appear on all pages), guides for these columns will still be placed on the page and can be used for placing text frames and other objects.

Adjusting columns in text frames

After you've created a text frame and even flowed text into it, you can change the number of columns in it. First, select the text frame with a selection tool or the Type tool (or Shift+click to select multiple text frames and change all their columns at once). Then choose Object ‚ Text Frame Options or press z +B or Ctrl+B. You can also use the Control palette to change the number of columns (see Chapter 10).

Tip ‚

Although programs like InDesign and QuarkXPress have long offered multiple-column text frames, many designers still draw each column as a separate frame (a holdover from PageMaker's approach). Don't do that ‚ it makes it easy to have columns of slightly different widths and slightly different positions , so text doesn't align properly. Use the columns feature in your text frames so you won't have to worry about sloppy layouts. Plus, using this feature makes it easy to change the number of columns ‚ no need to resize existing text frames or relink them.

Note that the options in the Columns area work differently depending on whether Fixed Column Width is checked or unchecked:

If it is unchecked, InDesign will subtract from the text frame's width the space specified for the gutters, then divide the remaining width by the number of columns to figure out how wide the columns can be. For example, a 10-inch-wide text frame with three columns and a gutter of ‚ ½ inch will end up with three 3-inch columns and two ‚ ½-inch gutters. The math is (10 ‚ [2 x 0.5]) ƒ · 3.
If it is checked, InDesign will resize the text frame to fit the number of columns you selected at the indicated size, as well as the gutters between them. For example, if in a 10-inch-wide text frame, you specify a column width of 5 inches and a gutter of ‚ ½ inch, and you choose three columns, you'll end up with a 16-inch-wide text frame containing three 5-inch columns and two ‚ ½-inch gutters. The math is (3 x 5) + (2 x 0.5).

Check Preview to see the effects of your changes before finalizing them.

Placing rules between columns

The use of vertical rules (thin lines) between columns ‚ called intercolumn rules ‚ is an effective way to separate columns with small gutters (this is often done in newspapers, whose columns and gutters are usually thin). It can also add visual interest and a sense of old-fashioned authority ‚ it was a common technique for newspapers early in this century and is still used by the august Wall Street Journal, for example.

Threading icons

While you're threading text, several icons provide visual cues as to the type of threading you're doing and what the results will be. (To view threads from a text frame selected with the Selection tool or Direct-Selection tool, choose View ‚ Show Text Threads or press Option+ z +Y or Ctrl+Alt+Y.) The figure shows, from left to right, the loaded-text icon, the loaded-text frame-flow icon, the thread icon, the semi-autoflow text-flow icon, and the autoflow text-flow icon.

The loaded-text icon contains text that needs to be placed or overset text that needs to be threaded into a new text frame.
When the loaded-text icon is over a text frame, the icon changes so the icon is displayed in parentheses, becoming the loaded-text frame-flow icon. The same thing happens for the semi-autoflow icon.
The thread icon, which looks like two links in a chain, displays while you're threading text frames manually. Specifically, the loaded-text icon changes to this icon when it's over an empty text frame that you can thread the current text frame to.
The semi-autoflow text-flow icon displays when you Option+click or Alt+click text frames while threading a series of text frames.
The autoflow text-flow icon displays when you Shift+click on a page to initiate the autoflow process, in which InDesign adds text frames and pages to contain the entire story.

Unfortunately, InDesign does not provide an automatic method for creating intercolumn rules. To get around this lack, you need to draw lines on the page ‚ in the center of the gutters ‚ with the Line tool. Because you might resize text frames or change the number of columns while designing a document, you should add the vertical rules at the end of the process. In a document with a standard layout, such as a newspaper or magazine, you can place the rules between columns in text frames on the master page so they're automatically placed on every page. As always with such objects, you can modify them on individual document pages as needed (just be sure to Shift+ z +click or Ctrl+Shift+click to select them when working in your document pages).

When drawing rules between columns, use the rulers to precisely position the lines. After you've drawn the lines, Shift+click to select all the lines and the text frames, then choose Object ‚ Group , or z +G or Ctrl+G. When the lines are grouped to the text frame, you can move them all as a unit. This also prevents someone from accidentally moving a vertical rule later.

Tip ‚

Keep the width of intercolumn rules thin: usually a hairline ( ‚ ¼ point) or ‚ ½ point. Larger than that is usually too thick and can be confused with the border of a sidebar or other boxed element.