Leading is one type of formatting feature that’s entirely different in InDesign than in Quark. In InDesign, each line within a paragraph can have a different amount of Leading. This is why Leading controls are in the Character panel instead of the Paragraph panel. In Quark, every single line in a paragraph has to have the same amount of Leading. This difference in Leading is the cause behind most of the support calls I get from Quark switchers, other than Text Wraps.
The top question asked is, “What happened to my Leading? It’s totally inconsistent throughout my copy.” After explaining line-by-line Leading, I tell them how to avoid unwanted inconsistencies by clicking four times in a paragraph to select the whole paragraph before applying the desired Leading. The next question that follows is usually, “Why would I ever want inconsistent Leading in a paragraph?” Isn’t it just bad typography? I answer, “Yes! Except in one instance. With large type, such as a headline, differences in ascender and descenders from line to line, can make evenly spaced Leading look unequal optically. The ability to correct this is the major reason Leading has been set up line by line in InDesign. This will usually lead to the following inevitable response. “I see. But how can I turn it off?” I answer, “Look under the InDesign menu > Preferences > Type (Edit > Preferences > Type on PC) and check “Apply Leading to Entire Paragraphs, and click OK.”
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.
