A Blank Sheet: Typing on Your Page

A Blank Sheet Typing on Your Page

Before you type on your page you need a container or text frame to hold your text. The good news is that with InDesign, unlike QuarkXPress, you don't have to first draw a text frame. Instead, you can create a text frame on the fly with your Type Tool, which really speeds things up. Using your Type Tool, click and drag to define the width and depth of your text frame (or, if you have a text frame already on the page, just click that) and type away.

Figures 2.1A, 2.1B, 2.1C. Scaling a Text Frame.

Tip: Scaling Type

Here is one of my favorite tipsand so simple. Drag out a text frame with your Type Tool, then type your text. You may find that your text frame is much bigger than necessary to accommodate your text. No worries, all you do is click on the Fit Frame to Content icon in the Control palette, or press Cmd+Option+C (Ctrl+Alt+C) to fit your frame nice and snug around your text. Clean, elegant, unclutteredand fantastic if you then want to scale the text by eye. Hold down Command+Shift (Ctrl+Shift) and drag from one of the four corners of the text frame to size the type while maintaining its proportions.