All response texts, input boxes, and images in a line sit along an invisible line known as the baseline. This is why, when you insert an image in a line, the text appears at the same level as the bottom of the image rather than being level with the top of the image or centrally positioned within its height. Changing the vertical position of the image relative to the text, or of the text relative to the image, can make the page easier to read as well as producing a generally more pleasing visual appearance: see Vertical alignment.

You can also change the horizontal alignment of items on the page. This is a common requirement in scripts that present questions and response controls as forms, or in any situation where you want to display a question’s text and response control side by side. See Horizontal alignment.

The keywords associated with text alignment and positioning are as follows:

You can use these keywords in the metadata or routing section of the script. The illustration shows the effects of the metadata versions of these keywords on a typical page:

If you are producing a form that requires a lot of horizontal and vertical alignment of question texts and response controls, you may find that a template that uses a table to control layout goes a long way to simplifying the questionnaire specification. For more information, see Using tables to simplify alignment specifications.