Labeling Paragraphs | Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible

Along with initial caps, changing the formatting of the first few words in a paragraph can indicate the beginning of a story or a new topic. This is commonly used for run-in heads, a short title usually in boldface or italic, and often in a contrasting font, that is on the same line as the rest of the paragraph.

The following descriptions show frequently used label formatting:

Boldface: Bold speaks the loudest, and is generally used for subheads in magazines, newspapers, and reports . To apply boldface in InDesign, you must select the bold version of the typeface from the Style pop-up menu on the Character pane.
Italics: If bold shouts, italics tends to whisper. It's a good choice for tertiary heads and to label bulleted items within a list. To apply italics in InDesign, you must select the oblique version of the typeface from the Style pop-up menu on the Character pane.
Underlines: For a typewriter-effect, you might underline the text of a label. Use the Underline command available from the menu on the Character pane ‚ you have no control over the style, thickness , or placement of the line.
Small Caps: For a subtle, classic look that blends well with the rest of the document, use small caps on labels. However, don't use small caps if you're using labels as subheads that allow readers to skim through a document and read only relevant portions. You have two choices for applying small caps from the Character pane: Choose a small-caps variation of a typeface from the Style pop-up menu or choose the Small Caps command from the palette menu.
Typeface change: Rather than relying on different variations of a font, you can use a different font altogether, such as Futura Medium as used on this paragraph, for a label. To contrast with serif body text, you might choose a sans-serif typeface that complements the look of your publication. Often, this will be a variation of your headline font. To apply a typeface, use the Font pop-up menu in the Character pane or Control palette.
Scaled text: Scaling text horizontally ‚ up 10 or 20 percent ‚ quietly differentiates it from the remainder of the paragraph. (More severe scaling will distort the typeface and could look unprofessional.) Unlike bold or underline, the text won't pop off the page at you, but it will be visually distinct. Scaling text vertically, however, can be too subtle unless combined with boldface or another style. Use the Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale fields in the Character pane or Control palette to scale text.
Size change : Creating a label by simply bumping the size up a point or two is another subtle design choice. The labels blend well with the body text, but they don't announce their presence enough to be used as subheads for scanning. To change the size of type, use the Font Size field in the Character pane or Control palette.

The label technique ‚ whether implemented via local character formatting, a character style, or a nested style ‚ can be used for any amount of text, from a single bullet to one or more sentences. For example, the guidebook shown in Figure 19-7 styles the first sentence in the introductory paragraph as italic. In many magazines, the first paragraph of a story often starts with a single drop cap, followed by the entire first line in small caps.

Figure 19-7: The use of nested styles in this paragraph automatically italicizes the first sentence in this intro paragraph.

The Nested Styles feature is flexible, letting you specify it to any number of characters , words, or sentences, as well as to specific locations such as the first tab. That lets you use it for numbered lists where the number of digits may change (such as a 15-item list that has both single-digit numbers like 9 and double-digit numbers like 10) ‚ you'd have the nested style apply the appropriate character style through the first tab, so any numerals before the tab take on that character style. (For example, you might want to boldface the numbers in a list and change the font to a sans-serif one.) Figure 19-7 shows an example of this feature, where the intro paragraph uses a nested style to italicize the first sentence of the introductory paragraph. (The paragraph style also specifies the initial drop cap.)

Cross-Reference ‚

Chapter 20 covers nested styles in more detail.

To experiment with label formatting, use the attributes available via the Character pane or Control palette and their palette menus , such as font changes, horizontal scale, or small caps. Once you decide on the formatting for labels, you can apply it using character style sheets after paragraph style sheets are applied ‚ and after the text is final. You may also be able to use the nested styles feature, if there is a consistent pattern to the label text, such as being a specific number of words or characters or being a sentence.

Note ‚

Depending on the formatting, applying a label style might reflow the text, causing a need for copyfitting.

Tip ‚

To provide a little more space between the label and the text, you might want to use an en space rather than a normal space.