Blocks

A paragraph is a block. So is a quote, a table, a poem, a picture. Each type carries its own typography, set once in Formatting→Blocks and applied to every block of that type in the book.

Inserting a block

Two routes, the same list:

In the flow

Block	What it is for	Shortcut
Image	A figure, with a caption and alt text
Quote	A quotation set apart from the prose
Footnote	A note at the foot of the page	⌘⌥F
Epigraph	A quotation at the head of a chapter
Callout	An aside: note, tip, warning or example
Poem / verse	Lines and stanzas, kept as written
Definition list	Term and definition pairs
Table	Rows and columns, with a header row
Scene separator	A break between scenes inside a chapter	***

Page layout

Block	Effect
Page break	The next block starts a new page
Break to a right-hand page	Starts on a recto, inserting a blank if needed
Break to a left-hand page	Starts on a verso

Kinds of block

The block type menu in the toolbar names the block your cursor is in and offers the others. A paragraph can be turned into a heading or a quotation and back without retyping it; a standfirst or an editorial aside is still a paragraph, set the way Formatting→Blocks says that kind is set.

Kind	Used for
Body text	Ordinary prose
Standfirst	An opening line set larger, flush left and unindented
Editorial voice	An intrusion in the publisher’s voice rather than the author’s
Heading	A division inside the chapter
Subheading	A division inside a heading
Quotation	Someone else’s words, set in from the measure
Code	Set in the book’s monospace, never hyphenated

Headings inside a chapter take the typeface and the sizes set under Headings in

Formatting→Blocks. A chapter’s own title is not a block: it is set on the chapter opening.

A quotation’s source

Type the quote, then click the line beneath it and type the source — a name, a work, a date. It belongs to the quotation rather than following it as a paragraph of its own, so it moves with the quote, and the theme sets it the way a source is set: smaller, ranged right, often in small capitals.

Quotes and epigraphs both take one. On a quotation that has none, the line shows only while you are working in that quotation, so a page of dialogue is not a column of prompts.

Verse

Verse keeps every line and every indent exactly as typed. ⌘⏎ starts a new stanza.

Lines that are too long for the measure are run over with a hanging indent rather than wrapped flush, so a run-over reads as a continuation rather than as a new line of poetry.

Tables

Insert gives you a 3×3 table with a header row. Once the cursor is inside one, the Table menu in the toolbar becomes active:

• Insert row above / below, insert column left / right
• Toggle header row
• Merge or split cells
• Delete row / column / table

A table that is too wide for the text measure is scaled down or rotated in print. Check it in Preview.

Images

Insert an image and it lands inline. Its placement is set in the Properties panel:

Placement	Result
In the text	Sits in the flow at the width you set
Full measure	Spans the text column
Beside the text, left / right	Text wraps around it
A page of its own	Takes a page, no text
Off the edge of the page	Bleeds past the trim — needs bleed set in the Page panel

Width is always a fraction of the text measure, never a pixel count, so an image keeps its proportion when you change trim size or margins.

Alt text describes the picture for a screen reader and is required for an accessible EPUB. The Media panel lists every image in the book and flags the ones with none.

Callouts

Four kinds, plus one you title yourself:

Kind	For
Note	An aside in the book’s own voice
Tip	Something the reader can act on
Warning	Something that goes wrong if ignored
Example	A worked case set apart from the argument
Custom	Titled by the book rather than by a kind

Each kind takes its own colour and treatment in Formatting→Blocks.