I don't know how you're laying out text in InDesign, but in the workflow I was speaking about above, you draw a set of "text boxes", link them into a sequence, and then drop an RTF file onto one of the boxes to create a live link between the boxes and the RTF document's content. You then align text to things like guides/rulers by snapping the boundaries of the text boxes to those guides/rulers.

Changing the text layout automatically re-flows the text across the text boxes. That means: adding/removing a text box; editing the properties of a text box; changing the content in the linked RTF; or moving another element to partially overlap a text box, when the box is set to make the text dodge intrusive elements. You don't have to worry about resizing a text box to make room for something; that text just appears in the next box and pushes everything down.

And changing the visual layout does absolutely nothing to the text. That is: moving any of the text boxes, or moving/creating/destroying any element other than a text box, as long as this doesn't affect overlap; editing text boxes of a different linked document, or static text boxes (e.g. a masthead); etc. So, visual design tweaks are guaranteed not to wreck a finished typography pass, even if that means you're sliding the margins around.

For the sake of anyone who hasn't tried a system like this: picture creating an HTML CSS layout, with your composition embedded in a <div> with `overflow: scroll;`... but then picture a magical new <viewport> element, that provides distinct viewports onto a single scrolling container's render-context at different (contiguous, non-overlapping) scroll offsets. You could use such an element to implement CSS columns—but also any number of other arbitrary layouts.

I do understand the workflow you outlined, but I don't follow it, because I don't like it. In InDesign, I just open up a text box and start typing. Once I am within a text box, however, my irritation begins. I don't want to use tabs to align text. I suggested an alternative in my first post.

Thank you for getting back to me.