Paragraph, character, object, table and cell styles in Layout
Build styles in Layout by Zaweba with based-on and next style, groups, shortcuts and quick apply, redefine from a selection and import from other files.
Styles are what separate a document that is easy to change from one that has to be fixed by hand. Layout by Zaweba has five kinds: paragraph, character, object, table and cell. Each stores a set of formatting under a name, and anything using that name updates when the style changes.
The five kinds of style
Paragraph styles hold everything about a paragraph: font, size, leading, alignment, indents, spacing, hyphenation and more. Body text, headings, captions and pull quotes each get one.
Character styles hold formatting for a run of text within a paragraph, such as an italic for book titles, a bold for key terms or a colour for a brand name.
Object styles hold the look of frames and shapes: fills, strokes, corner options, effects and text frame settings. Sidebar boxes, picture frames and buttons are good candidates.
Table styles hold the look of a whole table, and cell styles the look of individual cells, so header rows, body rows and totals each have consistent formatting.
Based-on and next style
A style can be based on another. Base all your headings on one master heading style, and changing the font there changes every heading at once, while each keeps its own size and spacing.
Next style sets which style follows when you press Return. A heading followed by a first paragraph, followed by body text, can be typed straight through without stopping to apply styles.
Organising and applying styles quickly
Styles can be put into groups, so a long list stays manageable: headings in one group, captions in another, table text in a third. They can be sorted, too.
Each style can have a shortcut. Quick apply lets you type part of a style's name and apply it without opening the panel, which is the fastest way to work through a long document.
Redefining, clearing and importing
Clear overrides removes formatting applied directly to text, so it matches its style again. Use it on text pasted from elsewhere, or after experiments.
Redefine from selection updates a style to match formatting you have adjusted on the page. Tweak a heading until it looks right, then redefine the style from it, and every heading follows.
Styles can be imported from another .zala. A house style built once in a template can be brought into every new job, and a magazine's styles can be shared across issues.
Styles feed the rest of the document
Styles do more than format. Paragraph styles drive the table of contents and running headers. They set heading levels in tagged PDFs and EPUBs. They map from Word styles when text is imported. They are synchronised across a book. Object styles can use named stroke styles. Almost every long document feature in Layout leans on them.
Mistakes people make with styles
Formatting by hand is the root of most problems. A heading made bold and bigger without a style doesn't appear in the contents, doesn't tag as a heading and doesn't change when the others do.
Making too many near identical styles leads to confusion. If two styles differ by a single setting, consider whether one should be based on the other, or whether one would do.
Leaving overrides everywhere makes styles meaningless. Clear them regularly.
Naming styles by appearance, such as "Bold 14", makes them hard to change later. Name them by role, such as "Section heading".
