Leading is a measure of line spacing — the distance between text baselines in paragraphs. When you specify a leading value, it is applied to all lines in selected paragraphs. You can specify leading by three methods:

• Absolute leading sets the distance between baselines of text to a specific value, regardless of the size of characters on the lines. For example, if you specify an absolute leading value of 16 points for a paragraph, all baselines will be spaced 16 points apart. When specifying absolute leading, use a value that is the total vertical distance you want between text baselines.
• Incremental auto leading combines a base amount of auto leading with an absolute value specified in the Leading field (Style menu). Incremental leading values must be preceded by a plus (+) or minus (–) sign.
• Auto leading means the application uses the value in the Auto Leading field (QuarkXPress/Edit > Preferences > Paragraph pane) to decide whether percentage-based or incremental auto leading occurs. The default — percentage-based — takes the base amount of auto leading and adds to it a fixed percentage of the largest font size on the upper line to determine the total amount of leading between an auto-leaded line and the line above it. The default value for percentage-based auto leading is 20%. To specify auto leading, enter auto in the Leading field.

To set the alignment of selected paragraphs, do one of the following things:

• Choose Style > Leading, then enter an absolute leading value, an incremental leading value (preceded by a plus or minus sign), or auto in the Leading field.
• Use the Leading controls in the Measurements palette.
• Use one of the keyboard commands below.