Using Title Case in Character Styles

[CTG15]

I am trying to setup Character Styles for a newspaper's classified lineage.

We want the first two words to be in Title Case and the rest in Sentence Case.

When trying to define the character styles, so that I can nest them in a paragraph style, I can only see: Normal, All Caps, Small Caps & Opentype Small Caps.

Does anyone know if there are plans to include Title Case and Sentence Case in that drop down menu?

If there are, that would make this project a lot easier.

OR

Does anyone of an quick way to apply Title case in the above way, after using character/paragraph styles to format the copy?

[John T Smith]

Please post the name of the program you use so a Moderator may move this message to that forum

-A program would be InDesign or Illustrator or ???

[CTG15]

Sorry John,

I forgot to say, Indesign.

[Moved... Here is the list of all Adobe forums... https://forums.adobe.com/welcome]

[Barb Binder]

Hi CTG15:

InDesign doesn't offer Title Case or Sentence Case via styles—I normally request that the text be provided using the correct case prior to importing it into InDesign. If this if a feature that you would like to see added to the application—and it sounds like it is—you can log a feature request here: Adobe InDesign Feedback.

~Barb

[CTG15]

Barb,

Unfortunately the source material comes from the newspaper's self-service portal, which means it comes exactly as the advertiser types their advert.

I will talk to the technical team to see if it can be forced into the correct case, but would be easier if Indesign could overcome the shortfall in source material using Character/Paragraph Styles.

Therefore I will certainly log a feature request.

Chris

[CTG15 · Accepted solution]

Barb,

On getting to the Feature Request page I have found a similar request already there so have added my vote to those already placed.

Thanks

Chris

[Jongware]

Do note that most people voting for this feature did not think it through.

Let's take a look at your proposed Title Case and Sentence Case. "Title Case" is: Every Word Starts With A Capital. However, proper title casing does not bluntly capitalize every word -- only nouns, verbs, and adverbs, so not "with" and neither "a".

Sentence Case causes even more problems (... than it solves), as it may lowercase names and properly capitalized phrases.

It requires adding support for all languages as well.

Even the existing "all caps" has its drawbacks; the 'h' in "PhD", for instance, ought not be capitalized, and neither should the "γ" in a word such as "γ-detector".

[CTG15]

Jongware,

Thank you for the reminder of how these cases should be used, however my question is not so much about the use of the function but more about access to it.

Chris

[FRIdNGE]

Aha! … Chris, nobody said you didn't know what you do! … 

About the use of scripts, helpful posts of our friends of InDesignSecrets, Anne-Marie Concepcion and David Blatner:

https://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-install-scripts-in-indesign.php

https://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-install-a-script-in-indesign-that-you-found-in-a-forum-or-blog-po...

Best,

Michel

[CTG15]

Michel,

Thank you for these links I will take a look at them later.

Chris

[vinny38]

Hi!

I think Jongware spotted it right.

I am not an English-speaking native, but I understand that the rules that apply to Title cases are mainly based on semantics.

For instance: (examples below are picked from former writersblock website)

- The Man in the Moon Owns a Yellow Balloon

"in" is functioning as a preposition and should be lower-cased

- Bringing In the Sheaves

"in" is functioning as an adverb and should be capitalized

At this stage, how InDesign is supposed to know if "in" should be capitalized or not?

I'm afraid there's just no way.

Which leads to the conclusion that you probably did not want to hear: there is no such feature in InDesign

[FRIdNGE]

Salut Vincent,

À nouveau, la question n'est pas là ! … pour ne pas paraphraser nos amis d'"X-Files"! 

[vinny38]

Salut Michel

Ah je pense qu'elle est bien là justement...

Mais je suis tout ouïe quant à tes arguments

[FRIdNGE]

Je crois que Chris sait exactement ce qu'il fait et que la problématique soulevée par Theunis n'a pas lieu d'être dans son cas !

Ceci dit, je suis d'accord avec vous deux sur, je dirais, le caractère "périlleux" d'une telle démarche, pour quiconque pourrait utiliser le Script donné sans en être averti !

M

[FRIdNGE]

2 réponses à suivre "En cours de modération" ? …

Automatique (en ce qui me concerne) ou aléatoire ?

[vinny38]

Tu veux dire, je suppose, qu'il faut se limiter à répondre "techniquement" à la question suivante :

We want the first two words* to be in Title Case and the rest in Sentence Case.

*of what? paragraph? article? sentence?

Auquel cas, il est effectivement facile d'utiliser des styles imbriqués pour modifier la première lettre de chacun des deux premiers mots :

Mais je reste dubitatif...

Comme toi, j'aimerais voir un exemple pour mieux comprendre la finalité de la question...

[FRIdNGE]

… Aurais-je droit à une 4e modération ?…

"… effectivement facile…" est une certaine vue de l'esprit que je ne partage pas ! 

Avant le script (première ligne) :

"VINCENT LAGAF" est en "vraies" capitales !

Après (deuxième ligne) :

"Vincent Lagaf" en "Première Lettre Des Mots En Capitales" [Title Case] !…

[FRIdNGE]

Just a personal comment about the "moderation" tool:

4 for the same thread! … Would not that be a little exaggerated?

Best,

Michel

[vinny38]

I have noticed than writing in French usually tend to be moderated way more than writing in English...

Edit : here you go... this post wasn't moderated while I still have a French answer waiting at "Border control"...

[FRIdNGE]

À croire que le béret, la baguette  et les "gros mots" restent un apanage français ! …

[FRIdNGE]

5th moderation! …

[vinny38]

Okay, mais à mon humble avis, tu es plus royaliste que le roi...

Je n'ai pas lu que Chris précisait que son texte était en "vraies" capitales.

Mais après tout, peut-être...

[FRIdNGE]

Ceci dit, il est vrai qu'on en a guillotiné certains en 89 pour moins que ça ! 

[End of the digressions!]

[CTG15]

Michel,

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Michel+%5BFRIdNGE%5D  wrote

… Aurais-je droit à une 4e modération ?…

"… effectivement facile…" est une certaine vue de l'esprit que je ne partage pas ! 

Avant le script (première ligne) :

"VINCENT LAGAF" est en "vraies" capitales !

Après (deuxième ligne) :

"Vincent Lagaf" en "Première Lettre Des Mots En Capitales" [Title Case] !…

Your upper and lower case 'Vincent Lagaf' example matches what I am recreating.

Thank you for understanding my goal.

[CTG15]

Vinny38,

Thank you for this method, I will certainly put it to good use while the option for Title Case is not available as a drop-down in the Character Styles dialog box.

Chris