Since making my grid calculator a year ago, I’ve foregone using inches entirely and have left my InDesign rulers set to points. As was put to me by someone on Twitter (whose tweet I can’t seem to find found it), using points versus inches is the difference between using a scalpel and using an axe.

As a consequence of using points, I found myself looking at kerning and leading in far more minute detail. Perhaps it’s because the units of measure are now the same with my rulers or because I’m obsessing now with maintaining vertical rhythm on my baseline grid more than ever. Next thing I knew, I was constantly typing numbers into palettes to make precise changes to my type instead of just using keyboard shortcuts. Cumulatively a huge waste of time and an annoyance that took me out of that proverbial zone.

Thus, I made a change to my InDesign settings that have save me tons of time and gained me a lot more precision in my work. If you’re a designer that obsesses about your typography*, you should consider making these changes, too.

In preferences—InDesign→Preferences for Mac users; I don’t know (or care) where it is on Windows—select “Units and Increments.” If you haven’t changed anything, it looks like this:

I now have that palette set to this:

For example, if you want your body copy to be a smidgeon larger, you’ll hit Command-> to increase its size. By default, that text jumps 2 points. With these settings, it only nudges up ¼ point. The difference is dramatic:

Another example. Let’s say you have a widow. If you highlight your copy and hit Command-Option-←, your tracking becomes -20/1000 of an em, and your paragraph will look squished. However, -5/1000 could eliminate that widow with hardly any perceptible change:

By changing your increments, you can quickly make precise adjustments, the kind that give your piece that finish and refinement that good designers demand. Thus: a scalpel, not an axe.

To make this your default behavior, make the change while you have no documents open; otherwise, the change will only apply to your open document.

* And if you are a graphic designer that does not obsess about typography, consider a different profession.