Expert: Ken Black - 8/15/2009

Question
I have a text frame with two columns, what is the smartest way to fit the text in it? I would like the end line (second column) to end exactly at the same level as the last line  of the first column. do you have a idea how I could manage this?
thank you very much

Answer
Hello Odette,

There are many ways to have the text in two columns set evenly.

Start by flowing the text from one column to the other and then closing up the first columns text box from the bottom up so that the text continues to flow into the second column.

Do this until you have them either even or close to it (a few lines off should do it, but no more than a few).

If the text is still uneven by a couple of lines, begin looking at the overall typography style. That is look to see what you can change to either take up space or take space away from preceding paragraphs.

My advice is to look at the overall tracking within each paragraph. For most typefaces you can get away with adjusting the tracking + or - as much as 30. The default is increments of 10 but as little as increments of 3 can be achieved depending on the justification used. As you adjust the tracking the columns should flow back or forward depending on the direction of tracking adjustment. Look for paragraphs that have any widows or orphans, that is the last line only contains one word. These will be the most likely to adjust in reverse and give you more space to work with.

Also, check the hyphenation of words. By using or not using hyphenation you can also effect the amount of space taken up within your columns.

Lastly, you may want to look at the font size being used. A 1 point difference + or - can make a drastic change in lining things up.

Granted, these are only scratching the surface of typography control in Indesign and there are many other techniques that can get you the results you are looking for.

Other areas you should explore are using the baseline grid, Adobe paragraph composer vs. single line composition and last but not necessarily least, editing your text to remove or add words to fill your space out or fit your text within an allotted space.

As you can see there is not a simple "one button solution" to your problem and there are many ways to attack it, of which many books have been written. But, what I have hashed over here should get you started.

Thanks,

Ken Black

www.bestprintingonline.com