This is Pariah Burke for CreativePro. In this video I\u2019d like to talk to you about out-of-balance text columns and how to balance them. Here I have the last two pages of a book chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, the copy on the right doesn\u2019t fully fill the page. That blank space after column two is a little awkward. It might look cleaner if both columns were the same length, leaving an equal amount of empty space at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, I could resize the text frame to make the columns equal height, but that\u2019s dangerous. A text reflow in the future could create a problem with a physically shortened text frame. Instead, I want to take advantage of InDesign\u2019s Balance Columns feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the text frame selected, I\u2019ll go to Object, Text Frame Options, and then, right in the middle here, I\u2019ll activate the Balance Columns checkbox. Voila! All the columns in the text frame, only two in this case, will be equal height. But wait, there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using Balance Columns in that instance made the lines of the two columns line up, but it might not in other columns. Note the columns on the left page. The lines of type don\u2019t line up horizontally, which makes them look messy and unintentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am nothing if not intentional in my design. If you want every line of text to vertically align across columns and even pages, then you need to align to baseline grid. You\u2019ve probably heard that term before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re cringing right now, don\u2019t. I\u2019m going to show you one simple method for easily setting up and using align to baseline grid. First, figure out the leading value of your type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, my body text has a leading of 16 points. Make a note of that value. Now go to the InDesign menu on a Mac or the Edit menu on Windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Choose Preferences, Grids. Here in the top section, set the Increment Every value to the same value as your leading. 16 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click OK. Now, just one more step. Edit your paragraph styles and tell InDesign to align their text to the baseline grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m editing para here, which is the base or parent style for all my text styles in the book and going to the Indents and Spacing pane. Set the last option, Align to Grid, to all lines. Now, all lines of your text, including headings if they\u2019re based on the style you\u2019re editing, will align to the baseline grid and therefore align across columns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magic? Almost. For extra control of alignment and spacing, just make sure your spaces before and after are increments or fractions of the main copy\u2019s leading. The grid increments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Combine that with balance columns and you\u2019ll have clean, professional, horizontally aligned lines of text across columns and pages. Well, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, be sure to give it a like and subscribe to our channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for thousands more how-to articles and tutorials, visit our website, creativepro.com and become a member today. Thanks for learning with us.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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