Underlining!!!!???

[ckoskyn@adobeforums.com]

Is there a way to underline text without having to draw a seperate line under everything. What a pain when you have to underline large quantities of text.

Any help is greatly appreciate.

Thanks
CK

[Harron_K._Appleman@adobeforums.com]

Ckos,

Bzzzzt! I'm sorry. But thank you for using Illustrator.

See "Illustrator CS: Let's talk about the new text engine." 10/10/03 2:38am </cgi-bin/webx?14@@.2ccdcf7b/13> .

Underline large quantities of text? Would this be text you actually expect people to read?

=-= Harron =-=

[john_wundes@adobeforums.com]

Wonky workarounds...

You can fake it on single lines of text with a style. Duplicate the fill, then convert the second fill to a rectangle, and then transform (squash)it to just below your text. It's a neat trick, but it only works on single line text... And each font and size needs it's own style... :(

Another option is to find (or create) a font that has "underline" as a style, and use that when you need it.

Any other ideas out there?

[Robert_Oliver@adobeforums.com]

Any other ideas out there?




Yeah, don't do it! :) Underlining is a relic from typewriter days, and has little use in modern typography.

[Timothy_Foolery®@adobeforums.com]

Underlining?

[ckoskyn@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for your thoughts. Unfortunately, It's my client's project and I really can't tell them to NOT underline. It's actually still very legible, but I just didn't want to take the time to make all those silly little lines.
And especially you Foolery, thanks for your input! ;) LOL!
Thanks,
CK :)

[Harron_K._Appleman@adobeforums.com]

Cko,

Seriously, if you're working with that much underlined text, you might want to consider finishing the job (i.e., setting type) in a page layout application.

=-= Harron =-=

[Robert_Oliver@adobeforums.com]

Unfortunately, It's my client's project and I really can't tell them to
NOT underline.




Yes, you can. Or at least you can try. As a designer it is your job to effectively communicate information, and underlining is a poor way of doing that.

I always try to educate clients about good design, but, of course, it often fails as they simply don't care or don't understand. Ultimately, if they insist on all caps, bold, underlined Zapf Chancery then that's what they get.

[Philip_Peterson@adobeforums.com]

If you want the same size lines equally spaced, you could draw two lines and blend them, adjusting the number of blends to get the appropriate number of underlines.

[Eddie_Ostrowski@adobeforums.com]

Another way is to use the Rectangular Grid Tool. Define your first and last underscore by drawing a rectangle with the RGT. Use the up/down arrow keys to add/subtract horizontal lines. Use the left arrow key to eliminate all vertical lines. Use the Direct Selection Tool to eliminate the remaining 2 vertical lines. Adjust individual lengths with the DST.

[James_Talmage@adobeforums.com]

KWAFWSBASFIAI* Number 338: Paragraph Rules.

1. Draw a square the size of your Text’s leading.
2. Draw a 1” horizontal line.
3. Align the two both horizontally and vertically by their centers.
4. Give the square a stroke of none and fill of none.
5. Select them both and drag them to the Swatches Palette.
6. DirectSelect one edge of your areaType object. Click the Pattern Swatch.
7. Type>AreaTypeOptions. Set First Baseline to Ascent.

Now, the horizontal rules of the Pattern Fill have the same spacing as the leading of your text. What you have to realize is, a Pattern fill starts at the origin (bottom of the page) and proceeds from there. The path(s) filled with a Pattern Fill are like “windows” to the Pattern which spreads across the whole page. All this means is, in order to adjust the distance between the type baselines and the rules, nudge the text object up and down a bit.

Hey, I SAID it was kludgy. ;-)

*KludgyWorkAroundForWhatShouldBeAStandardFeatureIn AdobeIllustrator