Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 271)

265 USING INDESIGN
Typography
Last updated 11/16/2011
Aligning text
Align or justify text
Text can be aligned with one or both edges (or insets) of a text frame. Text is said to be justified when it is aligned with
both edges. You can choose to justify all text in a paragraph excluding the last line (Justify Left or Justify Right), or you
can justify text in a paragraph including the last line (Justify All). When you have only a few characters on the last line,
you may want to use a special end-of-story character and create a flush space.
Justify Left (left) and Justify All (right)
Note: When you justify all lines of text and you are using the Adobe Paragraph Composer, InDesign shifts text to ensure
that the paragraph has consistent text density and is visually appealing. You can fine-tune spacing in justified text.
1 Select text.
2 Click one of the Alignment buttons (Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Left Justify, Center Justify, Right Justify
and Full Justify) in the Paragraph panel or Control panel.
3 (Optional) Click Align Towards Spine or Align Away From Spine.
When you apply Align Towards Spine to a paragraph, text on a left-hand page is right-aligned, but when the same text
flows onto (or if the frame is moved to) a right-hand page, it becomes left aligned. Similarly, when you apply Align
Away From Spine to a paragraph, text on a left-hand page is left aligned, while text on a right-hand page is right
aligned.
If you want the left side of a line of text to be left-aligned and the right side to be right-aligned, position the insertion
point where you want to right-align the text, press Tab, and then right-align the rest of the line.
More Help topics
“ Align or justify text vertically within a text frame ” on page 267
“ Change Justification settings ” on page 288
Align paragraphs to a baseline grid
The baseline grid represents the leading for body text in a document. You can use multiples of this leading value for
all elements of the page to ensure that text always lines up between columns and from page to page. For example, if the
body text in your document has 12-point leading, you could give your heading text 18-point leading and add 6 points
of space before the paragraphs that follow the headings.
Using a baseline grid ensures consistency in the location of text elements on a page. You can adjust the leading for the
paragraph to ensure that its baselines align to the page’s underlying grid. This is useful if you want the baselines of text
in multiple columns or adjacent text frames to align. Change settings for the baseline grid by using the Grids section
of the Preferences dialog box.