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For Your Typographic
Information
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Every professional designer worth their salt knows that word processing programs such as Microsoft® Word and Apple® Pages® are not meant to be design tools. But in today’s digital, do-it-yourself world, many companies call upon their non-designer internal staff to do some basic design work. In addition (and much to the horror of designers the world over), many of us have clients who want templates to be designed in Word.
In both cases, it is imperative to know how to get the most out of these word processing programs, typographically speaking. Adjusting the spacing of type – that is, the tracking (the addition or reduction of space between characters in a range of type) and kerning (the addition or reduction of space between two characters) – is high on the list. While both programs refer to this overall feature simply as spacing, you can fake out both programs to get them to kern character pairs as well as to adjust the spacing, or tracking, on a global basis. Here’s how:
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| You can kern in Microsoft Word by highlighting the two characters you want to kern, then adjusting the spacing, as shown above. For tracking, highlight the exact text in question and adjust the spacing the same way. |
Microsoft Word
Tracking:
- Select the exact text for which you want to adjust spacing
- Go to Format > Font, then click on Character Spacing tab
- In pull-down menu next to Spacing, select Expanded to increase the spacing, or Condensed to reduce it. The default value is 1 point between each character
- You can customize the tracking value by tenths of a point by using the field to the right of By, or by clicking on the arrows
- Click on OK
Kerning
This is basically the same process as adjusting tracking, except you just highlight the character combination (not a range of characters) that you want to adjust.
- Select the two characters for which you want to adjust kerning
- Go to Format > Font, then click on Character Spacing tab
- In pull-down menu next to Spacing, select Expanded to increase the spacing, or Condensed to reduce it. The default value is 1 point between each character. Check Preview on the bottom of the screen to see results
- You can customize the kerning value by tenths of a point by using the field to the right of By, or by clicking on the arrows
- Click on OK
NOTE: Indicate at what point size you would like spacing or kerning to be turned on by selecting Kerning for fonts, then selecting a point size.
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| Tracking in Apple Pages can be adjusted on a paragraph basis only. Just select (or insert the curser within) the text and use the slider, arrows, or spacing field, as shown above. For kerning, highlight the first character of the pair in question and adjust the spacing the same way. |
Apple Pages
Tracking
- Select the text, or just insert the cursor anywhere in the paragraph for which you want to adjust spacing
- Go to Inspector > T > Text > Spacing > Character
- Use the slider, the arrows, or just type in a percentage to change the tracking
Kerning
- Highlight the first character of the pair you want to kern. (Do not highlight the pair of characters, or the spacing will change for the entire line or paragraph.)
- Go to Inspector > T > Text > Spacing > Character
- Use the slider, the arrows, or just type in a percentage to change the kerning