Design with Style:
A Beginning Guide
to InDesign Style Sheets
(This exercise will be posted in stages. It was originally published in FatBits...a long time ago and has been recently updated)
About styles
(from the InDesign Help file)
A character style is a
collection of character formatting attributes that can be applied to
text in a single step. A paragraph
style includes
both character and paragraph formatting attributes, and can be applied
to a selected paragraph or range of paragraphs. When you change the
formatting of a style, all text to which the style has been applied
will be updated with the new format.
By default, each new document contains a [Basic Paragraph]
style that is applied to text you type. You can edit this style, but
you can’t
rename or delete it. You can rename and delete styles that you create.
You can also select a different default style to apply to text.
Paragraph styles and character styles are found on separate palettes.
Style sheets don’t need to be complicated, and I’ll show
you how, with just a little planning, a document like a menu that has
several different type styles one after another, can go together as easily
as typing a, b, c! If you’ve used Microsoft Word style sheets,
InDesign Paragraph Styles and Character styles work much the same way.
Set up style sheets
One approach to setting up style sheets is to set
up the formats from within the style sheet dialog. That’s usually
awkward, because you’ve probably already formatted sample
text to see what it looks like.
If you already have formatted text, you
can assign styles “by
example.” If
you are entering type directly in InDesign, you can take advantage of
the program’s “next style” feature. This nifty device
allows you to type freely, and on each new paragraph, signified by pressing
the “return” key, the formatting automatically changes to
a new and different pre-specified style. Using “Next Styles” makes
a complicated typesetting job like the Thai menu no more difficult than
entering the type.
Copy and Paste
Use this text for the Menu exercise.
sweet & sour
fish 9.95
Deep Fried whole Pomfret in Sweet & Sour Sauce
jessica fish 9.95
Deep Fried Whole Pomfret Smothered in Special Pork Sauce
chili sauce fish 9.95
Deep Fried Whole Pomfret Smothered with Thai Curry
garlic shrimp 5.95
Bedded with Lettuce
chili past shrimp 5.95
With Bell Pepper, Onion & Peanuts
chili mint squid & shrimp 9.95
chili mint clam 6.95
Sauteed with Egg, Onion & Indian Curry
green bean (ck. pk or beef) 4.95
red curry beef 4.95
Panang
yellow curry chicken 4.95
“Kang Karee”
cat fish curry 5.95
Deep Fried Catfish
pineapple shrimp curry 5.95
With Pineapple