2020

TEXT AND TYPOGRAPHY
Controlling leading
Leading is a measure of line spacing — the distance between text baselines in
paragraphs. When you specify a leading value, it is applied to all lines in selected
paragraphs. You can specify leading by four methods:
Absolute leading sets the distance between baselines of text to a specific value, •
regardless of the size of characters on the lines. For example, if you specify an
absolute leading value of 16 points for a paragraph, all baselines will be spaced
16 points apart. When specifying absolute leading, use a value that is the total
vertical distance you want between text baselines.
Proportional leading allows you to set the leading in terms of a percentage, •
dependent upon the font size. Each paragraph can then have a different leading
depending on the largest font size in the paragraph. For example, if you specify a
proportional leading value of 50% and the font size of the tallest character in the
paragraph is 36 pt, all baselines will be spaced 54 points apart (36 plus 50% of
36). Using proportional leading can solve problems that can appear with text
that contains inline graphics, inline boxes and inline tables. The boundary value
limit for proportional leading is -100% to 5000%
When importing Word documents, the text is automatically mapped using

proportional leading.
Incremental leading combines a base amount of auto leading with an absolute •
value specified in the Leading field. Incremental leading values must be
preceded by a plus (+) or minus (–) sign.
Auto leading means the application uses the value in the Auto Leading field •
(QuarkXPress/Edit > Preferences > Paragraph pane) to decide whether
percentage-based or incremental auto leading occurs. The default — percentage-
based — takes the base amount of auto leading and adds to it a fixed percentage
of the largest font size on the upper line to determine the total amount of
leading between an auto-leaded line and the line above it. The default value for
percentage-based auto leading is 20%. To specify auto leading, enter auto or 0pt
in the Leading field.
To set the alignment of selected paragraphs, do one of the following things:
Use the Leading controls in the Home or Paragraph tab of the Measurements •
palette.
Use keyboard increments to automatically increase/decrease the value in this

field. See “Palettes“ for more information.
Use the ticker controls with or without Shift or Alt/ Opt modifier to modify the •
leading.
Use the keyboard commands. •
Controlling space before and after paragraphs
Space Before and Space After controls let you specify the amount of space before
and after selected paragraphs.
198 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 2020