InDesign for QuarkXPress Users [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Distributing Objects

Distributing objects (placing equal space between them) requires that you first select three or more objects. InDesign lets you distribute items while maintaining the height and width of the bounding box (the invisible box which surrounds all the objects), or while ignoring the bounding box. XPress can do all of these distributions, but it would take four pages to explain how.

Maintaining the Bounding Box

To distribute while maintaining the bounding box means the left-most and right-most (or top-most and bottom-most) objects stay put while the other objects move. You can do this by choosing one of the six icons in the second row, labeled Distribute Objects. For this to work, make sure the Use Spacing checkbox just below these icons is turned off.

Alternatively, you can move the objects so that the space between them is equal (this is what we use most often) by choosing one of the two buttons marked Distribute Spacingone for Horizontal and one for Vertical. Again, make sure the Using Spacing checkbox below the icons is turned off.

Distributing Using Precise Spacing

There are two more kinds of object distribution which don't maintain the bounding box of the selected objects. Here you're attempting to place a precise amount of space between selected objects. To do this, turn on the Using Spacing option and enter a value greater than zero in the Use Spacing field. (Typing zero make the Distribute buttons act just like the Align buttons.) As in XPress, the top-most or left-most object remains stationary, and the remaining objects space themselves in relation to that object. InDesign allows either positive or negative measurements; positive numbers move objects to the right or down, negative numbers to the left or up.

The last method of distribution specifies the spacing between object bounding boxes. You can do this by turning on the Using Spacing option at the bottom of the palette and choosing one of the two Distribute Spacing buttons. For example, if you select five frames and want to place two picas of space between each of them, you could type 2p into the Use Spacing field and click one of the buttons.