I can't understand how to work with Rules work in InDesign

Hi @Prenihility , Maybe this helps a bit with the rule Offset logic.

When you choose Rule Above the rule starts at the baseline of the paragraph’s first line. A positive Offset moves the rule further up:

When you choose Rule Below the rule starts at the baseline of the paragraph’s last line and a positive offset moves the rule further down:

Also, I create a fresh document and try and do this myself. Rule below. New paragraph style. Very basic. Rule Below, offset it so it's actually below. And then I get a rule IN the letters also. It looks like a strikethrough. HOW?

I actually noticed this before; last time I tried messing around with this file. You can see in the Style Settings it lists among other things Rule Below for one of the styles. But HOW? Rules isn't even checked on.

Hi @Prenihility:

What you see as clutter, we see as information. It shows us how the file is set up.

It looks from here (without examining the actual file) that Services Provided and Itemized Expenses have a ruling line defined above, with no left/right indents. They run the length of the text frame. And that 1, 2, 3 and Illustration/Photography have a ruling line defined below, with a substantial left/right indent. The tabs are being used in place of indents to position the text.

Is that your question?

~Barb

Alright, so after some investigation, I understand the method to my teacher's madness. He's using columns to use as guides for the Tabs. Makes sense. In the first screenshot you'll see the 6 columns visible. In the second i've disabled part of the UI so you can see it with less clutter. Special Characters are also visible in the first screenshot.

So what doesn't make sense to me is how everything is set. There are different Paragraph Styles. Rule Above, Rule Below. No Rule. If the rules are set from Tab Marker-to-Tab Marker, i'm having trouble understanding how a rule is set all across the entire width of the document. I... KIND OF think I understand it more. I see NO DIFFERENCE in some of the Paragraph Styles. Other than tab settings IN THE PARAGRAPH STYLES. I didn't pay much attention to those. And it actually interacts with the document UI and you can see it in real-time.

We know different rules:

1. Paragraph rules (above and below) as part of paragraph styles
2. Paragraph frames (and shadows) as pRt of paragraph styles
3. Underline, strike through, a character property, part of character styles. Those can be applied automatically as nested styles, GREP styles, hyperlinks and cross references. 

I *think* you're confusing rules with underlines. Here's five ways InDesign uses lines or rules:

• You can create a Character Style for underlining. In addition to just turning it on and off, you can adjust the thickness and offset of the underline. It will only appear on text you select and apply the character style to. (There are also separate definitions for overline and strikethrough, but again these will only appear on text the style is applied to.)
• You can create a Rule Above or a Rule Below (or both, but they are defined separately) as part of a Paragraph Style. The defined rules will be applied to the entire paragraph—every paragraph with this style will have a rule above, below or both. You can control the thickness, vertical offset, and margin indents of these rules.
• You can create a Border around a Paragraph Style. Much the same as Rule Above/Below, but on all four sides, selectively. You can use this for just one rule on any side, or a combination such as top and left rules.
• You can use a Rule Above to force a paragraph (such as a chapter heading) down from the top margin. The thickness of the rule and the offset combine to define this distance, and you can make the rule invisible with color=None. You also have to check "Keep in Frame" for this to work.
• And finally, you can define a tab to have any 'leader' character you like, including an underscore. If you set the tab to a far-left position and give it an underscore leader character, it will create an underlined space from start to finish, but not under any other text. I think that's what you're trying to accomplish here. You don't do that with any of the paragraph styles, and it's clumsy with character styles, so style the tab and its leader character underline to achieve this effect. (Or apply a character style with a more carefully defined underline to the tab space, but that's a bit clunky.)

Do any of those address the problems you're seeing?

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Hi @Prenihility:

I'm unclear on the question. We can explain how Rules Above and Below work, but we need to better grasp the use case. Screenshots are very helpful.

Focusing on the word "form" and "empty empty spaces with rules",  are you asking how to create a line that spans the frame for forms fields? There are multiple ways to do this. I use a right-indent tab (Shift+Tab) with a underline as the leader character.

If I have completely misunderstood, just let us know and please try to clarify the question, including a screen shot or sketch. 

~Barb

In case someone doesn't understand, "empty space" as in; when creating a form.