Glossary of InDesign Terms

anchor point—a point on a path that indicates a change of direction. Paths are made up of one or more anchor points.

baseline—the invisible line on which most letters sit. It is the starting point for text alignment in InDesign.

bleed—the area outside the page boundaries where design elements can extend. Bleeds ensure that there are no unprinted edges when the document is trimmed to size.

character style—a collection of character formatting attributes that can be applied to text in a single step.

CMYK—the color model used for print, which stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black). It is used to define colors in printing.

facing pages—two pages shown side-by-side, also known as a spread – used for documents that will be printed and bound

frame—a container that holds text, images, or other objects. Text and graphic frames are the most common types.

grep—like an if-this-than-that statement using special code; think of it as find/replace tool for actions or occurrences rather than words or characters

guide—a non-printing line that you can place on your page layout to help you align objects, text, and other elements. Guides can be either horizontal or vertical and are typically used to ensure that elements are consistently positioned across pages or within a layout.

gutter—the space between columns or rows of text in a layout. It's also the space between facing pages in a spread.

kerning—the process of adjusting the space between individual characters in text to improve legibility and appearance.

leading—the vertical space between lines of text, measured from baseline to baseline.

link—an outside file (separate from your INDD file) that is placed in your INDD document, usually an image

margins—the negative space around the inside of a page, a safe zone for all content/text/images

object styles—a pre-set of settings and formatting that can be applied to an object in one click

overset text—text that does not fit within the boundaries of its text frame. Indicated by a red plus sign (+) in the text frame’s lower right corner.

paragraph style—a collection of paragraph formatting attributes that can be applied to a paragraph in a single step. It includes alignment, spacing, and other formatting options.

parent page—a template page that can be applied to multiple pages in a document, ensuring consistent layout elements like headers, footers, and page numbers.

path—a line or shape created using the Pen tool, consisting of anchor points and segments.

pica—a unit of measurement commonly used in printing, where 1 pica equals 1/6th of an inch. InDesign uses picas by default for page sizes and text layout.

place—the process of importing external files (like images or text) into an InDesign document. This can be done using the File > Place command.

preflight—a feature that checks your document for potential issues (such as missing fonts or overset text) before printing or exporting.

resolution—the detail an image holds, typically measured in pixels per inch (PPI). Higher-resolution images are sharper but also larger in file size.

RGB—the color model used for screens, which stands for Red, Green, and Blue. It is used to define colors in digital formats.

slug—an area outside the page and bleed that can contain printer instructions, crop marks, or other non-printing information.

spread—two facing pages in a layout that are treated as a single unit.

story editor—a new window that opens for you to edit copy without seeing all the formatting; mainly for convenience if the style of text is making copyediting difficult for you; it does show symbols for all breaks, indents, and tabs 

story—all the text that is contained within one or more linked text frames. A story can span multiple pages, columns, or frames, and it flows from one text frame to another through a process called threading.

swatch—a predefined color or gradient that can be applied to objects or text in a document.

threaded text—text that flows from one text frame to another. This allows for continuous text across multiple frames or pages.

vector graphic—a graphic made up of paths, rather than pixels, which can be scaled without losing quality.

widow/orphan—a single word or short line of text that appears alone at the beginning or end of a paragraph. Widows are found at the top of a page or column, while orphans are at the bottom.