Adding custom lines to paragraph styles?

[Andy_Fielding@adobeforums.com]

In the book style I'm using in ID CS, each section head is followed by a 5-pt. black 50% gradient line apx. 36p wider than the header text. I've been drawing each line with the Line tool.

My question is: Must each line be manually drawn, or is there a way to specify them as part of a style? If not, can I at least define a table, or use some other method, to control the alignment between the header and the line? (Some head have more than one line of text.) Thanks!

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

I think you'd want to create a paragraph rule, which can be included as part of a paragraph style. You can define it in the Paragraph Rules panel of the paragraph styles palette.

You can also play around with creating a paragraph rule for a paragraph which isn't part of a style by choosing Paragraph Rules on the Paragraph or Control palette flyout menu.

[Andy_Fielding@adobeforums.com]

I'd tried adding a Paragraph Rule to the style ("rule" meaning "graphic line"---tricky, isn't it?).

However, the only choices were to make the rule:

_ The text's width

_ The column's width (in this case, the text-frame's)

Because it's a gradient, the rule must start somewhat to the left of the text to look right.

Either width-setting would be fine if I could select the rules and override their absolute Paragraph Rule widths. But they're not selectable. That's odd, considering you can select and change just about anything else on the page. (I tried Ctrl+Shift-clicking, as you would to select and override master-page items, but no luck.) Anything I'm missing?

Cheers, Andy

[Steve_Werner@adobeforums.com]

But you can also set the Left Indent and Right Indent which start with the width of text or column width and adjust the width of the rule. Furthermore, Left Indent can be set to a negative value to go to the left of the frame!

[Andy_Fielding@adobeforums.com]

I've just tried it. When I used "column" for the rule's width, changing the L margin had no effect; the rule continued to span the column. And using the "text" width confined the rule to the text's width.

But wait! If you precede the text with white-space characters---say, a few em-dash spaces---the rule appears under those as well. You can even add the rule, then add the space characters to adjust the rule's width dynamically. Cool!

(Yes, I know---"using an exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke." [D.H. Lawrence])

Cheers, Andy

[LP_McAdams@adobeforums.com]

I am having trouble with paragraph rules in ID CS. I want the rules to appear across the width of the text frame but I do not want the text sitting right on the rule. I specified a .25 inch offset but it stays right underneath the text. I am using a paragraph style for all the text in this running head. Any ideas about what I am doing wrong? The rule is .25 weight. My text size is 10 and I only want a faint line. This is part of a master page. I am new to ID CS but have used paragraph rules in Pagemaker for many years.
Thanks for the help

[Andy_Fielding@adobeforums.com]

Hmm, strange. In the Paragraph Rules dialog box (in either the Paragraph or Paragraph Styles palette), you should be able to change the rule's height by changing its Offset. Have you tried it with the Preview box checked? Nothing happens?

Is it possible that you'd already applied an underline (rather than a paragraph rule) to the paragraph, and you've been trying to apply and move a paragraph rule with no color selected?

Or do you have a paragraph somewhere else to which a rule or underline was inadvertently applied with an unusually big Offset, causing the rule/underline to appear as though it belonged to the paragraph you were trying to change?

Those are my best guesses; both seem unlikely.

[basanthid09s]

how to create a custom line when I press space bar or enter key the line should display automatically below the text or space