Free, secure charging station at Belk. Nice.
Choice.
Optical alignment and the oddball, single-function Story palette
This post was originally posted on October 1, 2014 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Tucked away in InDesign’s Window menu is a Story palette. This palette has exactly one function – to turn on and off optical margin alignment.
You can find the Story palette at Window > Type & Tables > Story. There are two settings. The first is a checkbox to activate optical margin alignment. And the second alters the intensity of the alignment.
Optical margin alignment automatically adjusts the positioning of characters on the margin. It’s especially noticeable for punctuation and letters like “A” and “W” which look a little odd lined up exactly on the margin. See the example below.
Optical margin alignment. Off (left) and on (right). Notice how the quotation mark and the lower case “w” move in relation to the margin.
I’m not sure why Adobe didn’t just include it on the Paragraphs palette. Seems odd to hide such a powerful feature on a random single-function palette.
Looking through the attic, found this shot of me as a young Gamecock photographer. Fresh out of the darkroom. Pretty sure it was taken by @kimtruett.
High school football. South Aiken vs Spring Valley.
#uofsc is really ready for GameDay.
1075thegame Live Remote.
Crate.
ESPN GameDay is at #uofsc
Ryan says “HULK SMASH”
Apple Watch: Cost isn't my biggest question…
This post was originally posted on September 19, 2014 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
When the iPhone was released in 2007, I had never paid more than $15 for a phone. Whatever phone was free with contract was what I purchased. I simply didn’t see the point of spending significant money on a phone. But when the iPhone was announced, I wanted an iPhone. And now, 7 years later, every two years or so, I drop significantly more than $15 on the newest model of iPhone.
I’ve never paid more than $150 for a watch. I don’t wear one every day. I really didn’t see the point in investing a significant amount of money on a watch. But now I look at the newly announced Apple Watch.
And I want a watch.
I read John Gruber’s thoughts on the new Apple Watch the other day. And what he’s thinking is what I was thinking. The Apple Watch Sport will be $349 and the prices will increase significantly from there. Luckily, I like the Sport. But I really like a bunch of the other models as well — especially the stainless steel Apple Watch with Milanese Loop.
Price increases significantly as you move from left to right.
I have lots of questions about the Apple Watch. But cost really isn’t the major concern. I expect a quality device with a premium price tag. But the more expensive the watch, the more these questions impact my decision.
Will the battery charge last for the entire day? For me to buy an Apple Watch, the charge has to last for at least a full day. And then hopefully, I’ll remember to charge it every night. (I stink at remembering to charge my devices nightly.)
Will the Genius Bar become a jewelry counter? If I’m going to spend this kind of money, I want to try it on. See how it feels on my wrist. Think about the current Apple Stores. How in the world would they accommodate that type of customer interaction? They are already incredibly crowded. Will other retailers sell the Apple Watch? Can you see Best Buy selling solid gold watches? My guess is that Apple will offer the Sport through various retail channels, but the more expensive models will be sold exclusively through the Apple Store.
What will the upgrade cycle be like? Most of us buy an iPhone every two years. But that’s because it’s tied into a contract. I update my iPads and my Mac less frequently. How frequently will I upgrade my Apple Watch? For me to invest in a more expensive version, it’s going to need to last more than two years.
Can I run with my Apple Watch without my iPhone? If I want to use my watch to workout, I don’t also want to have to carry my iPhone. If all the GPS and network connectivity is in the iPhone, won’t you need both with you to take advantage of apps like Nike Plus? And who wants to run with a giant iPhone 6 or an enormous iPhone 6 Plus? If I can leave behind my iPhone and run with just my Watch, then I’m interested. Otherwise, I’ll leave the watch at home and run with my iPhone like I do now.
As we get closer to the release, we’ll discover the answers to some of these questions. I have confidence that Apple will do its best to address these issues.
I intend to buy an Apple Watch. Will I spurge and go with the more expensive option? Probably not initially. I have trouble with the idea of investing in an expensive watch that is obsolete after a few years. But just like how Apple changed my attitude towards buying mobile phones, I think they will radically change my attitude towards buying watches.
Follow the leader
This post was originally posted on September 17, 2014 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Most people don’t know how to use tabs properly. But tabs can be really powerful, especially if you are building a form or table of contents.
Below you see a simple form with the tab ruler above it. Select each tab and type an underscore in the “Leader” box. Whatever character you type in the “Leader” box will repeat all the way to the tab. The underscore becomes the lines on the form. Much quicker and more accurate than trying to draw the underlines yourself. And much, much easier to edit the form later.
If you are building a table of contents, you may want to have a dotted line from the end of the chapter name to the page number. Don’t type a bunch of periods! Just set the “Leader” to a period. You can also use a right-justified tab to line up all your numbers correctly. Faster to build. Faster to edit.
Glasses all around.
New glasses.
Coffee cake for the office tomorrow.
Highlighting bad lines
This post was originally posted on August 27, 2014 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
InDesign can highlight lines of text that are spaced badly. By default, the highlighting is turned off for justification issues. To turn it on, go to InDesign > Preferences > Composition… The highlighting options are at the top of the window:
Turning on “H&J Violations” will highlight in yellow any place where InDesign can’t meet your hyphenation and justification settings. Here’s an example of a block of justified text with hyphenation turned off:
The worse the violation, the darker the yellow highlight is. Here is the same passage with hyphenation turned on:
Obviously, allowing InDesign to hyphenate and handle the bad breaks results in much better spacing.
I try to avoid full justification because of the issues that almost always come up with the spacing. But sometimes, you have to justify. And when you do, it’s easier to spot and fix badly spaced lines with the highlighting turned on.
Head Ball Coach. Ready for football season.
Genius
Quick break behind the South Caroliniana Library. #uofsc
Someone traced his feet with a blue marker.
