What is controlling the look of your text on the pages of your InDesign document? What should you check on when it doesn't look right to you?
Many factors can be in opposition to each other. Which one obtains? The most common mistake made while producing is to accidentally turn on a character style full-time and then trying to use paragraph styles. The always-on character style overrides every paragraph style you try to apply to text. To check for that common problem, have nothing selected, and take a look at your Character Styles panel. It should be set on None as the correct resting condition.
Paragraph Style attributes hierarchy
1. Attributes manually-applied from the Control, Character, Paragraph, Glyphs, Properties panels (this manual technique should be avoided)
2. Character Style manually applied
3. Paragraph Style (this is the main preferred use of styles)
Most, if not all, of your text should be dressed with and managed by paragraph styles. But be sure to have paragraph styles be Based On: No Paragraph Style; not Basic Paragraph Style. Also, use Based On: Named-paragraph-style sparingly, mostly because it is hard to remember what is affecting what. If and when the default Word docx style named Normal enters into your paragraph styles panel (because of placing a word docx file), be sure to delete Normal and replace it with a better-behaved paragraph style of your choosing. Therefore, do not allow paragraph styles to be based on Normal style, either. When no text is selected, make sure your paragraph styles is set to either Basic Paragraph Style, or else your most commonly-chosen paragraph style. How do you know when your paragraph style is overridden? Look for the tiny + sign next to the paragraph style name while selecting some text. It is helpful to see overridden text by clicking on the Style Override Highlighter button in the top of the Paragraph Styles panel. To remove overrides from text, click the Clear Overrides button in the bottom of the Paragraph Styles panel.
Character Style attributes hierarchy
1. Character Style manually applied
2. GREP Style passively applied
3. Drop Cap (a paragraph style that has a delegated character style)
4. Nested Style (a paragraph style that has one or more character styles)
5. Nested Line Style (a paragraph style that has a delegated character style)
Character styles are not considered overrides, even though they override the look of paragraph-styled text. They are considered allowable overrides, such as Bold and Italics, and do not produce a + sign next to the paragraph style name. A common example of confusion is having a Character Style accidentally clicked on by default causing its attributes to be applied to all the next text you are placing/typing/dressing. You click on a paragraph style, but it is being overridden by the attributes from the always-on-at-default character style. To fix this common mistake: with nothing selected, make sure your character style panel is set to None. How do you know when a character style is overridden? Look for the tiny + sign next to the character style name while selecting some text. It is helpful to see overridden text by clicking on the Style Override Highlighter button in the top of the Character Styles panel. To remove overrides from text, click the Clear Overrides button in the bottom of the Paragraph Styles panel.
Table Styles attributes hierarchy
1. Cell overrides manually applied from the Table panel or the Control panel
2. Cell style manually applied
3. Cell styles applied from a Table Style (the preferred way to work on tables)
4. Table overrides manually applied
5. Table Styles (the main way you dress/control a table)
For example, if you apply one fill using the Cell Options dialog box and another fill using the cell style, the fill from the Cell Options dialog box is used. The best, cleanest, bug-free-est way to make Table and Cell Styles is by having nothing selected in the layout; neither by Type tool nor by Selection tool. Once the styles are defined, the Type tool selects the whole table in the upper left corner; followed by one click of the named Table Style; followed by noticing any + signs next to Cell Styles None + and clearing that override. This leaves you with a clean, predictable, controlled table.
Cell Styles attributes hierarchy
1. Header/Footer
2. Left column/Right column
3. Body rows
For example, if a cell appears in both the header and the left column, the formatting from the header cell style is used. Or if a cell appears in either the left or right column, and a left or right column is defined in cell styles and also table styles, then a left or right column is used instead of the body rows style.
Object Style attributes hierarchy
Object styles can have many non-typesetting attributes, but they can also include a paragraph style. It is also possible to override the object style (with its defined paragraph style) so that the text looks different. How do you know when your object style is overridden? Look for the tiny + sign next to the object style name while selecting some text or selecting the frame. To remove overrides, click the Clear Overrides button or Clear Attributes button in the bottom of the Object Styles panel.
For each new document, the Object Styles panel lists a default set of object styles. Whenever you create an object, an object style is applied to it. By default, if you create a text frame, the [Basic Text Frame] object style is applied. If you draw a path or shape, the [Basic Graphics Frame] object style is applied. If you place an image or draw a placeholder shape that has an X in it, the [None] object style is applied.
You can select a different object style to use as the default for text frames and graphics frames. To change the default style for a text frame, choose Default Text Frame Style from the Object Styles panel menu, and then select the object style. To change the default style for a graphics frame, choose Default Graphics Frame Style from the Object Styles panel menu, and then select the object style. When you File > Place a graphic, the graphic placeholder frame (with an X in them) always use the [None] style as default, unless you make an Object Style named "Place Gun Frame". If you did so, then every time you File > Place a graphic, it will have that Object Style applied to it.
To change the default style for any object type, drag the icon that marks the default object type from one object style to another. Also: If you select an object style when no frame is selected, that object style becomes the new default object style for text or graphics, depending on which tool is selected in the toolbox: the Type tool or the Selection tool.
Strikethroughs, Underlines, Rules stacking order
These attributes can look very similar. Which one stacks in front of the other? Here is the stacking order, from front to back:
1. Character Style Strikethrough
2. Paragraph Style Strikethrough
3. Character Style Underline
4. Paragraph Style Underline
5. Paragraph Style Rule Below
6. Paragraph Style Rule Above
7. Paragraph Style Border
8. Paragraph Style Shading
Oh, and one more thing
When you want well-behaved paragraph styles, make sure the "Based On" is not set to Basic Paragraph Style. It is better to make most of your paragraph styles based on "No Paragraph Style". This makes your styles immune from confusing changes caused by copying and pasting text from another InDesign document (whose Basic Paragraph Style is defined differently). Also, never make a paragraph style based on "Normal" which is an unruly style that comes from many Word docs. Generally, when you find that Normal has entered your InDesign document, you should consider deleting that style and replacing it with some other style. Use caution with basing one paragraph style on another. While it works just fine, your ability to remember that one style edit affects another can lead to layout changes that you forgot about. So use this feature sparingly.
