Select to Affect
If you’ve ever been in one of my classes, you may remember that “the phrase that pays” is SELECT to AFFECT. This means simply that if you want to bold a word, you must first SELECT that word. Then you can bold it.
If you want to fill a square with red, you can’t just look at the square on your screen and think that InDesign will know exactly which square on your page you are thinking about filling with red...you’ve got to get your selection tool and CLICK on that square. Then fill with red. In that order.
I see so many problems when people forget to select an object, but still apply an effect, which then applies to nothing, because you haven’t selected anything, and in many cases what you tried to apply, now becomes the default font, color or effect.
So just remember, before you apply bold, a fill, stroke or some other effect, you must SELECT the object first!
I’ve created a graphic to demonstrate this.... happy selecting!