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Step 2: Review the Current Layout
Step 2: Review the Current Layout

Let's keep going

Kirsi avatar
Written by Kirsi
Updated over a week ago

Next, we need to do some quick adjustments to our layout design. This part is super fast and should not take you longer than a few minutes.

The key here is that we are going to make all these changes globally with a few clicks.

Let's get started.

1 - ADJUST FONT STYLE, SIZE, LINE SPACING AND JUSTIFICATION

The font styles have been carefully selected for each one of the templates and look great out of the box. However, if you would like to change the font or add a new Google font you can do so.

TIP: Find a template that already has a font and layout that you like and then use that same one for all of your projects. This way all you need to do it change out the cover image and add colors to your headers and footers. My favorite templates are Sydney and Stockholm.

Steps for changing the font style, size, line spacing, and justification:

1. Click on any paragraph container and make sure that the 'Make Changes To All Elements' button is on.

2. In the left sidebar you will see that the 'Text Style' panel has automatically opened. The first option is the font itself. Click on it to open the drop-down list and select the font style you would like.

The action of simply selecting the new font will automatically change all the paragraph containers to the new font style. However, this does not change the font for your headings as it only changes the container type that has been selected. If you want the same font to be applied to the heading then following the exact same steps except select the heading container instead of the paragraph.

3. The font weight and size are the next two available options in the text styles panel. Click on the font weight to open the options drop-down list. Select the weight you want. Remember to make sure the 'Make Changes To All Elements' toggle is turned on.

To change the font size you can either click on the up and down arrow keys or delete the value that is there and type in the size you want.

As you already have the paragraph container activated and the 'Make changes To All Elements' selected you do not need to do that again. You just make all the changes in the 'Text Style' panel at once.

 4. To adjust the line spacing use the 'Line Height' slider bar and slide to the right to increase the line spacing or slide to the left to decrease the line spacing. You can also use the arrow keys to the right of the slider bar to increase or decrease the line height.

5. The icons above the line height and letter spacing are your justification icons, click on the one you want.

2 - ADJUST PARAGRAPH SPACING, MARGINS AND PADDING

For adjusting the white space around the top and bottom of the page, in between the containers and the margins you need to work with the 'Padding' and 'Margin' tabs in the sidebar. They are locating in the 'Spacing' panel.

Steps for changing the paragraph spacing:

1. Begin by clicking on the container that you want to apply changes to and make sure the 'Make Changes To All Elements' button is turned on.

2. Click on the arrow keys to adjust the padding (top, right, bottom, left, or all around).

In this case, I have clicked on the bottom option and adding 5 pixels of space. This means that after each paragraph container in my ebook there will be 5 pixels of space automatically added.

Follow the same steps for any other container, such as the headings. You can also add the padding to the top and bottom of each container.

Next, let's adjust the white space to the left of right of the page using margins.

3. The mechanism to change the margins is the same as it was for the padding. Use the arrow keys to make your changes. You can apply changes to the top, right, bottom, and left margins. Use the link icon to apply the same values to all margins.

3 - SPLIT TOPICS USING HEADINGS

Headings are very important in your project as they are directly connected to your 'Table of Contents'. Higher level headings will appear as the chapter titles, while lower level headings will appear as sub-chapters.

IMPORTANT: A heading that is created with a paragraph container and larger font size is not a true heading. This is a common mistake that most people make when using Microsoft Word. You actually need to use the heading tag feature for it to be a true heading. For the 'Table of Contents' you need to use H2 and H3 heading tags.

You can either add a heading by dragging a heading element from the left panel or you can change any paragraph into a heading.

How to convert a paragraph to a heading

Tip: If you've imported your content from Word or another source you should go through and check that all your headings are actually headings and not simply "Bold with a larger font".

To add a new heading:

  1. Go to the 'Text' section in the sidebar. You will see the 'Heading' as the first option.

2. Now with your mouse drag and drop the 'Heading' element to your page

3. Now click in the container. Delete the default text and type your heading.

How to convert a paragraph to a heading

Remember, higher level 'H' tags are for chapter titles, while lower level are sub-chapters.

Use a variety of 'H' tags throughout your project to split the text. This makes it easier to read and consume the content.

TIP: Use H1s for the your ebook title. H2s for chapter titles and H3s for sub-chapters. It is the best combination as these two 'H' tags are customarily used within text. 

If you have existing headings in your project just click on the tag icon to make changes. Don't forget to use the 'Make Changes to All Elements' feature if you want the change applied globally in your project.

TIP: You can also convert any sentence to a heading using the tag icon


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