Underlining Text

In the world of digital typesetting, underlining is rarely used to emphasize text. This “treatment” is a holdover from typewriter days, when it was the only way to highlight text. Today, italics and/or boldface are commonly used to add emphasis, depending on the context and desired degree of attention. But there are still some instances where underlining (also called underscoring) is an effective and attractive way to emphasize text. It can add an appealing design element and is useful for type of all sizes, including: headers and footers, headlines and subheads, pull quotes, and important callouts in body text.

The good news is that today’s design software offers a lot of control over underscores. In some instances, you can easily and quickly create and access a customized style. Your underscoring can be creative and eye-catching, as you can customize the style, thickness, color, and offset from the text. In certain cases, it’s also possible to import and export the styles. In both Quark® and InDesign®, these capabilities are somewhat hidden. They are worth exploring and fun to use. Here’s how to get started:

QuarkXPress 8
To create custom underline styles or to edit the default style, go to:

• Edit > Underline Styles.
• Select color, shade, width, and offset. Underline Styles can also be exported or imported from this dialog box.
• Select OK, then Save.
  To apply an underline style, highlight text and go to:
• Styles > Underline Styles.
• Select Preview if desired, then select OK to save.

Quark’s Underline Style options, though limited, are simple to use and can be very effective, as shown in the example above.

InDesign CS4
InDesign’s Underline feature offers you many options for some very creative results.

• Select type to be underscored.
• Go to Character palette’s drop down menu > Underline Options.
• Select style (located under Type), weight, and color of underscore.
• If you select a more decorative underscore, you can customize the color of the gaps.
• Select Preview if desired, then select OK to save.

InDesign’s Underline Options provide more choices, including many decorative underlining styles, as well as the option to color the gaps, as seen in the bottom example.