How to make spacing equal between boxes

Report · May 05, 2010

CS4. I have 4 event tickets I want evenly spaced. I put the left one where I want it, the right one where I want it. I select all and none of the alignment options at the top of the screen shot are doing anything. They align on top of each other to the left, right or center but not equidistant which is what I'm trying to do. Is there a button or setting I'm missing? Thanks.

Report · May 05, 2010

In the alignment panel, make sure you Show Options to see the full panel.

Distribute Spacing is at the bottom of the panel. Click the vertical or horizontal distribute buttons to auto distribute or check "Use spacing" and put in a value to give an exact amount of spacing around each item.

Edit: I have CS3 but I think the procedure is the same or very similar in CS4.

Report · May 05, 2010

You likely have "use spacing" checked on the Align panel. It happens to me all the time.

Report · May 05, 2010

Where might I find this alignment panel?

This is what I see.

And in the window menu, there is no ALIGNMENT option

Report · May 05, 2010

Mr. Met wrote:
Where might I find this alignment panel?

Window > Object and Layout > Align or Shift + F7

Report · May 05, 2010

The alignment panel is under Window>Objects&Layout>Alignment (KBSC on my mac is Shift+F7 but I don't know if that's one I customized or one that is standard)

Report · May 05, 2010

And you can't distribute spacing for four objects grouped as a square in a single operation.

Report · May 05, 2010

Sorry, hit a wrong key and it posted before I was done. In CS4 it's probably faster to use the smart guides than to use the align panel.

Report · May 05, 2010

Found it. It's a sub menu of Objects and Layout. Dumb ass place for it.

Report · May 05, 2010

Mr. Met wrote:
Found it. It's a sub menu of Objects and Layout. Dumb *** place for it.

The really dumb place to find it is in a Help search phrase like align object or distribute object. Why anyone would think to hide this topic under the heading "Aligning and distributing objects" baffles me.

Seriously, lots of original work and user feedback suggestions have gone into making InDesign's Help useful.

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Report · May 05, 2010

What about all the items that don't pop up in the search window? Help is very hit or miss. I type in tons of what I think are logical search terms and get returns not even remotely related to what I need. I usually google and follow the link back to help. Also, if help was so hot, books like Sandee Cohen's Quickstart series wouldn't be the must have books they are.

In CS3 I select my object and go to the menu bar on top select align centers and it's done. In CS4, I have to navigate to submenus which is now how I prefer to work. We work in a mix of CS3 and 4. I'm planning on upgrading my two main workstations to CS5 at the same time this year so hopefully we can standardize the learning and implementing a bit quicker this time around. This will be after they patch CS5.

Here's the screen shots for CS3 (top) and CS4 (bottom) alignments.

Edit: Sorry for being snippy. Been a long, crappy week.

Report · May 05, 2010

Richard,

I misunderstood the arrangement ( though smart guides work really well here, too). Check your Control panel customizations. Are the distribute buttons turned on? (You'r actually distributing the centers of the objects in this case, not the space between, by using those buttons, but it works because the objects are the same size).

As far as why some menu items got moved, the rationale -- which I don't accept -- was that there are more and more features that get added, and long lists under the menus can be at least as hard to navigate, so the top level choices wer reduced to the most basic or most frequently used choices, and other items were added to second-level submenus. The toolbox is rearranged in CS5 which takes a lot of getting used to.

Report · May 05, 2010

I was under the impression you could customize menus. I use space distribution constantly. My workstation is CS3 and the freelance workstation is CS4. I only work on the CS4 workstation when I have no freelancers in. So it disrupts my routine a bit when I jump into CS4 even though I have customized workspaces.

Thx again.

Report · May 05, 2010

Mr. Met wrote:
I was under the impression you could customize menus.

Only to the extent that you can choose which menu commands to show or hide, not add ones that aren't defined or pick a new location. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to those commands though. They're in the "Object Editing" product area.

Report · May 05, 2010

I've been in CS3 so long and am so use to going to that top menu and clicking. I always forget what the keystroke is on CS4.

I'm just getting used to features of CS4 so CS5 is going to be an adventure. Looking forward to interactive newsletter features. That part of my business is building up slowly but steadily.

Report · May 06, 2010

Mr. Met wrote:
What about all the items that don't pop up in the search window? Help is very hit or miss. I type in tons of what I think are logical search terms and get returns not even remotely related to what I need. I usually google and follow the link back to help. Also, if help was so hot, books like Sandee Cohen's Quickstart series wouldn't be the must have books they are.
In CS3 I select my object and go to the menu bar on top select align centers and it's done. In CS4, I have to navigate to submenus which is now how I prefer to work. We work in a mix of CS3 and 4. I'm planning on upgrading my two main workstations to CS5 at the same time this year so hopefully we can standardize the learning and implementing a bit quicker this time around. This will be after they patch CS5.
Here's the screen shots for CS3 (top) and CS4 (bottom) alignments.
Edit: Sorry for being snippy. Been a long, crappy week.

What snippiness? I don' see no stickin' snippiness!<G>

No problem. We've all been there.

I can't remember if CS3 had Quick Apply, but it's in CS4 and CS5. Quick Apply has its own quirks in what abbreviations work to isolate commands, but once you learn those for the common things you need, it's easier to remember them in Quick Apply, than with standard or customized keyboard shortcuts (KBSC). For example, in Quick Apply, typing "tal al" brings up the Horizontal Align options you can arrow through and apply to the selection by clicking, or by pressing Return. Similarly, "cal al," "ute c," and "ute l," filter the commands list to Vertical Alignment, Distribute Center, and Distribute Left commands. And, "t>a" selects the command that opens the Window Menu:Object & Layout>Align panel, when you press Return.

[EDIT]

In CS4, you can align selected objects a locked object that's in the selection. In CS5, by default, the new Preferences > General > Object Editing > Prevent Selection of Locked Objects option is enabled; you need to disable ("uncheck") it to select and use a locked object as the fixed item when aligning selected objects.

[/EDIT]

You're right about Google searches often finding things better than the Help or forum searches; it's easy to grasp that a company whose main product is a Web-wide search tool would outdo a search tool designed for the more-limited need of searching only within a company's content.

Regarding Sandee Cohen's book vs. Help, consider that help systems aren't generally intended to replace tutorials.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Message was edited by: peter at knowhowpro