[Avenir]

This has to be something I'm simply overlooking.

In Photoshop, the Stroke effect has the option of running the stroke on the outside, center, or inside of the object being stroked.

I have played every which way with the stroke pallette in Illustrator (CS) and cannot get it to do anything but run the stroke in the center. I need this for narrow fonts that I want to have a fat stroke on the outside edge.

(My temporary solution was to dupe the white text layer, and make the stroke huge on the text layer beneath the actual text, but it seems I should be able to do this on my own)

[gautch]

Originally posted by Avenir:
...(My temporary solution was to dupe the white text layer, and make the stroke huge on the text layer beneath the actual text, but it seems I should be able to do this on my own)

This is actully the best way to do it. When you go to print if you have it layered like that your outline will look best.

Have you tryed to outline the text then do an offset path (Object->Path->Offset..)
I think that was a way i did it.

[chabig]

You can convert the text to outlines and then stroke it. But I agree the best way to do it with layers.

Chris

[iREZ]

Ditto with the layers comment above.

[ultra-V]

Actally the best way to do it, without having two duplicate pieces of art around, is with the appearance palette. Drag the stroke below the fill (think of them like layers) and then the stroke will not eat into the fill. Note that it is still centered on the outline, thus you should double the stroke weight that you actually want. If you want, you can add multiple strokes in the appearance palette as well by duplicating them and adjusting each ones' weight.

Text gets a little hard to manage in the appearance palette sometimes (since you can apply different styles to the characters and the whole block). It can be a little easier to convert to outlines first, then play with your stroke. Be sure to use the pathfinder to merge the characters or the stroke from one letter will cover the next letter.

[Avenir]

Originally posted by ultra-V:
Actally the best way to do it, without having two duplicate pieces of art around, is with the appearance palette. Drag the stroke below the fill (think of them like layers) and then the stroke will not eat into the fill. Note that it is still centered on the outline, thus you should double the stroke weight that you actually want. If you want, you can add multiple strokes in the appearance palette as well by duplicating them and adjusting each ones' weight.

Text gets a little hard to manage in the appearance palette sometimes (since you can apply different styles to the characters and the whole block). It can be a little easier to convert to outlines first, then play with your stroke. Be sure to use the pathfinder to merge the characters or the stroke from one letter will cover the next letter.

Awesome... that's a lot like what I was looking for. Thanks.