Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
through paragraphs. However, if you expand kerning
values in problem lines of text, the result can look
exactly like magazine and book layouts for text. Full
justification
is not
recommended for any text that you
will export as part of a web page; browsers don't display
fully justified text properly.
Aspect Ratio
N
This feature changes the width of
characters in typed text. You can change the aspect ratio
of a character to make it look narrow (condensed) or
wide (extended). Generally, you can condense or expand
characters by 20% and the font still looks faithful to the
original in its design. You can also play with the width of
text by dragging one of the control handles on headline,
column, and paragraph text with the Selector Tool.
Superscript and Subscript
N
This feature moves the
baseline of the selected text up for superscript and down
for subscript, and scales the text to about 75% of the full
cap height, although the Text Size box will still indicate
the original text size.
Line Spacing
N
Also called
leading
, this control changes
the distance between lines of text in a text column
you've highlighted with the Text Tool. Line spacing is
often decreased to tighten up the spacing between lines
of a stacked headline, or increased to expand the spacing
between lines of in a paragraph to increase readability
or for aesthetic reasons. Introductory paragraphs are
sometimes set with 180% line spacing to draw a reader
into a magazine article or a chapter in a book. Line
spacing is dependent on how much “headroom” is coded
into a typeface. When working with headlines and
stacked single works in logos, you can often get away
with
less
than 100% line spacing.
Tracking
N
You can use this feature to increase or
decrease the amount of space between all the characters
in a highlighted selection. Select some text and then
change the interspacing between all characters in
a selection by clicking on the arrow buttons to the
right of the Tracking Area text box or by entering a
value directly in the text box. Tracking is measured in
ems/1000, thousandths of an em. An
em
is the width of
the lowercase
m
in a specific font. If you want to adjust
the spacing between two characters, use kerning instead.
