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.
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