More Text Styling | Free InDesign Tutorial

Improve your understanding of text formatting such as all caps, small caps, OpenType formatting, and other typesetting techniques with this useful InDesign tutorial. Master the usage of tools such as the type tool, control panel, and panel menu to perfect your layout skills.

Key Insights

The InDesign tutorial covers various topics such as baseline shift, small caps, the line tool, and OpenType formatting.
The exercise focuses on text formatting techniques including all caps, small caps, and OpenType formatting, among others.
Several tools like the Type tool and the Control panel are crucial for the execution of the exercise.
Specifics of styling the title "Exploration" are discussed in detail, including the usage of the Line tool and baseline shift.
Techniques for styling a 2-line subtitle, including the use of small caps, are also covered.
The tutorial includes steps on how to create proper fractions and use superscript for footnote numbers.

Master the intricacies of text formatting with our InDesign tutorial, delving into topics like baseline shift, small caps, the line tool, and OpenType formatting.

This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Adobe InDesign training materials and is compatible with InDesign updates through 2020. To learn current skills in InDesign, check out our InDesign Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.

Topics Covered in This InDesign Tutorial:

Baseline Shift, Small Caps, the Line Tool, OpenType Formatting (like Styling Proper Fractions

Exercise Preview

uninspirational poster done

Exercise Overview

This exercise gets you pointed in the right direction… with text formatting such as all caps and small caps, OpenType formatting (like styling proper fractions), and other typesetting techniques.

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From the InDesign Class folder, open the file uninspirational poster.indd.

If you get a message about modified links, click Update Links. The exercise file was created on a different computer and since the images are in the same folder, InDesign will just find and update them for you.
We’ve already typed in the text and done some basic styling such as font and font size. You will perfect the layout. Zoom in on the text so you can see it better.

Styling the “Exploration” Title

With the Type tool , select the word exploration.
In the Control panel, click the All Caps button .

Don’t see it? Switch to the Character options via the button on the left.
That looks better, but we can make the Exploration title more interesting. Select the middle letters XPLORATIO (everything except the E and N).
Make those middle letters (XPLORATIO) smaller, 70 pts.
With the middle letters still selected, let’s Baseline Shift them to align with the top of the E and N. The fastest way is to use the following keystrokes:

Mac: Option–Shift–Up or Down Arrow

Windows: ALT–Shift–Up or Down Arrow

Try it. Press the keyboard shortcut until the text lines up at the top.

NOTE: To see how much your Baseline Shift is (or if you don’t like keystrokes), look in the Control panel. You’ll probably need to be viewing the Character options . Baseline Shift is near the middle of the panel.
To fill out that space we just created, we’ll add a line. Select the Line tool .
Hold Shift (to make sure the line is perfectly horizontal) and draw a line that aligns with the bottom of the E and N and fills in that space.

NOTE: The line should already be the right color (orange), as we chose that ahead of time for you. If you needed to apply a color yourself, you would open the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) and click on the color to apply it.
With the line still selected, in the Control panel, make the Stroke weight 3 pt as shown below:

Styling the 2-Line Subtitle

Using the Type tool , select the two lines of text under Exploration.
In the Control panel, click the Small Caps button .

If you don’t see it, switch to the Character options via the button on the left.

The Disclaimer

We need to add a footnote number to line 2 of the subtitle. Put the cursor at the end of the second line, after “…Wrong Way”.
Type in a 1 (that’s a number one).
Select the 1 and in the Control panel, click the Superscript button .
Type another 1 at the beginning of the disclaimer text at the bottom of the page, which starts with “Not responsible…”
Select it and make it Superscript as well.

NOTE: Another way of applying options such as All Caps, Superscript, etc. is by using the Character panel (Type > Character) and going to its menu . The keystrokes for those options are also shown in this menu.

Making Proper Fractions

In the middle of that line is a fraction that isn’t properly styled (99/100). Select it.
On the far right of the Control panel, go into the panel menu and select OpenType > Fractions.

Proper Fractions Without OpenType

While OpenType fraction styling is ideal, it won’t work with TrueType or Postscript fonts. It also won’t work with all OpenType fonts! If the menu has square brackets around the [Fractions] option, that particular font lacks the special fraction characters. One of our instructors, Dan Rodney, wrote a script called Proper Fraction that formats fractions regardless of font. You can download a free version on his website at: danrodney.com/scripts
You’ll work with this file again in a later exercise, so save it as yourname-uninspirational poster.indd into the InDesign Class folder.