InDesign Lesson 4 Working with Styles

Styles streamline the formatting of text and objects, making it easier to create a consistent design across text and objects. Styles also help simplify adjustments, as you can change a style and update all items that use the style.

• Defining and applying paragraph, character, and object styles
• Using nested styles
• Globally updating styles
• Loading styles from another document
• Using Quick Apply
• Organizing styles into groups

Starting up

Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. See “Resetting the InDesign workspace and preferences” on page XXVII.

You will work with several files from the id04lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have copied the id04lessons folder onto your hard drive from the Digital Classroom DVD. See “Loading lesson files” on page XXIX. This lesson may be easier to follow if the id04lessons folder is on your desktop.

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  See Lesson 4 in Action! Use the accompanying video to gain a better understanding of how to use some of the features shown in this lesson. The video tutorial for this lesson can be found on the included DVD.

The project

You will discover how styles simplify the design process by using them to enhance the look of a two-page recipe layout. You will work with paragraph, character, and object styles.

Creating styles adds a bit of work at the start of a project, but the planning saves an enormous amount of time and effort as you design and format your document. If you need to make changes, styles make it a quick and easy process.

You will also discover how to import styles from other documents, allowing you to re-use design work done in other documents, or keep a consistent identity across multiple files. You will also learn how to organize your styles using style sets, along with techniques for quickly applying styles.

Style types

There are several types of styles you can use when designing and formatting your documents: these include paragraph, character, and object, as well as table and cell styles. Each type of style applies to a different page element. All these style types speed up the process of formatting and changing the appearance of text and page elements, especially when creating larger documents.

• Paragraph styles define text attributes that affect an entire paragraph of text, including line spacing (leading), indents, and alignment. They may also include character attributes, and apply to an entire paragraph. These styles are used for things like headlines or body copy.

• Character styles contain only character formatting attributes, such as typeface, size, and color. These attributes apply only to selected text. These styles are used for things such as proper names that are formatted uniquely, or technical terms that might have a different style to call attention to them within a document.

• Object styles apply to page elements such as boxes and lines in a layout. Sidebars or picture frames can use object styles to make them consistent.

• Table and Cell styles apply to various portions of a table. This lesson is focused primarily on using paragraph, character, and object styles.

InDesign includes only one style for each style type, so you will create customized style definitions for your documents. Once you create styles, you can import them into other documents, allowing you to define the formatting one time and re-use it across multiple files. You can even define the styles to be available for all future documents you create.

Paragraph styles

Paragraph styles generally include both character and paragraph attributes. When you apply a paragraph style to text, all text within a paragraph is formatted. With one click you can use a paragraph style to specify the font, size, alignment, spacing, and other attributes used in the paragraph. In this lesson, you’ll start by defining the style, and then you’ll apply it to text.

Defining a paragraph style

When building styles, it is useful to see what the style will look like when it is applied. You can format a paragraph, and then use the formatting as the foundation for an InDesign paragraph style. You’ll start by building a paragraph style for the body text used in a cookie recipe.

1 Choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the id04lessons folder and select the id0401.indd file. Press Open. A two-page spread from a cookbook opens, displaying pages 72 and 73 as noted in the pages panel and in the bottom left corner of the workspace.

2 Choose Advanced from the workspace drop-down menu, or choose Window > Workspace > Advanced, to display the panels and menu options used in this lesson.

3 Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the id04lessons folder and type id0401_work.indd in the Name text field. Press Save.

4 Press the Paragraph Styles button in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Paragraph Styles panel. The styles used in this document are listed. This document contains four styles: basic paragraph and callout large, along with two recipe-specific styles, rec_steps and rec_yield.

5 Select the Type tool () from the Tools panel. Position the cursor over the first paragraph of text located in the middle column on the left-hand page. The paragraph starts with the text, The smell of fresh baked cookies... Click four times to select the entire paragraph.

6 Press the Character Format Controls button (A) in the top left corner of the Control panel, located at the top of the workspace to display the character options. Choose Minion Pro from the Font drop-down menu, and, if necessary, choose Regular from the Font Style drop-down menu. Set the size to 10 points from the Font Size drop-down menu.

7 Press the Paragraph Formatting Controls button () in the Control panel to display the paragraph formatting options, and type 0.2 in the First Line Left Indent () field. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to indent the paragraph by 0.2 inches.

8 With the paragraph still selected, press the panel menu button () in the upper-right corner of the Paragraph Styles panel and choose New Paragraph Style.

