Scaling type horizontally with the appropriate field on the Character or Control palettes is easy and precise, but not necessarily ideal when trying to scale to fit a particular space or when a more visual scaling is desired. Wouldn’t it be great if you could scale text width in InDesign just by dragging–like Illustrator can with point type?
You can.
Select the text frame and drag the control point on either the left or right side while holding CMD/CTRL. Drag inward, toward the text, to scale the type thinner, or outward to scale up to thicker type.
Want to scale vertically? Use the same procedure, but instead of dragging a control point on the sides, drag from either the top- or bottom-center points while holding CMD/CTRL.