Object styles panel overview, Define object styles – Adobe InDesign CS3 User Manual
Page 185
INDESIGN CS3
User Guide
178
When creating styles, you might find that several styles share some of the same characteristics. Rather than setting
those characteristics each time you define the next style, you can base one object style on another. When you change
the base style, any shared attributes that appear in the “parent” style change in the “child” style as well.
For a video on using object styles, see
Object Styles panel overview
Use the Object Styles panel to create, edit, and apply object styles. For each new document, the panel initially lists a
default set of object styles. Object styles are saved with a document and display in the panel each time you open that
document. The Text Frame icon
marks the default style for text frames; the Graphics Frame icon
marks the
default style for graphics frames and drawn shapes.
See also
“Use default object styles” on page 180
Open the Object Style panel
❖
Choose Window > Object Styles.
Change how object styles are listed in the panel
•
Select Small Panel Rows from the panel menu to display a more condensed version of the object styles.
•
Drag the object style to a different position. When a black line appears in the desired position, release the mouse
button.
•
Select Sort By Name from the panel menu to list the object styles in alphabetical order.
Define object styles
You can define a style based on the settings you’ve already applied to an object, or you can create a style from scratch
or based on another style.
1
Select the object or text frame that uses the settings you want the object style to include.
2
Choose New Object Style from the Object Styles panel menu, or Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS)
the Create New Style button.
3
In the New Object Style dialog box, type a name for the style.
4
To base the style on another style, choose a style for Based On.
Note: The Based On option lets you link styles to each other, so that changes in one style ripple through the styles that
are based on it. If you make changes to the formatting of a child style and decide you want to start over, click Reset to
Base. That restores the child style’s formatting to be identical to the style on which it’s based.
5
To add a keyboard shortcut, position the insertion point in the Shortcut box, and make sure Num Lock is turned
on. Then hold down any combination of Shift, Alt, and Ctrl (Windows) or Shift, Option, and Command (Mac OS),
and press a number on the numeric keypad. You cannot use letters or non-keypad numbers for defining style
shortcuts.
6
Under Basic Attributes, select any additional categories that contain options you want to define, and set the
options as desired. Click the check box to the left of each category to indicate whether it should be included or
ignored in the style.