How to Adjust Visual Alignment for Right-Aligned Multi-Line Headings in InDesign

[Jansseune]

I very rarely use right aligned text (maybe ten times in a career of 40 years) but I have a use for it now in a book. How do I align right aligned headings but still have the ability to adjust them so that they align visually? The heading is over 3 lines - the first ends in a colon, the second ends in N and the third line a T and they all need spacing so that the right line ends looks visually aligned.

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[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Have you tried Optical Margin Alignment setting? 

[Jansseune]

Yes, but this makes it even worse. I want to manuallly kern right aligned text but there doesn't seem to be a way to do it.




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Philip Jansseune | Creative Director | Walker Jansseune | Brand Communications

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[Peter Kahrel]

There is a trick to do that: at the end of each line type a dot (or any other character), then apply negative kerning to the insertion point between the 'real' last character (colon, T, N) and the following dot.

You can make those characters invisible by applying the Paper colour.

Problem is of course that those dots appear in the table of contents, so you'll have to delete them there after you generate the TOC.

This is a variant of forcing letters out of the frame on the left in left-aligned text. There you can use invisible characters (such as a discretionary hyphen) for the dummy characters, but unfortunately that doesn't work in right-aligned text.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

How about adding small objects with a TextWrap? 

It will most likely require manual fine tuning - but with the right tool 😉 it would be a case of using up/down arrows to jump between those objects and left/right to move those objects sideways.

And after doing one or two documents - location of those objects for each letter can be stored and then applied automatically. 

[Peter Kahrel]

> How about adding small objects with a TextWrap? 

There's only one way to find out, Robert.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

> How about adding small objects with a TextWrap? 

There's only one way to find out, Robert.

By @Peter Kahrel

You mean doing it manually - or would you like me to create a Task and see it in action? 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Jansseune

Can you provide a sample document? 

[Jansseune]

No, I'm sorry Robert. The document is confidential.

[Peter Kahrel]

Manually.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Manually.

By @Peter Kahrel

Manually is rather very easy? 

Or am I'm missing the point? 

[Peter Kahrel]

> Manually is rather very easy? 

> Or am I'm missing the point? 

I don't know. Try and find out.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

> Manually is rather very easy? 

> Or am I'm missing the point? 

I don't know. Try and find out.

By @Peter Kahrel

TextWrap won't push text inside the TextFrame? 

[Peter Kahrel]

Try it.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Try it.

By @Peter Kahrel

[Peter Kahrel]

The point is to get letters such as the T to extend out of the frame.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

The point is to get letters such as the T to extend out of the frame.

By @Peter Kahrel

Or pushing the rest inside?

[Peter Kahrel]

It's a heading. So there's justified text below it. You can push bits of heading inside only if you push the right side of the following text inside as well, which is unlikely to be an option.

[Scott Falkner]

There is a trick to do that: at the end of each line type a dot (or any other character), then apply negative kerning to the insertion point between the 'real' last character (colon, T, N) and the following dot.

You can make those characters invisible by applying the Paper colour.

By @Peter Kahrel

I thought of the same thing, but instad use no fill for the period. Yhis is cleaner in case the text appears over an image or background colour.

[Jansseune]

Thank you Peter. The left hand frame trick (where you can simply add a space and negative kern) would be the answer but sadly does not work the same on the right.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Use multiple paragraphs, and adjust the spacing for each line. If needed, use two or three styles to keep top/bottom spacing consistent. But each could have its right spacing tweaked for perfect visual alignment.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Use multiple paragraphs, and adjust the spacing for each line. If needed, use two or three styles to keep top/bottom spacing consistent. But each could have its right spacing tweaked for perfect visual alignment.

By @James Gifford—NitroPress

Isn't it about RIGHT margin alignment? Not spacing before/after?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Yes, but one para style might not allow for above and below spacing of the whole group - or, come to think of it, the inter-para spacing might handle that.

Fundamental suggestion here is to use one para per line and twiddle the right spacing as needed, page-fitting style. Managing vertical spacing can be handled a couple of ways.

[Jansseune]

Thanks James, but far too complicated for lots of titles in a document. I want a simpler solution for adjusting right line endings in a range right heading. I'm flabbergasted that Indesign doens't have a built-in solution for this.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I can only suggest that western, LTR languages just don't have right-side kerning etc. mapped. Right justification is an unusual choice, especially for larger fonts/headings, and only a manual solution is really going to mimic the more natural left-side margin alignment.