9 The New Paragraph Style dialog box appears. In the New Paragraph Style dialog box, type body in the Style Name text field, click to select the Apply Style to Selection check box, and then press OK to establish the name of the new style. The body style is added to the list of styles in the Paragraph Styles panel.

Choosing the Apply Style to Selection option also links the selected text to the new style. If the style is updated, the original text will reflect any formatting changes.

10 Save the file by choosing File > Save.

Applying a paragraph style

You will now apply this new paragraph style to text in the document. To format a single paragraph, use the Type tool to place the cursor within the paragraph, then choose the paragraph style from the Paragraph Styles panel. To format multiple paragraphs, select them and then select the style you want to apply.

1 With the cursor still within the recipe, choose Edit > Select All, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac OS), to select all the text in the frame.

2 In the Paragraph Styles panel, select the body style to apply the style to all selected text. The entire recipe now uses the same character and paragraph formatting as the initial paragraph you formatted.

Character styles

Building character styles is similar to creating paragraph styles. You’ll start by formatting text, then you’ll define the character style based upon the attributes of the text you have formatted. Character styles affect only character attributes, such as font and point size. Character styles are typically used for words that need special treatment, such as bold, italics, or a unique font, and only apply to selected text.

Defining a character style

On the right page of the document (page 73), you will make the text bold at the start of each step. You’ll format the first two steps, and then define a style to apply to the others.

1 Using the Type tool (), highlight the word Create under the Yield section on page 73 of the recipe layout.

2 Press the Character Format Controls button (A) in Control panel, then choose Bold from the Font Style drop-down menu. Keep the text selected.

3 Press the Character Styles button () in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Character Styles panel.

4 With the bold text still highlighted on the page, press the panel menu button () in the upper-right corner of the Character Styles panel, and choose New Character Style.

5 In the New Character Style dialog box, type rec_steps_bold in the Style name field. Press OK to create a new style. The new style name appears in the Character Styles panel.

6 Choose File > Save to save your work.

Applying a character style

Applying character styles is similar to applying paragraph styles. Highlight the text you want to format, then click the style name to apply the style.

1 On page 73 of the layout, highlight Create the cream:.

2 In the Character Styles panel, select the style rec_steps_bold to apply the new style to the selected text.

3 Highlight the phrase Mix dry ingredients: and apply the rec_steps_bold style by selecting it in the Character Styles panel.

Using nested styles

Nested styles combine character styles with paragraph styles, allowing you to apply both character and paragraph styles in a single step. For example, you can use a nested style to make the first word of an introductory paragraph bold and blue, while the rest of the paragraph is regular and black.

You will modify one of the paragraph styles so it also includes a character style for the initial portion of the paragraph, creating a nested style.

1 With the Type tool (), click in the bottom paragraph on the right page, which starts with the text Bake in oven. If the Paragraph Styles panel is closed, click the Paragraph Styles button to open it, or choose Type > Paragraph Styles.

2 In the Paragraph Styles panel, double-click on the rec_steps style to open the Paragraph Style Options dialog box.

3 Select the Drop Caps and Nested Styles option along the left side of the Paragraph Style Options dialog box, then press the New Nested Style button.

4 In the Nested Styles section’s drop-down menu, choose rec_steps_bold.

5 Click to select Words next to Through 1, located to the right of the rec_steps_bold style you added in the Nested Styles section of the dialog box. In the text field that appears, change Words to : by pressing the Colon key.

The rec_steps_bold style will apply to all text up to, and including, the colon (:). You can define where nested styles stop, or you can string together multiple nested styles so that different list entries can be formatted automatically.

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  If you do not replace Words with a colon, only the first word of the recipe step will be bold.

6 Click the Preview check box in the lower-left corner of the dialog box to view the changes in your document. If necessary, reposition the dialog box to view your page.

7 Press OK to close the dialog box, then choose File > Save to save your work. Keep the file open for the next part of the lesson.

Globally updating styles

As you have seen, styles make it easier to apply consistent formatting to your text. You have seen how to apply multiple attributes to text in a single click. Styles also save time when you need to change or update formatting. You can modify a style definition and automatically update all text that is associated with a style. You will change the size of the recipe steps. By making a single update, all text using the rec_steps style will be updated. While you are working with two pages, the same time-saving technique works just as easily on documents with hundreds of pages.

1 Make certain the cursor is still in the bottom paragraph on the right page, which starts with the text Bake in oven.

2 In the Paragraph Styles panel, the rec_steps paragraph style should be highlighted, indicating that the style is applied to the paragraph where the cursor is positioned. Double-click the style to open the Paragraph Style Options dialog box.

