Adobe InDesign CS3 Bible

In the "old" days before personal computers and page-layout software, wrapping text around a picture was a time-consuming and expensive task. Text wraps were rare, found only in the most expensively produced publications .

Not any more. Not only do all page-layout programs let you create text runarounds, most programs ‚ including InDesign ‚ provide several options for controlling how text relates to pictures and other objects that obstruct its flow.

When a graphics frame is positioned in front of a text frame, InDesign provides the following options. You can:

• Ignore the graphics frame and flow the text behind it.

• Wrap the text around the frame's rectangular bounding box.

• Wrap the text around the frame itself.

• Jump the text around the frame (that is, jump the text from the top of the graphics frame to the bottom).

• Jump the text to the next column or page when the text reaches the top of graphics frame.

• Specify the amount of distance between the text and the edge of the obstructing shape.

• Flow text within the obstructing shape rather than outside it.

  New Feature ‚

  InDesign CS now lets you wrap text around frames on hidden layers ‚ as well as remove text wrap for objects on hidden layers . This is handy when you want to hide images or other distracting items but preserve the layout.

  Tip ‚

  If you want to wrap text around only a portion of a picture ‚ perhaps you need to isolate a face in a crowd ‚ the best solution is to open the graphics file in its original program, create a clipping path around that portion, then resave the file and import it and its clipping path into an InDesign document (clipping paths are explained in the next section). Another option is to use the Pen tool to create a free-form shape within InDesign and then use the shape as both a frame and a clipping path .

The Text Wrap pane

The controls in the Text Wrap pane, shown in Figure 25-1, let you specify how a selected object will affect the flow of text behind it. Remember, the flow of text around an obstructing object is determined by the text wrap settings applied to the obstructing object.

Figure 25-1: The Text Wrap pane and its palette menu. Also, note the preview frame for the wrap area outside the text frame's bounding box.

Here's how to apply text-wrap settings to a frame:

1. If the Text Wrap pane is not displayed, choose Window ‚ Type & Tables ‚ Text Wrap or press Option+ z +W or Ctrl+Alt+W.

2. Click on either of the selection tools.

   If the Type tool isn't selected, you can press V to select the Selection tool or press A to select the Direct Selection tool.

3. Click on the graphics or text frame to which you want to apply text-wrap settings.

   The frame can be anywhere , but you'll probably want to position it on top of a text frame that contains text so you can see the results of the settings you apply.

4. Click on one of the five text-wrap buttons at the top of the Text Wrap pane.

   Figure 25-2 shows how each of these options affects a graphics frame.

   Figure 25-2: The five text-wrap options (top to bottom): No Text Wrap, Wrap around Bounding Box, Wrap around Object Shape, Jump Object, and Jump to Next Column, as well as the Invert option selected for the Wrap around Bounding Box option.

5. If you want, adjust the space between the surrounding text and the obstructing shape by entering values in the Top Offset, Bottom Offset, Left Offset, and Right Offset fields. (These fields are not available if you click the No Text Wrap button.)

   If the object is a rectangle, all four fields are available if you click the Wrap around Bounding Box button or Wrap around Object Shape. Only the Top Offset field is available if you click the Wrap around Object Shape button for a free-form shape or the Jump to Next Column button. The Top Offset and Bottom Offset fields are available if you click the Jump Object button.

   Note ‚

   A bounding box is the dimensions of the picture, whether or not it is wholly contained in its frame. You would use a bounding box if you want to have the wrap follow the picture's dimensions rather than that of the frame containing it.

6. If you want to flow the text in the obstructing shape, select Invert.

7. If you chose the Wrap around Object Shape button, you can also select from the Contour Options.

   Its Type pop-up menu has six options (Figure 25-3 shows examples of each):

   • Bounding Box, which is the same as having chosen the Wrap around Bounding Box button.

   • Detect Edges, which tries to determine the picture's outside boundary by ignoring white space ‚ you would use this for bitmapped images that have a transparent or white background.

   • Alpha Channel, which uses the image's alpha channel, if any, to create a wrapping boundary.

   • Photoshop Path, which uses the image's Photoshop clipping path, if any, to create a wrapping boundary.

   • Graphic Frame, which uses the frame's boundary rather than the bounding box.

   • Same as Clipping, which uses the clipping path for the graphic created in InDesign.

   Figure 25-3: The six contour options for text-wrap options (top to bottom): Bounding Box, Detect Edges, Alpha Channel, Photoshop Path, Graphic Frame, and Same as Clipping.

   By selecting the Include Inside Edges check box, InDesign will let text appear inside any interior "holes" in the picture. You'll rarely use this technique, because in most cases it's hard for the reader to follow text that wraps around an image, then flows inside it, and then continues to flow outside it. But if the interior is large enough and not too distant from the text that flows on the outside, this effect might be readable.

   Tip ‚

   If you specify text-wrap settings when no objects are selected, the settings are automatically applied to all new objects.

   Tip ‚

   To apply text-wrap settings to a master item on a document page, hold down Shift+ z or Ctrl+Shift to select the item, then use the controls in the Text Wrap pane as described above.

There are several global text-wrap options you should be aware of, all of which are accessed via the Composition pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign ‚ Preferences on the Mac or Edit ‚ Preferences in Windows, or press z +K or Ctrl+K). Figure 25-4 shows the pane. Here are the options:

• The Justify Text Next to an Object option is useful when you have left-aligned text that wraps around an object at the right. (It also works if you have right-aligned text that wraps around an object at the left.) This can lead to an awkward wrap, since InDesign won't try to make the text align precisely to the wrap's contour (because the text isn't justified). Use this option to justify the text just around the wrap, then continue using the text's specified nonjustified alignment.

• The Skip by Leading option makes text wrapping below or above an object based on the text's leading, so there's at least a full line space between the text and the object, even if the object's text-wrap settings would allow less space.

  New Feature ‚

  InDesign CS now lets you select whether text wrap affects all text frames in a stack or just frames behind the text-wrap object.

• The new Text Wrap Only Affects Text Beneath option, if checked, prevents text frames placed on top of an object from wrapping, while those behind the picture frame will still be allowed to wrap. This option lets you have some text overlap the picture and other text wrap around it. Note this is a global setting, affecting all objects. To override wrap settings of individual text frames, choose Object ‚ Text Frame Options, or press z +B or Ctrl+B, and check Ignore Text Wrap.

Figure 25-4: The text-wrap preferences in the Composition pane of the Preferences dialog box.

Changing the shape of a text wrap

When you specify text-wrap settings for an object, an editable shape is created. If the text-wrap shape is the same shape as the object, the text-wrap boundary is superimposed on the object. You can modify a text-wrap boundary by clicking on it with the Direct Selection tool then moving, adding, deleting, and changing the direction of anchor points and by moving direction lines. Figure 25-5 shows a text wrap before and after being manually reshaped.

Figure 25-5: The example on the left shows a text wrap created by using the picture's built-in alpha channel (Wrap around Object Shape). The text wrap was modified ‚ by dragging anchor points ‚ to create the variation on the right.