Creating a Reverse Indent
Recently Jerry asked,
“I’m using InDesign to lay out a book in which I would like to emphasize sentences or parts of sentences throughout the book by extending the line length beyond the boundaries of the rest of the paragraph.
Any ideas on how this could be achieved? I’d really appreciate your help.”
Three different methods come to mind when you are trying to create a reverse indent.
1. Indent everything except your call-out.
This is probably the easiest method to implement. The first step is to modify all of your styles to include a specific left or right indent. This will cause the everything in your layout to be indented. The second step is to create a call-out style that will have no indent at all. This will create the effect of a reverse indent. In the below screen shot I added a little more space before/after and put in a rule above/below to add extra attention to this block of text.
Advantage: It is easy to apply this to any given paragraph to create the desired effect.
Disadvantage: Every single other style in your document will have have to have an indent.
2. Single Cell Table
The next method can produce interesting results. The first step is to insert a single celled table. Place your cursor at the location in your text that you would like this to appear and go to the Table Menu > Insert Table. Choose 1 row and 1 column. I pasted in the call-out paragraph and changed the fill/stroke colors of the cell and text. Since tables have the unique property that allows them to extend beyond the right edge text frame, I was able to extend it a short distance to the right. While the rest of the body text was indented, I didn’t apply an indent to the table cell paragraph to create the reverse indent.
Advantage: The ability to have the frame extend beyond the right side of the frame, and the ability to highlight the background of any given paragraph.
Disadvantage: It can be time consuming to cut and paste paragraphs into separate cells.
3. Anchored Objects
Anchored objects allow for the greatest flexibility, but can be the most difficult to setup. The first step is to cut the call-out and place it inside its own text frame. Next, cut and paste the frame into the text flow. Select the frame and go to Object Menu > Anchored Object > Options and change the position to custom. Now that the position is custom you can place it anywhere you like on the page. Using text wrap you will be able to insure that it snugly fits underneath the previous and following paragraphs. To save time on future call-outs be sure to save your call-out as an object style, but don’t forget to modify your object style options to make sure you are applying the call-out paragraph style as well.
Advantages: The most flexible option for positioning.
Disadvantages: Cumbersome to setup and involves text wrap.
In conclusion I would probably end up using either the indent everything method if I want to keep things as simple and efficent as possible, but if I wanted to have more options for the look of my layout, anchored objects do provide the most possibilites.
 |
Another thing the indent everything else solution has going for it is the behavior at column boundaries. Both the table and the anchored object approaches will cause problems at those boundaries. The table will pop to the next page. The anchored object will either stick out of the bottom of the column or slide back up into the column overwriting the previous text.
Dave
I’m with Dave. I’d go with what’s simple. Since you’re applying paragraphs with styles anyway, it’s easy to use the “indent everything else” method. And if you use “Based On” styles, you only need to put the indent in the parent style.
Interesting!
Couple fine points: Table boundaries can exceed either side of the column; they’re completely dependent on the paragraph setting that they live in. For example, make the paragraph containing the table cell center aligned and the cell will flop over both edges evenly.
I’m a big fan of the anchored object approach. But since I usually put them in their own paragraph with auto leading (and space above/below) then there’s no need for text wrap.
I can definitely see why Dave and Steve think the “indent everything else” is best, but if you’re positive your outdented paragraphs would never break columns or pages (e.g., pull quotes .. you’d always want that intact, no?) then anchored objects are the way to go… especially if you use the Object Style approach.
I hate having to deal with a fake indent on everything just to make a few outdented paragraphs work.
I have often used anchored objects to outdent as many designs requires some sort of background shading. It becomes a real pain when outdented features have to break across a page. You have to find a good place to split the text, then create another box on the next page. Then do it all again when/if the text reflows.
I have tried to find a way to have the background shading as part of a paragraph style (ala MSWord), but alas.
Many thanks for a wonderful resource.
Cheers
Damian
In the final picture, which shows the anchored object extruding to the left, the remaining text is indented. That’s a bit of extraneous “noise”, isn’t it?
The anchored object and the table cell option wouldn’t allow the paragraph to break over pages. Which could be problematic if you get to a large call out that was say a 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 the page, then you’d be left with the relative size gap, which wouldn’t be needed.
The indent all paragraphs except the callout is probably the best option to give flexibility in typesetting.
Great overview of the options, Fritz! Thanks.
@OldJeremy, yes you are correct — the rest of the paragraphs don’t have to be indented in either the Table or the Anchored versions.
Thanks for the help guys. I’ve really enjoyed your video tutorials. I used Quark a little, maybe eight years ago but this is my first InDesign project (yikes!) and I’ve learned everything I needed to know in a couple days from watching your videos.
I played around a little with the “indent-everything” method but some of the text I wanted to extend began in the middle of one line and ended in the middle of another and I wanted just the bold half of the line to extend beyond the rest of the paragraph (along with a few of the following lines). So I used a combination of your suggestions and manually expanding the text frame to the width I wanted the bolded text to reach and added clear boxes with text-wraps to push the rest of the paragraph back to the original width… not a terribly efficient method but it got the job done.
Thanks again for all your help.
I agree with Damlan: “I have tried to find a way to have the background shading as part of a paragraph style (ala MSWord), but alas.”
There’s not much I like about Word, but its ability to shade paragraphs or place borders around paragraphs and pages is absolutely marvelous. Word can even handle page breaks inside a paragraph with finesse and the user interface for those features could hardly be better.
Adobe should copy Word’s Borders and Shading feature set virtually verbatim. Matching Word feature for feature would make importing that sort of formatting easy and flawless.
?I have tried to find a way to have the background shading as part of a paragraph style (ala MSWord), but alas.?
I wonder what MS Word is able to do beyond what Fritz described in the post linked below, used in conjunction with the first method above?
https://creativepro.com/highlighting-an-entire-paragraph-with-color.php