Working with Type

Illustrator has many of the text features you will also find in InDesign. Illustrator can create two kinds of text objects. The first is called point text, which is the simpler of the two. You create point text by selecting the Type tool and clicking on a blank area on your artboard. You're presented with a blinking cursor, and you can begin to enter text immediately. Illustrator calls this point text because your text is aligned by the point that was created when you clicked with the Type tool (see Figure 7.149). Point text does not reflow, meaning that as you continue to enter text, the line grows longer and longer, and doesn't break to a second line (unless you press Return or Enter).

Figure 7.149. A sample of point text in Illustrator.

The second kind of type object that Illustrator can create is called area text. There are two basic ways to create area text in Illustrator: either select the Type tool and click and drag with the tool to draw a box, or select the Type tool and click inside any existing closed vector path. Again, you're presented with a blinking cursor, where you can begin entering text. The difference here is that when your text gets to the boundary of the shape, the text flows to the next line automatically (see Figure 7.150). Area text also has specific functionality that point text does not, and you can access some of those functions by selecting a text area object and choosing Type, Area Type Options to bring up the dialog box (see Figure 7.151).

Figure 7.150. Text flows from line to line in an area text box.

Figure 7.151. The Area Type Options dialog box.

Area text can also be threaded, meaning that you can link several area text objects so that the text flows from one to the next. Every area text object has an "in" link box and an "out" link box. Just as in InDesign, if your area text object isn't large enough to display all of your text, the out link box will display colored red with a plus sign, indicating that there's more text (see Figure 7.152). You can either enlarge the area text object or use the selection tool to click on the out link box and then click on another object, to make the overflow text continue into that object.

Figure 7.152. The overflow indicator, alerting you that there's more text.

Did you Know?

To see how text threading links among multiple area text objects, choose View, Show Text Threads.

Text on a Path

There's a third kind of text object in Illustrator: type on a pathalthough in reality, it's a kind of area type object. To create text that follows along the outline of a vector path, select the Type on a Path tool and click on any path (it can be open or closed). You'll get a blinking cursor, where you can begin typing.

You can adjust three distinct functions when setting type on a path (see Figure 7.153):

In and Out link boxes As with Area Text, Type on a Path objects can also flow from one path to the next.
Start and End points You can determine where text begins and ends on a path by dragging these vertical bars with the Direct Selection tool.
Center point Type can flow along either side of a path, and you can choose which side by using this point. Click and drag the point to the side of the path you want the text to flow along. This point also enables you to position the center of the text.

Figure 7.153. The different functions for a type on a path object.

Formatting Text

Of course, it wouldn't be much fun if you were forced to use 12-point Myriad Regular for every text object in your document, so it's nice to know that Illustrator's text-formatting capabilities are on par with those found in InDesign. Because much of the functionality between Illustrator and InDesign is consistent, I discuss these features briefly here; you can refer to Chapter 8, "Using Adobe InDesign CS2," for more detailed information.

The Character Palette

Open the Character palette by choosing Window, Type, Character. Here you can specify font information (see Figure 7.154), type size, leading (pronounced ledding, which is the amount of space between lines), kerning, underline, and more.

Figure 7.154. The fully expanded Character palette.

The Paragraph Palette

Open the Paragraph palette (see Figure 7.155) by choosing Window, Type, Paragraph. Here you can specify paragraph information such as alignment, justification, composition method, indents, spacing, and more.

Figure 7.155. The fully expanded Paragraph palette.

The OpenType Palette

OpenType is a new font standard that really takes typography to a whole new level. Illustrator ships with more than 100 OpenType fonts, so you have a head start on getting to use them. Type 1 fonts (PostScript) have a limit of 256 glyphs per font.

This is why Type 1 fonts always had these Expert font collectionsthere was simply no way to store all of those extra glyphs in a single font file. OpenType fonts, on the other hand, have a limit of 65,000 glyphs per font file (yes, 65,000that's not a typo). This gives type designers the freedom to add all of these cool variations of letters, swashes, ligatures, fractions, and the like to their type designs. Probably the most important aspects of OpenType fonts are that they are stored in a single file (instead of separate files for screen fonts and printer fonts) and they are cross-platform compatible (so a single file can be used for either Mac or Windows).

Illustrator has full support for OpenType fonts and also has added functionality that enables you to take advantage of the special features OpenType offers. You can access these features through the OpenType palette (which you can find in the Windows, Type submenu). To use it, simply select a range of text and click on the buttons at the bottom of the palette (see Figure 7.156). If the font you're using contains swash characters, for example, those characters automatically appear. The same applies for fractions, ordinals, and other special type treatments.

Figure 7.156. The OpenType palette lets you easily access standard ligatures, contextual alternates, discretionary ligatures, swash, stylistic alternates, titling alternates, ordinals, and fractions.

Finding Special Characters

If you want to find a specific glyph character in a font, you don't have to try pressing every character combination on your keyboard to find it. Choose Type, Glyphs to open the Glyphs palette (see Figure 7.157). From the pop-up menu at the bottom of the palette, choose a typeface; every glyph present in that font displays in the palette's window. If you have a blinking text cursor anywhere in your document, double-clicking on any glyph in the Glyphs palette places that glyph in your text string.

Figure 7.157. The Glyphs palette in Illustrator.

Paragraph and Character Styles

Paragraph and character styles enable you to easily style and format type. It's also a way to consistently manage and update text formatting across your entire document. You can find the Paragraph Styles palette by choosing Window, Type, Paragraph Styles. The Character Styles palette appears in the same submenu. Refer to Chapter 8 for information on how to define and use paragraph and character styles.

Converting Text into Vector Shapes

Sometimes you want to edit actual character shapes in Illustrator. For example, you might start off designing a logo with some text, and then you want to make adjustments or modifications to the shapes of the letters themselves. To convert text to editable vector paths, select your type with the Selection tool (not the Type tool) and choose Type, Create Outlines (see Figure 7.158). You can convert only an entire point text object or an entire area text object to outlinesthere's no way to convert just a few characters in a text string.