What is a general rule of thumb for flowing text around embedded images?

Question

What do you folks use as a general rule of thumb for flowing text around embedded images? I know everyone's got different preferences in addition to standard rules; is there any time when you will place an image in line with text (i.e., with no text flow on either side) instead of allowing text to flow on one side or the other? Obviously there are times when you're going to want the image apart from the text flow for design purposes. The examples I've run into recently involve laying out HTML newsletters (which are fairly narrow - less than 600 px so they fit into the crappy little window Outlook gives you, and then it's split further into a 2/3 + 1/3 vertical arrangement) and a brochure laid out with similar narrow vertical columns. With a vertical area this narrow it's sometimes difficult to get recognizable images (none are larger than 250 px wide) and text without it looking like you're getting "crumbs" of text.

Answer 1

In this type of situation, I think the best solution is to use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to directly place text below the image, then save or export the file as a flat. jpeg or .png, with the text or caption as part of the image. (this way the text will display clearly regardless of the browser or computer display being used.It will also format better for print this way.