Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 471)

465 USING INDESIGN
Color
Last updated 11/16/2011
Applying color
Apply color
Adobe InDesign provides a number of tools for applying color, including the Toolbox, the Swatches panel, the Color
panel, the Color Picker, and the Control panel.
When you apply a color, you can specify whether the color applies to the stroke or fill of an object. The stroke is the
border, or frame, of an object, and the fill is the background of an object. When you apply a color to a text frame, you
can specify whether the color change affects the text frame or the text inside the frame.
1 Select the object you want to color by doing one of the following:
• For a path or frame, use the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool , as necessary.
• For a grayscale or monochrome (1-bit) image, click the Content Grabber or use the Direct Selection tool. You can
apply only two colors to a grayscale or monochrome image.
• For text characters, use the Type tool to change the text color of a single word or the entire text within a frame.
To change the color of gaps in a dashed, dotted, or striped stroke, use the Stroke panel.
2 In the Toolbox or in the Color or Swatches panel, select the Formatting Affects Text or Formatting Affects
Container to determine whether color is applied to the text or the text frame.
3 In the Toolbox or in the Color or Swatches panel, select the Fill box or the Stroke box to specify the fill or stroke of
the object. (If you selected an image, the Stroke box has no effect.)
Specify how color is applied in the Toolbox
A. Fill box B. Formatting Affects Container C. Stroke box D. Formatting Affects Text
4 Do one of the following:
• Select a color, tint, or gradient using the Swatches or Gradient panel.
• Select a color, tint, or gradient from the Fill or Stroke menu in the Control panel.
• Double-click either the Fill or Stroke box in the Toolbox or the Color panel to open the Color Picker. Select the
desired color, and click
OK.
You can apply color to any grayscale image, provided it does not contain alpha or spot channels. If you imported an
image with a clipping path, select the clipping path using the Direct Selection tool to apply color to the clipped area only.
Select a color with the Color Picker
The Color Picker lets you choose colors from a color field or specify colors numerically. You can define colors using
the RGB, Lab, or CMYK color model.
1 Double-click either the Fill or Stroke box in the Toolbox or the Color panel to open the Color Picker.
2 To change the color spectrum displayed in the Color Picker, click a letter: R (Red), G (Green), or B (Blue); or L
(luminance), a (green-red axis), or b (blue-yellow axis).
C
D
A
B