InDesign for QuarkXPress Users [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Working with Tabs

To work with tabs in InDesign, open the Tabs palette by choosing Tabs from the Type menu (or press Command-Shift-T/Ctrl-Shift-T; see Figure 49-1). Unlike XPress, which affixes a temporary ruler at the top of the text box whenever the Tab dialog box is open, InDesign's Tabs palette contains a ruler. If you want the ruler to align with the text frame, change your view to show the top of the text frame at its full width, select the frame with the Selection tool or the Type tool, and then click the magnet button on the right side of the palette. The palette should jump into position at the top of the frame. However, note that you don't have to align the ruler in order set tab stops.

Creating Tab Stops

To add a tab stop, first select the paragraphs which you want to affect (either use the Type tool to select one or more paragraphs or use the Selection tool to choose an unlinked text frame). Next, click one of the four tab alignment buttons in the Tabs palette to set the alignment of the tab stop. Then do one of the following:

• Click in the tab ruler where you want the tab stop to appear (click in the narrow space just above the ruler).




• Type a value in the Position (X) field and press Enter.




• To type values for a series of tab stops in the Position (X) field, complete each value by pressing Command-Enter/Ctrl-Enter (this applies the tab stop but keeps the field active).




• To set a number of equally spaced tabs, select a tab stop, then choose Repeat Tab from the Tabs palette's flyout menu. Tabs stops will be repeated across the text frame. The distance between tabs will be based on the space between the selected tab and the left indent (or the previous tab).

In addition, if you click in the Position (X) field, you can press the Up or Down Arrow keys to move the tab stop to the right or left. Unfortunately, you cannot move more than one tab stop at a time).

By the way, you don't have to align the Tabs palette with the text frame because when you click and drag a tab stop in the palette, InDesign displays a vertical line over the text frame reflecting the position of the tab stop. It's a little thing, but it saves so much time. Try it!

Tab Alignment

Tab stops can either be aligned by pressing one of the tab alignment buttons before creating a tab stop, or by selecting a tab stop and clicking a button. You can also Option/Alt-click the tab stop to cycle through the alignment options.

While QuarkXPress uses seven types of tab stops, InDesign combines these into four: Left, Center, Right, and Align On. The Align On button can handle alignment on a decimal point (period), comma, or any other character. Type or paste the character you wish to align on into the Align On Character field and press Enter.

Tab Leaders

What QuarkXPress calls fill characters, InDesign calls tab leaders. As in XPress, to add a one or more characters to fill the space created by the tab, select a tab stop and enter one or more characters in the Tab Leader field, then press Enter. XPress is limited to two fill characters, but InDesign allows as many as eight. Like XPress, you can select the tab character with the Type tool and format it in the Character palette or Type menu to change the appearance of the tab leader.