Add a stroke to just one side of a text frame?

[Glenst0rm]

New user here lured by the extended tryout period. 

I'm wondering if it's possible to add a stroke to just the bottom of a text frame.  
It seems the pressure setting moved the strokes around the edge of the frame but not in a way that left me with a straight line on the bottom. 
I poked around the tutorials and the YouTube channel a bit but I couldn't find an answer.

Thanks for the help

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @Glenst0rm.

I think Decorations may be what you’re looking for.

[Oufti]

1 hour ago, Glenst0rm said:

It seems the pressure setting moved the strokes around the edge of the frame but not in a way that left me with a straight line on the bottom. 

I tried your (creative!) method, giving the pressure setting an almost rectangular profile, and indeed it's quite difficult to have well drawn ends of stroke.

Look on the mirrored page under how the red frame extends vertically, very thin but apparently inevitable if I try to have kind of a flat end.

— I must confess though that I don't have a lot of experience with this pressure tool, difficult to use with a trembling finger on the trackpad.  
Here is my best attempt:

 

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, Glenst0rm said:

It seems the pressure setting moved the strokes around the edge of the frame but not in a way that left me with a straight line on the bottom. 

What do you want to achieve with the pressure setting … and how do you mean not straight then?

Can you show a screenshot of what you want or got?

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

the Serif club

This (f)or that?  
https://typeface.id/product/id-serifclub/  
https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/105970/club-serif

[thomaso]

24 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I tried your (creative!) method, giving the pressure setting an almost rectangular profile, and indeed it's quite difficult to have well drawn ends of stroke.

Another "creative" way: dashed, no pressure.

[Oufti]

3 hours ago, Glenst0rm said:

I'm wondering if it's possible to add a stroke to just the bottom of a text frame.  

45 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I tried your (creative!) method, giving the pressure setting an almost rectangular profile, and indeed it's quite difficult to have well drawn ends of stroke.

I was happy to experiment with pressure options but being pragmatic I'll stick to a good old method, pinning a line:

1. Select the pen tool
2. With the help of snapping options, click on the frame left corner then double-click on the right corner to draw a line
3. Adjust its stroke settings to taste (width, colour, end caps…)
4. Pin this line to the text frame (button in the contextual toolbar)
5. Set the options in the Text>Pin panel so that the line remains aligned to the frame. 

[thomaso]

40 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I'll stick to my good old method

What's wrong with a Paragraph Decoration? – however, one more "creative"… 😉 

[Oufti]

9 hours ago, thomaso said:

What's wrong with a Paragraph Decoration?

It's not related to the bottom of the frame but to the bottom of a paragraph.

So when you resize the frame, a decoration doesn't follow. On the other side, it will move if you modify the text, where a frame border won't. 

Thus I don't think Paragraph Decoration answers what the OP asked for : "to add a stroke to just the bottom of a text frame".

[thomaso]

25 minutes ago, Oufti said:

It's not related to the bottom of the frame but to the bottom of a paragraph.

Yes and sorry: I in my entire lack of French I quickly misinterpreted your "Pinned Floating" screenshot with its "4 mm" as a static, inflexible distance to the text "Zone":

That made me think it would be undynamic like the paragraph decoration and made me try the 'creative', useless workaround with "Pinned Inline". 😔

Obviously you are right with the floating solution, it works like a charm, thank you. – But do you know why both the "Keep within bounds" + the "Inside Bottom" options do not cause a vertical move upwards + inside the text frame in my example?

[GarryP]

An alternative, if you don’t have any special requirements that only a Frame Text layer gives you (text flow, etc.), might be to use a single-cell Table and format only the bottom of the cell with a stroke – see attached image.

[Glenst0rm]

My current use for this line is to accent a Section header.  See below.

I only came up with the creative pressure option because it's the only interface I found that seemed to control the line placements.  I didn't even see the decorations panel. I was also amazed when Oufti's example had 2 extra anchor points!  

As Oufti mentioned, Decorations are synced to the length of the text.  I could tweak the settings each time but I'd like an easily reproducible object that I can cut and paste as needed.  This also rules out Thomaso's creative dash method.

I think I'll go with the method of just drawing the separate line.  

This raises another questions for me though. What's the difference between grouping and pinning objects? 

Thanks again for the enthusiastic help.  I'm exploring an upgrade from MS Publisher and I'm a little overwhelmed.  In the end I think it will be worthwhile, but right now there's so many controls and options I'm not sure where to find what controls. 

Edited July 16 by Glenst0rm
Added screenshot

[thomaso]

14 minutes ago, Glenst0rm said:

This also rules out Thomaso's creative dash method.

(…)

This raises another questions for me though. What's the difference between grouping and pinning objects? 

The dash method was weirdly complex and actually a joke. I just was curious.

A pinned object becomes part of the text and flows with the text. The curve/line can jump to the next column or frame if text gets added before the pinning anchor.

A group just combines layers to a common layer for easier handling, sizing, moving etc. A group of text frame + curve is not influenced by the text content. To me grouping and pinning are two pair of socks, I would not compare them. You can group anything but pinning requires text.

There seems to be NO way in Affinity to add the stroke to a text frame edge independent of any text content, … as you probably requested.

[Oufti]

4 hours ago, thomaso said:

– But do you know why both the "Keep within bounds" + the "Inside Bottom" options do not cause a vertical move upwards + inside the text frame in my example?

I asked myself the same questions. I considered this as one of the (still many) advanced options whose function I don't really understand... 🤔

Keep within bounds has an action if the offset is great enough but I've not found a situation where Inside bottom had a purpose.

https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Panels/pinningPanel.html

[Oufti]

1 hour ago, Glenst0rm said:

I was also amazed when Oufti's example had 2 extra anchor points!  

I just clicked in the middle of the profile curve to add new anchor points. 

 

1 hour ago, Glenst0rm said:

I'm a little overwhelmed.  In the end I think it will be worthwhile, but right now there's so many controls and options I'm not sure where to find what controls. 

I felt the same at the beginning. 😉 
That's one of the reasons I follow these forums: other's questions are an opportunity to learn more in depth these programs. 

[thomaso]

33 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I've not found a situation

Maybe it's only relevant for specific "Of" menu items? … It can have an effect for instance with "Line" (while I still don't see a use for it, especially because of the additional menu options above like "Outside Below", "Inside Bottom" etc.

<–>  

Not to mention "Inside Top" variants

…