TypeTalk: Customizing Type Settings in InDesign

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Q Is there a way to change the type-related default settings in InDesign? If so, what do you recommend changing? 

A Yes, there is a way to change type-related default settings in InDesign (and in many, if not all, other Adobe Creative Suite applications). This is an issue worth exploring as customizing your default settings is not only a time-saver, but also helpful when finessing your type in ways that are easily overlooked.

 

Figure Styles When setting running (or body) text using OpenType fonts that contain both oldstyle and lining figures, I recommend using proportional oldstyle figures, as they blend in beautifully with lowercase letters, and create better typographic color and texture. The default figure style for most fonts is tabular lining figures, so if you don’t change the default, that might be what you get. Figure style settings are located in the Control panel menu and the Character panel menu under OpenType > (Proportional Oldstyle).

proportional oldstyle figures

Hyphenation InDesign’s hyphenation preferences can be found in the Control panel menu. The default settings allow for three hyphens in a row, as well as two-letter word breaks, both of which are typographically undesirable as they reduce readability, and just look bad. My suggested baseline defaults are a maximum of two hyphens in a row, and a minimum of three-letter word breaks. If you or your client prefer no hyphenation at all, then deselect Hyphenate. Note that if you do this, you can still make manual breaks as needed to fix deep or poor rags.

hyphenation settings

Adobe Composer  InDesign has a default text composition setting called Adobe Paragraph Composer (located in the Control panel menu). The purpose of this feature is to optimize line breaks and hyphenations by evaluating the entire paragraph, and making breaks accordingly. If you then make manual line breaks, the composer re-evaluates the entire paragraph and sometimes makes other line-breaks without your permission, so to speak, which can be extremely exasperating! If you regularly make manual line breaks to fine-tune the rags (as I do), reset the default to Adobe Single-line Composer, which will not automatically reflow your text when you adjust the rag. Note that if you make this change to edited text, proof it carefully for unwanted line-breaks and hyphens.

composer default 

Optical Margin Alignment via Story Panel This oddly-named panel (which you can open by choosing Type > Story) contains a very useful, powerful, and sophisticated feature that allows you to finesse the visual margin alignment of text. When Optical Margin Alignment is turned on, punctuation marks as well as the serifs and edges of certain overhanging characters, like T, Y, A, and 1 are “pulled” into the margin to create a more visually uniform alignment, in what used to be called hung punctuation.

Once this feature is activated (it’s off by default) you can tweak the point size setting to control how far into the margin characters will extend. Changing this setting in an existing document can cause text to reflow, so it’s best to adjust your Optical Martin Alignment preferences before you create a new document.

 story default

Here’s how: open the application, but make sure you have no documents open. Now change any default settings as desired, and your changes will affect any new documents. Previously-created documents will not be affected. Changing default settings in existing documents can be done when a document is open and no objects are selected; this will reset the defaults for new objects in that document.

Typographic preferences may be a personal choice, or they can be specific to an individual project, client, style guide, or other factors. These are the primary settings that I use on a regular basis, and that I recommend as a starting point for finessing your typography:There are many more default settings and preferences you might want to change, either on a global basis, or for individual documents and projects. The most commonly used settings include font style, size, line spacing, alignment, justification, bullets, and tabs. If you don’t to apply the same settings to all the text in your document, use Paragraph or Character Styles to apply different settings to text as desired.

Also, check out these related articles:

Good looking Figures

https://creativepro.com/content/typetalk-good-looking-figures 

Hyphenation

https://creativepro.com/article/fine-tuning-your-type-hyphenation

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Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio, is a typographic consultant, designer, writer and educator specializing in all aspects of visual communication, from the aesthetic to the technical. Her book, Type Rules! The designer’s guide to professional typography, 3rd edition (4th in the works), has received numerous accolades from the type and design community. She conducts her widely acclaimed Gourmet Typography Workshops internationally.  For more information on attending one or bringing it to your company, organization, or school, go to her site, call The Type Studio at 203-227-5929, or email Ilene at [email protected]. Sign up for her free e-newsletter, All Things Typographic, at www.thetypestudio.com.

Ilene Strizver is a noted typographic educator, author, designer and founder of The Type Studio in Westport, Connecticut. Her book, Type Rules! The designer’s guide to professional typography, is now in its 4th edition.
  • ValterV says:

    Useful tips, but the second-to-last paragraph (“Here’s how: oopen…”) should go at the beginning.

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