Inherited value in Text Styles should show the [set value] not [No Change]

[Aloof]

Very quick usability advice: In order to set up correct parameter inheritence in text styles, it's good to show the actual value in the [No Change] parentheses. Use that space to show valuable info so we can track errors that get inherited (for example a very high spacing when inheriting from a headline style). If I am confronted with dozes of [no change] labels, I cannot see where something odd is happening. This forces me to think of all the possibilities for that increased spacing. It could be in leading, in could be in paragraph spacing, it could be somewhere else. Find a different way to highlight that no change is defined in the input fields. Set values in italic, write a small explanation at the bottom of the dialog what [] mean or similar.

[Old Bruce]

Another thing I would like (and I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is setup this way) is the ability to select the Font Traits. If I have a font with Normal, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. I would like to just select Bold Italic instead of trying Bold and checking the italic check box. Some fonts are called Oblique and some have thin narrow light, 

I would like to be able to choose the actual font and not guess and hope that the variants will get the one I want.

[Dave Harris]

12 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Another thing I would like (and I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is setup this way) is the ability to select the Font Traits. If I have a font with Normal, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. I would like to just select Bold Italic instead of trying Bold and checking the italic check box. Some fonts are called Oblique and some have thin narrow light, 

I would like to be able to choose the actual font and not guess and hope that the variants will get the one I want.

You can select the font traits if the style knows which font those traits are coming from. If the family name is inherited, then the style doesn't know that because the base style could change. If you want to choose the actual font, just do that. Set both the font family name and then the traits in the style, and it will just work. The traits control will be populated with the exact traits supplied by the font.

Having the option to set individual font attributes like weight or italic and then use font matching, is useful for generic styles that work with any font. For example, the default Strong and Emphasis character styles need to work regardless of which font the paragraph style has set.

[Jim_A]

+1 for Aloof.

'No change' is useful for character styles, where text attributes are shared with the paragraph style.

However, with a paragraph style based on another paragraph style it's helpful to see the values. Otherwise you're working in the dark.

For instance, set up a Body style for the main text, then create a Body First Para style (based on Body style) which has Drop Caps and Initial Words enabled. When you edit the Body First Para style, the values for the Drop Caps and Initial Words show as 'No change', even though they weren't enabled in the original Body style. 

You can get some information from the Style settings box at the bottom of the editor window, but some values (such as Initial Words Max word count) don't show.

Best to keep 'No change' for character styles, as there it helps to identify which attributes have been overridden.