I’ve always thought that underlining words within body copy looked absolutely atrocious, so I avoided using them at all cost. Over the years, this lead to arguments with some coworkers who felt (just as strongly) that the words “needed” to be underlined to stand out. I would argue that underlines are, in many cases, too heavy for the typeface and much to close to the baseline. Because of this, underlines make words stick out, not standout. The problem is that sometimes people who feel the “need” for underlines are in charge. There has to be a way to make underlines look better.
When I used to use Quark, the solution was Custom Underlines and in InDesign it’s Underline Options. Select the copy you have to underline, and under the Options menu of the Character palette, select Underline Options. In the window that opens, check “Underline On” and “Preview.” Then choose the weight of the underline, its offset, type of rule used, and its color before pressing OK. And best of all, like any Character formatting, these options can be saved as a Character Style by selecting “New Style” under the Options menu of the Character Styles palette.
Tip provided by Jeff Witchel, Certified Adobe® Training Provider.
Author: jeff witchel
Jeff Witchel graduated from Pratt Institute in 1973 with a B.F.A. (Cum Laude) in Advertising Design and Visual Communications. He has been an award-winning advertising art director, writer, designer, illustrator, and TV producer ever since.
Before starting his own advertising agency in New Jersey, Jeff built his career at top New York ad agencies such as Young & Rubicam, Grey Advertising, and Wells, Rich, Greene. Over the years, he has created award-winning work for many clients including AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Jell-O Pudding, The Plaza Hotel, and Pfizer. His many prestigious awards include N.Y. Art Directors Club Gold Award, One Show Gold Award, N.J. Art Directors Club Award, multiple Andy Awards, Graphis Annual, numerous readership awards, plus an Emmy Award nomination.
Jeff is a self-taught computer artist with over 19 years of experience. His initial introduction to the computer was with PageMaker, but he switched to Quark 1.0 when it was first introduced in 1987. Having arrived on the desktop publishing scene so early, Jeff became the “go to” guy for answers when others started getting into computer graphics.
As an Adobe Certified Expert, he’s provided online support for Adobe and is now an Adobe Certified Training Provider for both Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Adobe InDesign CS2. Jeff is one of just a handful of Adobe Certified Instructors in the New York metropolitan area. He also is a Quark Certified Expert in QuarkXPress 6 as well as a master of Adobe Photoshop and related applications. He counts among his training clients ad agencies, design studios, magazines, illustrators, and photographers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
