My friend Ned just switched from Quark to InDesign. Good move, Ned!

He emailed me today asking the following question:

"I have some text boxes on top of a picture box... I put a shape behind the picture and the shape's text wrap, which is supposed to affect things underneath the picture, is pushing around the type on top of the picture???"

First off, they are text frames in InDesign, not text boxes. They work a bit differently than Quark text boxes. Basically, the biggest difference is that you can just paste. You don't have to create a box before placing text. Text is confined by the frame, not a box dictating where the text can go or be. The frame can be adjusted to make a shape much like in illustrator. I say it puts the rigid Quark text box to shame.

Not sure what exactly what you are referring to with the picture box, but I'll try to answer at least in general. The InDesign default setting is to be text wrap no matter where the box is. There is an option or preference you can set to make it only affect text beneath. The setting is under the InDesign Menu/Preferences/Composition. Check the box beside 'Text Wrap only affects the text beneath.'

According to David Blatner in Real World InDesign, "Many QuarkXpress users get confused when using text wrap (runaround) in InDesign" because the default settings are different. Ned, you are not alone in your confusion.

Hope that was helpful, Christine.

shortcut of the day:
'opt + command + c' (mac) or 'ctrl + alt + c' (Windows) fits the text frame to the content in InDesign.

 
Today's resources:

indesignsecrets.com podcast episode 72 recorded at the one InDesign Conference session I attended.

Real World InDesign by David Blatner and Olav Martin Kvern.