Setting Alignment and Indents

In addition to the common paragraph alignment controls found in page layout or word processing programs, InDesign offers some special controls for setting alignment.

To set paragraph alignment:

1.

Select the paragraphs.

2.

Click one of the seven Alignment buttons to set the alignment as follows:

Alignment	Icon	Example	Description
Flush Left		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at the left margin.
Centered		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at the center of the paragraph.
Flush Right		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at the right margin.
Justified Last Left		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at both the left and right margins, but aligns the last line flush left.
Justified Last Centered		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at both the left and right margins, but centers the last line.
Justified Last Right		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at both the left and right margins, but aligns the last line flush right.
Justified All		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align at both the left and right margins.
Align Towards Spine		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align along the spine of the document. This flips the alignment on recto and verso pages.
Align Away From Spine		I have been wicked in my day but I never thought a little girl like you would be able to melt me.	Sets the text to align toward the outside edge of the pages. This flips the alignment on recto and verso pages.

The Alignment buttons on the Paragraph palette control how the type is aligned to the frame edges.

Tip

Look closely and you'll see that the lines in the alignment buttons resemble how the alignment changes the position of the text.

You might want to indent a paragraph so that it stands out from the rest of the text. Or you might want to indent the first line of each paragraph to make text easier to read. These looks are created by the margin indents.

To set the margin indents:

• Select the paragraphs.
  
  
• Use the margin indent controls to move the text as follows :
  
  

  • Left Indent moves the left side of the paragraph away from the left side of the text frame.

  • First Line Left Indent moves the first line of the paragraph away from the rest of the paragraph.

  • Right Indent moves the right side of the paragraph away from the right side of the text frame.

  • Last Line Left Indent moves the last line of the paragraph away from the right side of the text frame.

  The margin indents control the space around a paragraph and the first and last lines.

  

  The effect of applying margin indents to text inside a text frame.

  

Another look you can create is to hang elements on the first line outside the rest of the paragraph .

The margin indent settings for a hanging bullet. Notice that the First Line indent has a negative value.

To create a hanging bullet or numbered list:

1.	Select the paragraphs.
2.	Set the Left indent to the amount that the body of the paragraph should be indented.
3.	Set the First Line indent to a negative amount. This hangs the first line outside the main body of the paragraph.
4.	Insert a tab character (see page 306) to separate the bullet or number from the rest of the first line. Tip The order of these steps is important because the First Line indent cannot have a negative amount until the Left indent has been created. Tip A negative number for the Last Line Left Indent combined with a positive Right Indent lets you hang items on the last line outside the rest of the paragraph . The margin indent settings for a hanging last line item. Notice that a right-indent tab has been inserted before the page number.

Pros and Cons of Indent to Here Character

When should you use the Indent to Here character? When should you use the paragraph margin indents?

The Indent to Here character is an excellent solution for setting off a drop cap. Because it is not set by a measurement, it doesn't need to be adjusted if you change the drop cap letter from a wide letter such as M to a thin one such as I or J.

However, the Indent to Here character is not a good solution for long documents with outdented characters. Margin indents applied to style sheets (see page 370) are more useful for those situations. For instance, all the numbered lists, bulleted lists, and tip characters in this book have been formatted using margin indents not the Indent to Here character.