Section 67. Using Object Styles

#67. Using Object Styles

The ability to format text using character and paragraph styles is one of InDesign's most useful and powerful features. Object stylesa new feature in InDesign CS2let you quickly format objects in much the same way character and paragraph styles let you format text. For example, if you create a newsletter that regularly uses sidebar text frames that include strokes, fills, and text insets, you can create an object style with these settings, and then use the object style to quickly format new sidebar frames.

Creating and using object styles is very much like creating and using character and paragraph styles, so if you're already familiar with character and paragraph styles, working with object styles is easy.

The easiest way to create an object style is to first modify an object manually so that it includes all the settings you want to include in the object stylefill color and tint, stroke weight and style, drop shadow, and so on. After the object is correctly formatted:

1.	Open the Object Styles palette (Window > Object Styles) and choose New Object Style from the palette menu.
2.	The New Object Style dialog box (Figure 67a) displays the settings applied to the selected object. Name the object style, and then click OK. The new object style is displayed in the Object Style palette. Figure 67a. When you create a new object style, the settings applied to the selected object are used. In this example, the text frame has a tinted fill, a stroke, a drop shadow, and text insets.

You don't have to modify an object before you can create an object style. If you choose New Object Style from the Object Styles palette when nothing is selected, you can create the new object style from scratch by changing the settings in the New Object Style dialog box.

To apply an object style, select an object, and then click the name of the object style in the Object Style palette (Figure 67b) or use the keyboard shortcut, if you assigned one.

Figure 67b. In this example, the Sidebar Text Frame object style was used to format the text frame on the right. The other text frame is the original, unstyled frame. Notice how the object style formatted both the frame and the text within. Because an object style can include a paragraph style, you can use object styles to format both text frames and the text within.

Setting the Default Object Style for Frames

The Object Styles palette includes two default object styles: Basic Graphics Frame and Basic Text Frame. A small, square icon is displayed to the right of Basic Graphics Frame, indicating that this object style is used for new objects created with the Rectangle, Ellipse, and Polygon tools. A small, square icon with a T is displayed to the right of Basic Text Frame, indicating that this object style is used for new text frames created with the Type tool. You can drag either of these icons to other object styles to change the default style used for the Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Type tools.