The rules

Each rule is one small, automatic fix. Most start switched off; you turn on the ones a template actually needs in the BrandFit panel, where each has a switch for whether it runs and whether it runs on its own.

You don't need to know how they fit together inside. The short version: they're a pile of tiny fixers, and turning the right ones on keeps a template looking right without anyone watching over it, even when the person editing isn't a designer or an agent is doing it.

Two kinds of rule

Some rules change an element's size (its font size, width, or height). Some change where it sits. This is worth knowing because it's why rules and clusters never fight: the size rules and a cluster cooperate (change a size and the cluster lays its members out again around it), and the placement rules step aside for anything a cluster already controls.

Structure

Drop stale heights (on, automatic). Lets a text box grow or shrink back to the height of whatever is in it now, so old copy never clips and there's no leftover empty space. Runs first so a cluster never stacks against a stale box.

Anchor snap (automatic, off by default). Lines an element up exactly on its guide, allowing for the little space fonts leave around letters. Leaves cluster members to the cluster.

Cluster layout (on, automatic). Stacks a cluster's members with the spacing you set and slides the whole stack onto its guide, so the group stays neat even when a line wraps. This is the backbone of a template that survives a copy change. See Clusters and guides.

Keeping things on the canvas

Overflow (automatic, off by default). Rescues anything spilling past the canvas: it shrinks text that's too big, narrows its box, or nudges an image back on. This is the rule for a headline that's simply too long to fit.

Fit to content (automatic, off by default). Makes a text box exactly as tall as its text, trimming dead space and stopping clipping.

Edge crowding (off by default). Keeps things off the very edge, nudging anything that strays into the safe margin back inward. Leaves cluster members alone.

Spacing and alignment

Overlap (automatic, off by default). Stops two elements sitting on top of each other. It pushes the lower one down, or lifts the upper one if the lower would fall off. Cluster members are handled by Cluster layout instead.

Cluster gap (automatic, off by default). Keeps a heading and subheading that aren't in a cluster from drifting too far apart. A real cluster sets its own spacing and is left alone.

Insufficient breathing room (off by default). Keeps a subheading from crowding the heading, pushing it down when the gap above it is too small. A cluster's own spacing wins, so cluster members are left alone.

Off-center cluster (off by default). Brings a centered heading and subheading back to the middle when they've drifted sideways. A stack aligned to an edge is left alone, and a real cluster already centers itself.

Typography polish

Heading edge breathing (off by default). Gives a heading that already fits a little air, shrinking it slightly if its letters get too close to the edge. It won't rescue a heading that's simply too big (that's Overflow's job), and it never shrinks past the smallest size you allow.

Widow killer (off by default). Pulls a lonely last word back up onto the line above, by widening the box, rebalancing the lines, or shrinking the font as a last resort. It leaves a short heading whose last word is long, since that usually wraps on purpose.

Post-period orphan (off by default). Stops a new sentence starting at the very end of a line. When a line finishes one sentence and a word or two of the next clings on, it narrows the box so the new sentence starts clean on its own line.

Underutilized text (off by default). Grows a heading or subheading that's rendering much smaller than its box with empty room around it. It only grows when it can fill the space in one move, so the size never creeps up round after round.

Knockout collision (off by default). Stops highlight boxes touching. On text that wraps to two or more lines with a highlight style, it opens up the line spacing so the boxes on each line don't overlap.

Images

POI alignment (on, button only). Frames a photo on its subject, adjusting how the image sits in its frame so the focal point lands where the template wants it, usually the center.

Defaults at a glance

Rules that are switched off still show in the panel; turn them on for the templates that need them. The next page covers which to turn on so an agent can run with it.