Spacing letters in character styles?

[matthewdee]

I have a document that I designed. It has 3 paragraph styles and I need to set the spacing to 1.5. So I have two questions:

I do not see 1.5 anywhere. Al I see is 1 5 10 25 etc

second since I have the paragraph stlyes done already do I make the adjust ments in the actual paragraph style or do it for the characters?

In other words:

Verdana is a style I used

where do I edite the spacing in the character window?

[Bill Silbert]

I assume that when you say spacing you mean tracking which is the space between letters. That can be adjusted within a paragraph style in the Basic Character Formats section of the New Paragraph Style dialog window.

The increments that you referred to 1, 5, 10, 25, etc. are not the only values that you can use though you can enter into the field any whole number that you wish but any fractions that you put in like 1.5 will be rounded off to the nearest number (in this case 2). You should be aware though that the units of measurement used in InDesign for tracking mean that a tracking value of 1.5 (or even 2) will be barely noticeable with most type fonts. Generally speaking increasing or decreasing tracking by units of 5 will be noticeable but as I said the look varies depending on type font. So it is possible to fix your tracking for existing paragraph styles by double-clicking on the names of the style in the Paragraph Styles panel. The same window shown above will appear but will actually be titled Paragraph Style Options.

[Jongware]

> I assume that when you say spacing you mean tracking which is the space between letters.

The same term is used by new-to-InDesigners for paragraph spacing, i.e. what we all call leading. A value of 1.5 is "typical", which – if the leading is set to "Auto" – can be set in the Justification part of the styles dialog to "150%".

[This is assuming the OP made a mistake in the question's title; apart from the apparent confusion between Character Styles (title) and Parargaph Styles (text). Those 2 are for very different purposes.]

[Bill Silbert]

I did not think that the OP meant leading because the 1, 5, 10, 25, etc. numbers he mentioned don’t exist in the leading pull-down field in the Paragraph Styles dialog window.

[Randy Hagan]

You can either do it by style, or by exception.

By style: duplicate the existing style which doesn't have your desired 1.5 line spacing. In the duplicate style, change the Leading: edit box to 18 pt., which corresponds to 1.5 times the character size. Then apply the duplicate style to the relevant paragraphs.

By exception: Highlight the relevant paragraphs, and in the Paragraph panel change the leading from (14.4 pt), which is auto leading to 18 pt.

Either option will give you the result you're looking for.

Good Luck,

Randy

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Just a guess here:

From your question, I wondering if you've recently switched from Quark. If this is the case, InDesign Tracking is a totally different scale than Quark.

To convert Quark Tracking numbers into InDesign Tracking, multiple your Quark Tracking numbers by 5. In other words, Quark's Tracking of 1.5 would be 7.5 Tracking in In Design. (1.5 X 5 = 7.5)

You can enter your tracking numbers in the Tracking Field in the Character panel.

[Bill Silbert]

I had the same thought about the Quark to InDesign differential. I just wanted to reiterate to the person who asked the question that your existing Paragraph Styles can have the tracking values inserted into them. You will not have to redo them.

[Barb Binder]

I have a document that I designed. It has 3 paragraph styles and I need to set the spacing to 1.5.

That sounds like leading to me. 1.5 (or spacing and a half) is terminology that evolved from typewriters and word processors.

If that is what you mean, Matthew, select a sample paragraph and increase the leading until you get the desired leading (AKA line spacing):

Then right click the style in the Styles panel > Refine Style. Repeat for the other paragraphs that need adjusting.

InDesign using printing terminology and not typewriter/word processing terminology. For single-spaced type, set the paragraph to type size + 2 points. For example, 10 pt type on 12 point leading. To approximate 1.5 spacing, and an additional half line of leading (in this case 6 pts) for 10/18.

~Barb

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

Hmm! Did not even think of typewriters and Word Processors. Good thought Barb!

In that same vein, do we need to mention that there is never two spaces after a period?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

I have a question about the title of your original post, "Spacing letters in character styles?" Are you actually using Character Styles?

If you are, the general rule of thumb with Styles: never apply a Character Style to a whole Paragraph.

Paragraph Styles are your main Styles in InDesign, in that they contain both character and paragraph formatting in one, easy to apply Style. Character Styles are just for exceptions to the "character" formatting of part of your paragraph. Like you'd like to select one or two words in the paragraph and apply italic.