TypeTalk: Biting the Bullet

TypeTalk is a regular blog on typography. Post your questions and comments by clicking on the Comments icon above. If Ilene answers your question in the blog, you’ll receive one Official Creativepro.com T-Shirt!
Q.How should I align a bulleted list when there’s more than one line of text for one or more items?
A. You can align multiple lines of bulleted text in two ways: either flush with the bullet, or indented so they align with the first line of text.
Which treatment you choose is a question of taste and your desired goal. The first option makes for a cleaner edge and blends in with the page, while the second method breaks up the text (which could be good in a text-heavy layout) and creates greater emphasis for the bulleted points.
The top example shows a flush left treatment for both bullets and text, while the bottom image shows indented text. Set in Expo Sans.

The first treatment requires no special text handling. One easy way to set hanging indents is to use your page-layout application’s “indent to here” command, which essentially creates a hanging bullet next to the text.
To use this feature, which is accessible in QuarkXPress and InDesign, place your curser in front of the character you want all other lines to align to, then press Command/ Control-backslash.
Depending on your software, there are other ways to achieve an indented bullet alignment, including InDesign’s built-in bulleted list feature. But whatever you do, don’t indent using manual line breaks and tabs, or you can wind up with huge, unsightly spaces between words if your copy is edited or reragged.
Love type? Want to know more? Ilene Strizver conducts her 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 e-newsletter 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.
  • inkspotgraphics says:

    I would also recommend adding some more additional space between bullet points (for better readability). Or what InDesign calls “Space After or Space Before”.

    Mike Johnson
    Inkspot Graphics

  • pswenson says:

    Just one question: I’ve noticed this indent feature is lost if it has to go around an irregular shaped graphic with text wrap. How do you get around this? no pun intended!
    Thanks

  • shunith says:

    Unfortunately, one of the least elucidating of your recent articles… :(

  • sharonhoffman says:

    I create indented bullets in InDesign by using the pargraph settings. I indent the full paragraph/sentence by a specific amount (i usually use 0p7 picas for a small dash or bullet), then indent the first line by the same negative amount (-0p7).

    Not sure if that’s the fastest or best way, but it gets the job done for me.

  • graffiteria says:

    Better to use “1st line -.125” in paragraph format (and follow the bullet with a tab). It works universally in every application, works with style sheets, and can be adjusted easily as need be.

  • Anonymous says:

    This answered my “how do you get a hanging indent” question exactly. Ctrl +. Even looking in Adobe’s own help I couldn’t find a simple answer like this. They had me adjusting all the indents, which still didn’t seem to work. This worked perfectly! Thanks!

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