Typophile - Underlines - can we get gaps? - Comments

Don’t lapidate me, but I

aszszelp — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 06:58:56 -0700

Don’t lapidate me, but I sometimes actually like to use underline: when writing letters (i.e. e-mails as well), underlining for emphasis gives it an additional “hand-written” note without having to resort to italics for body text, which is an overkill for readibility.

You know, they say, there is no bad type, only people who cannot use it. I think, this applies for most design elements, including underlining. (Though I’m not claiming to know how to use it, I’m pretty confident about using it in that context).

Szabolcs

Thanks all. Cheers for the

G T — Thu, 5 Jun 2008 06:00:25 -0700

Thanks all.

Cheers for the suggestions.

aluminum: Since underlines

frode frank — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:34:34 -0700

aluminum: Since underlines almost always mark links on screen it’s not a bad idea to underline links in print.

Out of curiosity, when is

aluminum — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:44:03 -0700

Out of curiosity, when is one going to be underlining text these days in print? I’ve always thought that on paper it was used if you were stuck with a typewriter and online if it was a link.

“I really like Mills

dberlow — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:17:54 -0700

“I really like Mills solution the best.”
I think that one is the most dangerous because the white outline is eventually going to obscure part of an adjacent glyph, isn’t it?

Cheers!

I really like Mills solution

Robert Trogman — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:55:57 -0700

I really like Mills solution the best. I often discourage underlines in place of the alternates in font weights, but his trick worth using because it adds to esthetic value.

Another workaround would be

derya — Fri, 9 May 2008 16:26:59 -0700

Another workaround would be to make two character styles, one with underlines and one without. After your text is set, you can easily replace critical characters ( , „ ¿ g j p q y for example) with the find&change function (Menu/Edit/Find&Change). There you would only replace the character styles and the chosen characters will have a gap in their underlining.

(hope the second picture helps ;-)

Sure. Get the underline

charles_e — Fri, 9 May 2008 14:12:52 -0700

Sure. Get the underline through the character palate. One of the options is *offset*. Change that until you clear your descenders as much as you want.

The snippet below is down & dirty; looking at it, it needs a bit more weight (I used .33 points for the rule) and still a bit more offset, but it does clear the descenders.

That is pretty clever. I

iffy — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:48:27 -0700

That is pretty clever. I need to make a mental note.

So the stroke is on top of

Miss Tiffany — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:16:14 -0700

So the stroke is on top of the underline? Clever!

You can set a background

mili — Fri, 9 May 2008 10:05:15 -0700

You can set a background coloured line around your text.

In this example there is a 2 pt paper coloured stroke added to the bottom text:

I’ve never come across

Miss Tiffany — Fri, 9 May 2008 09:49:40 -0700

I’ve never come across anything that clever. I’ve only seen it done manually.

Underlines - can we get gaps?

G T — Fri, 9 May 2008 06:36:47 -0700

Hi Everybody,

Hope the weather is as good where you are as it is here, and that you’re not stuck in an office like me…

Quick question;

Does anyone know if in InDesign it is possible to set underlines to miss out descenders - so that there is a small gap?

Best wishes,

Graham