Baseline Grid - First Line Only

[benin]

An absolutely essential Baseline Grid functionality is to align text with:

• «All Lines» or
• «First Line Only».

Making a Magazine without the «First Line Only» is quite annoying.
Would be great if you could this essential layout feature implement in version 1.

[Wosven]

+1

[fabians]

+1, there's certainly space to put it in the baseline settings of a text style.

[rbsund]

+1

[allaboutdolph]

Yes, absolutely, very much need this feature, it's the only thing I can find that I'm missing from InDesign.

[KnikmanAV]

+1

[AndyQ]

Definitely! Also please a keyboard shortcut to toggle display of baseline grids on/off (unless I'm missing something I haven't found such a thing)

[garrettm30]

10 hours ago, AndyQ said:

Also please a keyboard shortcut to toggle display of baseline grids on/off (unless I'm missing something I haven't found such a thing)

There is not a keyboard shortcut by default, but the Affinity apps have a pretty extensive system for custom shortcuts. I think it can be said that anything that can be found in the menu can be assigned a shortcut, in addition to the tools and some additional operations. You can assign a shortcut for toggling baseline grids from the preferences:

 

 

[AndyQ]

7 hours ago, garrettm30 said:

There is not a keyboard shortcut by default, but the Affinity apps have a pretty extensive system for custom shortcuts. 

 

Thanks, I've done that, and it is nice that when you set a custom shortcut it appears in the menu next to the item (that seems logical/desirable but many applications don't do it). There is still a good reason for Affinity to define more default shortcuts for frequently used toggles/operations - consistency for teams. It's OK being a standalone operator with your own personal set of shortcuts, but if you have employees who have to move between different workstations or run shifts you want them all running the same setup. The same goes with freelancers; you might need short-term hires to come and work for you. I understand this is not where Affinity as at in the marketplace - if you're an agency you're likely bringing in peeps with "Adobe" experience, but if you want to eventually get some serious Adobe market share you need to think beyond individual users. It's not a problem for me, just a suggestion for the good of Affinity. (I'd like to see them give Adobe and other "rental software" companies a good kicking..)  Cheers!

[garrettm30]

I think that is a fair observation, but I am of the opposite opinion. No matter what they choose as default, it won't meet everyone's needs, so I think it is better to not use up most of the convenient keystrokes for features that are not as broadly used. Otherwise, when an individual wants to add a shortcut for his favorite operation, he either has to unset a default somewhere else, or he is left trying to find what is leftover so he can play a game of keyboard Twister with his custom shortcut.

The case where you described needing a similar setup across an organization is a good example for using the ability to save and load custom shortcuts.

[rdsignr]

It appears that "Align first line" is actually the current behavior when "Align to Baseline grid" is unchecked. This behavior obviously contradicts the meaning of the "Align to baseline grid" setting.

+1 for benin's UI suggestion above.

 

[rumo]

+1

I finally switched from Indesign CC today after my Publisher’s trial period, and this is something I really missed already on my first job today. It is an essential function for literally everyone working in the field of typography. Hard to believe that it wasn’t considered by now.

[tytus 01UNIT]

+1 for that "Align first line" - this is a pain to format big folders without it.

One more thing that I wish would be here is "balance ragged lines". Very useful tool for formating paragraphs.

[garrettm30]

42 minutes ago, tytus 01UNIT said:

One more thing that I wish would be here is "balance ragged lines".

Here is a thread specifically for that feature:

Besides the few participants in the thread, I did not see any other interest for the feature when I made a search for "balance ragged lines." There may be a few others with different terminology, but I don't remember them.

[rumo]

Okay, just a short workaround: It works when you do it the old-style (traditional) way that is, of course, still valid.

I don’t know the right term for this in English but typographers that had to deal with different font sizes usually divide the baseline grid into the lowest common denominator (depending on the needed size of the copy text). Let’s say you have a 10/12pt copy, the baseline grid was set to a half/third/quart of the leading, in this case 6/4/3pt. Every other leading must be a multiple of that to not break the baseline grid. So with that 10/12pt copy and a 4pt grid, you could use a 14/16pt intro text and a 26/32pt headline.

Indesign’s "first line only" actually just helps to override this.

[Kabeljauws]

Yes, please, only first line on baseline grid...

[typotaurus]

+1 Yes, this functionality is desperately needed.

[Jochen Damm]

+1 - nothing more to say.

[Luca H]

+1

[rumo]

I still second this. Dear Affinity staff, this is a must have in the field of editorial design.

[Ideagonal]

+1

[Petar Petrenko]

On 8/28/2019 at 11:12 PM, AndyQ said:

There is still a good reason for Affinity to define more default shortcuts for frequently used toggles/operations

It will be even better if they offer ID and QXP shortcuts for the users familiar with these apps.