Feathering Text
October 20, 2004 – 12:00 pmAs last week’s newsletter mentioned, Microsoft Word has no way to justify lines vertically. (Vertical justification is also known as “feathering.”) It is possible to vertically justify space between paragraphs under File > Page Setup > Layout > Vertical Alignment, but that’s of little use in serious typography. Since vertical justification actually changes the specified leading between lines, it’s seldom “justified” (sorry, couldn’t resist) as a way to keep page bottoms even.
Sometimes, however, there simply is no other solution, which is why vertical justification is available in dedicated typesetting programs like QuarkXPress. But what if you’re working in Word?
Macros to the rescue! Here are two macros that will adjust the line spacing of selected paragraphs by .05 points each time one of the macros is run.
The first macro decreases leading:
Sub LeadingDecrease()
Dim CurrLineSpace
CurrLineSpace = Selection.ParagraphFormat.LineSpacing
With Selection.ParagraphFormat
.LineSpacingRule = wdLineSpaceExactly
.LineSpacing = CurrLineSpace - 0.05
End With
End Sub
The second macro increases leading:
Sub LeadingIncrease()
Dim CurrLineSpace
CurrLineSpace = Selection.ParagraphFormat.LineSpacing
With Selection.ParagraphFormat
.LineSpacingRule = wdLineSpaceExactly
.LineSpacing = CurrLineSpace + 0.05
End With
End Sub
If you don’t know how to use such macros, you can learn how here:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17069228 55
The best way to use these macros is to hook them up to a couple of keyboard shortcuts. CTRL + SHIFT + comma and CTRL + SHIFT + period are good choices because the comma and period keys are also marked with < and >, which could be thought of as “less” (decrease) and “more” (increase). If you need instructions on how to assign keyboard shortcuts to macros, you’ll find them here:
http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1707100224
(Scroll down to the Reader’s Write column.)
To use one of the macros, select the text you want to feather. Then run the macro over and over until the type looks the way you want it to. Most of the time, you’ll probably select a whole page at once, since the difference in leading between two adjacent paragraphs could be quite noticeable. (The change in leading will affect an *entire* paragraph, not just a part of a paragraph that you have selected.) If you have a choice, I’d recommend sticking to the more traditional methods described last week. But if you really need to feather text in Word, now you can.
Enjoy!
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READERS WRITE
After reading last week’s article on adjusting line spacing, Word (and typography!) expert Steve Hudson wrote:
——————–
I use a simplified system for typesetting. You might like it, so I’ll describe it.
I start out roughly like you. However, I try to set all text blocks to be a multiple of a smaller figure. I find that supporting multiples of 3 works well.
Then I define special paragraph styles with the following line spacing:
Microline 1 pt
Thin Lead 3 pt
Fat lead 6 pt
I then insert these paragraphs as required to add spacing instead of fiddling with paragraph and line spacing. All Styles are white font, no space before or after, and use the same font (but not typeface) as the common body text.
Finally, I make a similar style that matches body text exactly, for example, line lead 10pt, 3 before and 3 after.
Why? Well, I can strip them out easily enough, or even just find the next one, for repurposing the document. If they are only there for strict typography, I say *identify* them as such. This also exactly mimics the lead strips used in traditional typesetting, so it is easier to translate existing works on typography into Word methodologies.
——————–
If you like Steve’s solution, you’re going to love something else he sent–a whole article on highly advanced Word typography. It’s really something, I tell you, and it’s almost ready for publication. So stay tuned!
Many thanks to Steve.
_________________________________________
RESOURCES
Jacci Howard Bear’s Guide to Desktop Publishing on About.com offers a wealth of typographical information:
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