3 Click to select Basic Character Formats on the left side of the Paragraph Style Options dialog box.

4 Choose 11 points from the Size drop-down menu, and then choose Auto from the Leading drop-down menu to change the vertical line spacing.

5 Select the Character Color option along the left side of the dialog box, and then choose cookie color from the list of available colors.

6 If necessary, click the Preview check box in the lower-left corner to see the changes in the document as you make them.

7 Press OK to commit the changes and close the dialog box. All text formatted with the rec_steps style has been changed.

Loading styles from another document

After you create a style, you can use it in other InDesign documents. This lets you reuse your work in other files, keeping their appearance consistent, or simply saving time. The Paragraph Styles and Character Styles panel menus both include an option to load text styles from other documents. Here you will import previously created styles used in another recipe.

In this exercise, you’ll import some new styles into the gingersnaps recipe as practice.

1 With the document open, choose Load All Text Styles from the Paragraph Styles panel menu (). The Open a File dialog box appears.

In cases when you only want to use paragraph or character styles, you can choose to load only these styles by selecting either Load Paragraph Styles or Load Character Styles from the respective panel menus. For this example, you will continue to load all styles.

2 In the Open a File dialog box, choose the file id0402.indd from the id04lessons folder. This is the document from which you’ll import the styles. Press Open, and the Load Styles dialog box appears.

To see the entire contents of the Load Styles dialog box, you may need to click and drag the lower-right corner until all the options are visible.

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  If you want to import styles that use the same name as existing styles in your document, the Load Styles dialog box lets you choose how to handle the conflicting names. The Use Incoming Definition causes the imported style definition to be used. The Auto-Rename causes the imported style to be renamed, allowing you to use both the existing and imported styles. Click the words Use Incoming Definition to see the drop-down list you can change it to the Auto-Rename option.

3 Press the Uncheck All button, as this deselects all the styles in the Load Styles dialog box. Select the rec_head, rec_list, and Head styles by clicking the check box next to each respective style.

You can import all the styles in a document or only a few. By deselecting certain styles, you prevent them from being imported into your document.

4 Press OK to close the Load Styles dialog box. The Paragraph Styles panel now includes the imported styles rec_head, rec_list, and Head, which can be used in this document.

5 Choose File > Save to save your work.

Quick Apply

As your list of styles grows, navigating to find a specific style can be time-consuming. If you perform editing work, you’ll appreciate the ability to efficiently apply styles using Quick Apply. Using a special key command, you’ll type the first few letters of a style’s name and be able to quickly apply the style.

1 Using the Type tool (), click in the Molasses Won’t Slow Eating These Gingersnaps text box at the top of the left page.

2 Press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Return (Mac OS) to open the Quick Apply window.

You can also use the Quick Apply button () located in the upper-right corner of the Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, or Control panels.

3 Type hea in the window’s search field. The Head style appears at the top of the list. Press the Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) key on your keyboard to apply the style to the text. The Quick Apply window closes.

Because paragraph styles format an entire paragraph, you don’t have to highlight the text. Simply click in the paragraph, then apply the paragraph style.

4 Click in the box at the top of the right page, placing the cursor within the phrase Cookie Color.

5 Press the Quick Apply button in the Control panel and type rec in the text field. Three styles starting with rec appear in the list. If necessary, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to highlight the rec_head style if it isn’t already highlighted, then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the style.

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  You can use Quick Apply to apply styles and to access many commands. Use Quick Apply to access commands even if you have forgotten the menu or panel where the command is located—you need to know only the name of the command you want to access.

6 Click in the paragraph below Cookie Color. Press the Quick Apply button or use the keyboard command, Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Return (Mac OS), and type the letter c in the text field. Select the callout large style, then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the callout large style to the text.

7 Choose File > Save to save your work.

Organizing styles into groups

Another way to work more efficiently with a large number of styles is to organize them into groups. You can show or hide the contents of style groups, making it easier to locate the styles you need. Here you will organize the recipe’s rec styles into a group.

1 Choose Edit > Deselect All to make sure nothing in the document is selected.

If the Deselect option is disabled, you have nothing selected and can proceed to the next step.

2 In the Paragraph Styles panel, click the rec_steps style to select it. Press and hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) key and select the remainder of the rec paragraph styles.

You may need to expand the panel to see all the styles. You can expand the panel by clicking and dragging the lower-right corner of the panel.

3 Press the Paragraph Styles panel menu button (). Choose New Group From Styles to create a new group from the selected styles. The New Style Group dialog box appears.

4 In the New Style Group dialog box, type recipe in the Name text field, then press OK. The group folder now appears open in the Paragraph Styles panel.

