Variable-width paragraph rules (?)

[NorthWestie]

I've defined my captions for a specific document to include a paragraph rule above or below the caption text (depending on whether the caption appears above or below the graphic). Sometimes I'd like the caption to be one column width, sometimes I'd prefer it to be two column wide, so I need different paragraph styles for each type of caption because I'd like a wider rule for the wider captions (so the rule disappears if I use the same paragraph style in a smaller text frame).

So currently I've got multiple caption styles for above/below, left/right, one column wide/two columns wide. I could eliminate several of these styles if I could just say I want the rule to be, say, 33% of the column width. Is this currently do-able? (I tried entering a percentage -- didn't work). If not, this seems like it would be a nice feature.

[Willi Adelberger]

You can set the width of the rules in the paragraph styles.

[NorthWestie]

Yes, sorry I apparently wasn't clear. I want to express that width as a percentage of the width of the text frame.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi NorthWestie,

one could do that with a special gradient that is applied to a rule above or rule below.

However, gradients do not allow for a transparent color, so one could only set it up as drawing color 40% and 60% [Paper] for example with 4 color stops:

[1] Start color at 0%

[2] Stop same color at 40%

[3] Start [Paper] at 40%

[4] Stop [Paper] at 100%

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Ok. We can do even more, if only that part with the [Paper] color of the rule in the text frame is positioned on a background color and the text itself is not in color, but in [Black]. Apply the effect "Multiply" to the text of the frame. The [Paper] part of the gradient will "vanish":

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[NorthWestie]

Thank you!! While I still think that being able to express rule widths as a percentage of the width of the column or text frame is a good idea, this is a brilliant solution. Thanks again!

[Laubender]

Don't get me wrong; I also would like to control the length of a rule by the percentage of a text column's, text frame's width or a table's text cell width. The same with e.g. the value for baseline shift that needs a control of the offset by a percentage of a characters' point size perhaps.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )