I am creating a newsletter in InDesign, and it is very type-heavy. This is the fist time that I am setting type editorial-style, and I'm wondering if there are any rules about how to do so in InDesign. My main question is about aligning the text to the baseline grid by pressing the little button at the bottom of the Paragraph Panel that has horizontal lines that are aligned, which is adjacent to a button that has horizontal lines that are not aligned with one another. I'm first setting the baseline grid to the same PT value at the leading. This makes the text look great.
Is this the correct way to set type for editorial? Is this how it's done at magazines and newspapers?
The problem that I have with aligning type this way is this: if I want header text to be a bit further away from the body text (and out of line with the baseline grid), I have to highlight that line and click the button that releases text form being aligned to the baseline grid. Is this the right way to get this effect? On one page, I'm spacing headers throughout the page by un-aligning them to the baseline grid, but the very top header is too far away from the body text - moreso than the other headers. This seems to be because the actual body text is aligned to the baseline grid and ID is trying to compensate for the spacing difference.
Basically I'm wondering if there is a better way to go about setting type for editorial, or if I am on the right track.
I also set the baseline grid equal to Body Text leading. I have my Preferences/Grids/Baseline Grid set to "Relative to: Top Margin" (instead of top of page), and Baseline Grid "Start: 0p0". I set the default Text Frame's first baseline to Leading instead of Ascent or Cap Height and use this text frame style instead of "None." Text frames will snap to the top margin so this process drops the first line of text down the amount of it's leading, putting Body Text on the grid without locking it to it.
When I have a head at the top of a page, I apply a character style to the first word that does nothing but apply a larger amount of lead—the amount needed to drop the head and it's following Body Text down enough so that the Body Text after the head is on the text grid (the text frame is set up to move text down by it's leading).
If you want the head on the first text grid rather than moved down as explained above, and the last Body Text line on the last text grid, and don't use a full line space under the head, then you'll need to vertically justify the text in that frame, which adds a little space between each line. You can set up another text frame style with its first baseline line set to "Fixed" and the Body Text leading amount so the first line will always start on the first text grid no matter what the leading is, and also change the text frame style's "Text Frame General Options / Align:" to "Justify" instead of "Top."