How to center vertically and fill a background color to an Area Type Tool?

Question

This is the Area Type Tool I've created:

I'd like to:

1. Center it (also) vertically, so if I resize the width/height area it will keep both the vertical and horizontal alignments
2. Add a background color to the area (red, for example)

How would you do it?

Answer 1

• Direct Selection Tool > Select the text frame > choose a filling color

Answer 2

Kind of tricky in AI CS6. Both native features in InDesign.

Answer 3

In illustrator I would make the background an independent rectangle and center the text over it.

This will give you more control of borders and spacing.

Center justify your text:

Make a rectangle, select both it and your text and align both horizontally and vertically:

This text can be edited or resized and will remain centered on the rectangle.