Publisher: Centered text with lines/rules extending both left and right

[flyleaf]

I am wondering if there is a more adaptive way to do this… I am creating a caption that uses horizontal lines/rules to span multiple images. See the attached photo.

 

I used strikethrough tabs to create the lines to either side of the text:

To be clear, that second tab is defined as 0 inches "from right."

What I have gives me the look I want, but the text is centered by a tab stop, and my photos will be of varied widths, so every new caption I make will require me to manually redefine the position of the center tab after I resize the width of the text box. Does anyone know of a more automatic way to get effect I'm after here, so the text can remain centered as I resize the box? 

[laurent32]

I don't know if that could help :

It might be easier to play with columns sizes than to insert tabs ?

[flyleaf]

17 minutes ago, laurent32 said:

I don't know if that could help :

It might be easier to play with columns sizes than to insert tabs ?

I have never found this palette before, cool! Thank you. However, I'm not sure columns can reduce my effort, because I don't see a way to have the middle column width dynamically adjust to the length of the caption. With the tab stops, my process is to 1) resize the text box, 2) replace the old caption with new text, 3) select the middle tab stop's value, and 4) enter the text box's current width and divide it by two. My hope is to get this down to just steps #1 & 2.

[Seneca]

29 minutes ago, flyleaf said:

My hope is to get this down to just steps #1 & 2.

Hello @flyleaf,

Please see my attachment. You don't need to do anything except resize the size of the caption according to your needs.

When resizing the caption please use the text handles and not the size handle (the sticking out handle at the bottom right of the text box)

Caption.afpub

[thomaso]

An easy way would use no tabs at all but centred aligned text + paragraph decoration + character background colour:

 

[Seneca]

1 hour ago, N.P.M. said:

Why would one resolve this with textstyles?

Because it's the most logical solution (to me of course).

And you don't have to edit anything there. You just need to resize the text and it just works.

The point of this post was how to make it work without any unnecessary work.

[thomaso]

@Seneca, sorry I can't open V2 but I am curious about your solution, especially since you mentioned the need to use specific handles for scaling. Can you show a screenshot or tell the basic properties you used?

[Seneca]

16 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Can you show a screenshot or tell the basic properties you used?

Hi @thomaso,

A lot of new Publisher users have problems understanding the difference between scaling a text box and enlarging it.

I mentioned not to use the scaling handle for that reason here. One would use scaling handle to either resize or reduce the text in the text box. We don't want to do that here.

My solution is to use Decorations option in the Paragraph style.

I used 2 decorations one for the black line and another one for the while think line below the text and above the line.

Once this is done there is no need to worry about the line and the text as separate items and just either reduce or enlarge the text frame size to suit one's needs.

I've included 2 screenshots that show what I've done.

I would have sent you a v1 version but I've deleted Publisher v1 from my system.

Just create a text box with some text and apply the styles above and it should work.

Please let me know if it's not clear.

[thomaso]

37 minutes ago, Seneca said:

I used 2 decorations one for the black line and another one for the while think line below the text and above the line.

Okay, you used a 2nd decoration where I used a character background colour. It appears I was mislead by your scaling-handle hint, which becomes irrelevant here if you activate "Scale with object" in the Stroke panel for the decoration.

[laurent32]

55 minutes ago, Seneca said:

and it should work

It does very well 👍

[flyleaf]

First, many thanks for the suggestions. I went with Seneca's version, so I can set perfectly proportioned gaps between the lines and the first and last characters of the caption, without having to worry about space characters at the ends while I select and replace caption text for each new instance.

However, I note that this solution only works on a white background (or any solid color, I suppose). A previous version of this very project was on a textured background, so this method would have not gotten me anywhere.