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  You can also manually drag styles into a group, and you can create subgroups, which are groups within groups.

5 Click the arrow next to the recipe style group to hide the styles in the group, then click it again to display the styles.

6 Choose File > Save to save your work.

Object styles

You’ll now look at the overall layout of the document and work with object styles. Object styles apply to frames, lines, and other graphic elements. Object styles can include paragraph styles, but they apply to an entire frame, not just text, and can apply background color, borders, and effects such as drop shadows.

Defining an object style

In this exercise, you’ll format the frame surrounding the Cookie Color text on the right side of the layout, then use this formatting as the foundation for an object style.

1 Choose the Selection tool () from the Tools panel, then click to select the Cookie Color frame on the right side of the layout.

2 Choose Object > Text Frame Options. In the Text Frame Options dialog box, type 0.125 in. for the Top Inset Spacing and press the tab key on your keyboard. Make sure the Make all settings the same button () to the right of the Top and Bottom text fields is selected, automatically applying the same value to the Bottom, Left, and Right fields. Keep the dialog box open for the next step in this exercise.

3 In the Vertical Justification section of the Text Frame Options dialog box, choose Center from the Align drop-down menu to center the text vertically within the frame. Press OK to apply the formatting.

4 Press the Object Styles button in the dock on the right side of the workspace or choose Window > Object Styles to open the Object Styles panel.

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  You can click and drag the bottom-right corner of the Object Styles panel to display more of the available styles.

5 With the Cookie Color frame still selected, press the Object Styles panel menu button () and choose New Object Style. The New Object Style dialog box opens.

6 In the New Object Style dialog box, type callout box in the Style Name text field and click the Apply Style to Selection check box.

7 Press OK to create the new object style, then choose File > Save to save your work. Keep the file open.

Applying an object style

Applying an object style is similar to applying text styles. You start by selecting the object to be formatted, then choose the style to apply to the object. You will apply the callout box style to another frame in the layout.

1 Using the Selection tool (), select the frames containing the headline and byline on the left page of the layout.

2 Apply the callout box style to the frame by clicking the style in the Object Styles panel.

3 Choose File > Save, or press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Command+S (Mac OS), to save your work.

Changing an object style

As with text styles, when you change an object style’s definition, you update all elements to which the style is applied. You will update the object style by changing the background color of the frames.

1 With the headline and byline frames still selected, double-click the callout box style name in the Object Styles panel to open the Object Styles Options dialog box.

2 In the Basic Attributes section, select the Fill option. The available color swatches for this document appear in the Fill section.

3 Choose the swatch named cookie color to add it to the callout box object style. You may need to scroll through the swatches list to see this color.

4 Press OK. Both frames now reflect the changes to the background color.

Finishing up

As a review, you’ll import some more styles and review the process of applying them to your document.

1 With the id0401_work.indd document open, choose Load All Text Styles from the Paragraph Styles panel menu. The Open a File dialog box appears.

2 In the Open a File dialog box, choose the file id0402.indd from the id04lessons folder. Press Open, and the Load Styles dialog box appears.

3 In the Load Styles dialog box, select only the styles named callout and byline to import these into your document. Press OK to close the dialog box and import the styles.

4 Choose the Type tool () from the Tools panel, then click and drag to select the ingredients on the right side of the document, selecting from sugar through cinnamon. In the Paragraph Styles panel, click to apply the paragraph style rec_list to the ingredients.

5 Click to place the cursor within the words Molasses Gingersnaps located above the ingredients; then click the rec_head style in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply the style to this text.

6 Click and place the cursor within the words by Larry Happy, then click the byline style to apply it to this text.

7 Choose File > Save to save your work, then choose File > Close.

Self study

To practice creating styles, create your own layout using your favorite family recipes. Import the styles from this lesson and apply them to the text and frames in your own recipes. Import the object styles as well.

Review

Questions

1 What is the difference between character and paragraph styles?

2 What is a nested style and why is it used?

3 What is the keyboard shortcut to access the Quick Apply option?

4 If there are multiple styles in a document and scrolling becomes tedious, how can you organize the styles?

Answers

1 Paragraph styles apply to all text between paragraph returns, while character styles apply only to selected text. Character styles do not include paragraph attributes such as indenting or line spacing.

2 A nested style is a paragraph style that also includes one or more character styles that format the initial portion of a paragraph style. Nested styles allow you to combine multiple formatting steps into a single click.

3 Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Return (Mac OS).

4 Style groups allow you to group together styles and determine which styles are displayed or hidden.

Congratulations! You have finished InDesign Lesson 4, “Working with Styles.”