Need help with Baseline Grid and Headers

[mlondon88]

I've read many threads here and around the net, but still having trouble with something and grateful for some help.

I'm laying out a book in Graphik Medium 9pt, with 13.4pt leading

The text has two header levels, and I would like to have as much control as possible to set the spacing before and after each header.

The baseline grid is set to start at 0pt relative to the top margin, and on the suggestion of a designer, set to increment every 3.35pt (1/4 of the leading of 13.4pt)

Body text is set to align all lines to baseline grid, and headers are set to NOT align to the baseline grid.

However I am unable to get the body text to align properly after setting the headers the way I like them.

Furthermore when the headers come at the beginning of the text frame, it also throws off the alignment.

- Is setting the increment to 1/4 of the leading a good idea?

- If not, what other options do I have to give the greatest level of control over the space before and after the headers?

- I've seen some people suggest that the Text Frame options be set so that the First Baseline Offset is "Fixed" - Will this help?

One final problem which is frustrating is that sometimes the text will not display in the last line of a text frame. If I extend the text frame below the margin, the text appears, and looks like it is sitting correcly above the margin, but when I close it back up again, then it flows that line into the next column.

Grateful for any and all suggestions.

[Jongware]

You already said it. You are having problems "correctly" aligning both headers and text just because the headers are not aligned to the baseline grid, and the text is. You can't have both and get a consistent result.

As for the last-line question: do you have Keep settings for that paragraph, and is InDesign moving the text to a new page because else it would leave an orphan or widow? (A single first line of a paragraph at the bottom, or a single last line at the top of the next page.)

Also, keep in mid InDesign is very, very exact. If the last line doesn't "fit" on the bottom, even with a distance as little of 0.0000001 pts, it will move to the next page. If you see this happen on just about every page, then make your bottom margin ever so slightly smaller.

[mlondon88]

You already said it. You are having problems "correctly" aligning both headers and text just because the headers are not aligned to the baseline grid, and the text is. You can't have both and get a consistent result.

Thank you Jongware, but I'm still not clear.

I dont care about the Headers visually aligning to anything. I just want to be able to have maximum control over the spacing before and after each header.

I had read elsewhere that one way to achieve this was to set headers to NOT align to the baseline grid.

Grateful if someone can help me get my head around this.

[BobLevine]

Have you tried simply trashing the idea of a fractional baseline grid and making it identical to the leading?

[mlondon88]

Have you tried simply trashing the idea of a fractional baseline grid and making it identical to the leading?

I'm not married to anything, just want to have the most control over spacing of headers.

Setting the Baseline grid to 1/2 or 1/4 of the leading was a suggestion from someone I'm working with, as a way to achive more control. If I set Baseline to equal Leading, then how can I get the fine adjustment I need in the headers?

(I feel like I'm missing some basic understanding here...)

[BobLevine]

What you’re missing is the obvious. Set the baseline grid to exactly the same as the body text leading.

If you don’t want to try these suggestions, I would have to respectfully ask “why are you here?”

[rob day]

Re: Adding spacing after a paragraph?

[mlondon88]

Re: Adding spacing after a paragraph?

Rob, Thank you for this link.

What you’re missing is the obvious. Set the baseline grid to exactly the same as the body text leading.

If you don’t want to try these suggestions, I would have to respectfully ask “why are you here?”

Bob, thank you also. Of course I will try these suggestions. I was trying to make sense of multiple suggestions however 🙂

[BobLevine]

It’s what I told you to do when you called me the other day (I just put two and two together on that). You can use the fractional grid but it’s going to leave you with more manual work.