Another OO writer Question:
Is it possible to define two different paragraph styles, one as single column, the other as double column, and then switch back and forth between these two styles? I used to do this in Word when I ran MS Windows years ago. I'd like to do that in OO writer if possible. I don't see any obvious way to do this yet.
Thanks.
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 13:45 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
Another OO writer Question:
Is it possible to define two different paragraph styles, one as single column, the other as double column, and then switch back and forth between these two styles? I used to do this in Word when I ran MS Windows years ago. I'd like to do that in OO writer if possible. I don't see any obvious way to do this yet.
Not with paragraph styles but with section styles. It's mentioned explicitly in the online help:
Sections and Columns You can insert sections into an existing section. For example, you can insert a section containing two columns into a section that contains one column.
poc
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 03:58:05PM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 13:45 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
Another OO writer Question:
Is it possible to define two different paragraph styles, one as single column, the other as double column, and then switch back and forth between these two styles? I used to do this in Word when I ran MS Windows years ago. I'd like to do that in OO writer if possible. I don't see any obvious way to do this yet.
Not with paragraph styles but with section styles. It's mentioned explicitly in the online help:
Sections and Columns You can insert sections into an existing section. For example, you can insert a section containing two columns into a section that contains one column.
poc
I had found this, but I am still confused about the differences between section and frames and how the frames are linked together. I'm trying to convert the mutt reference manual to a more convenient printed form since my current hardcopy of that manual is a PITA to work with.
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 16:17 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
I had found this, but I am still confused about the differences between section and frames and how the frames are linked together. I'm trying to convert the mutt reference manual to a more convenient printed form since my current hardcopy of that manual is a PITA to work with.
A section is notionally part of the meaningful structure of the document, e.g. a table of contents, an index etc. A frame is an arbitrary box of text that you can place anywhere you like. It's more of a desktop publishing concept than a text composition concept. You can of course use frames to get multiple columns, but it's more work to do it that way, e.g. AFAIK frames can't go over page boundaries.
Having said all that, if you're going to invest the time and effort it might be more useful to do it in Docbook rather than OO. That way you could have both online and printed versions from the same source. I note that mutt already has an online manual. Is it different from the printed version? Can't you edit the online version into Docbook form? Is the source actually in Docbook form already?!?
poc
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 05:47:38PM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 16:17 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
I had found this, but I am still confused about the differences between section and frames and how the frames are linked together. I'm trying to convert the mutt reference manual to a more convenient printed form since my current hardcopy of that manual is a PITA to work with.
A section is notionally part of the meaningful structure of the document, e.g. a table of contents, an index etc. A frame is an arbitrary box of text that you can place anywhere you like. It's more of a desktop publishing concept than a text composition concept. You can of course use frames to get multiple columns, but it's more work to do it that way, e.g. AFAIK frames can't go over page boundaries.
I have figured out how to use sections to put text into 2-column format. Each section is uniquely (and sequentially) named. What I would like is a template that I can apply to each block of text to be converted. Then if I modify the template, all the text gets the changes. I haven't yet figured out whether OO writer 2.4 (or 3.0) has that kind of template. A good intro to OO would help me ascend the learning curve.
Having said all that, if you're going to invest the time and effort it might be more useful to do it in Docbook rather than OO. That way you could have both online and printed versions from the same source.
I have no knowledge of Docbook, but if I knew what the Docbook software tools were, I could try it out (this conversion effort is an OO writer learning exercise. I could do Docbook instead.)
I note that mutt already has an online manual. Is it different from the printed version? Can't you edit the online version into Docbook form? Is the source actually in Docbook form already?!?
I don't know whether it is or not. I'm working with the text version of muttman. I'm finding the mutt manual hard to work with, mostly because of my lack of knowledge of the effect of muttrc options (and even their existence) on mutt. My focus is on getting mutt to do what I want re unicode using ufs-8.
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 17:58 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 05:47:38PM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Tue, 2008-11-11 at 16:17 -0500, Dave Feustel wrote:
I had found this, but I am still confused about the differences between section and frames and how the frames are linked together. I'm trying to convert the mutt reference manual to a more convenient printed form since my current hardcopy of that manual is a PITA to work with.
A section is notionally part of the meaningful structure of the document, e.g. a table of contents, an index etc. A frame is an arbitrary box of text that you can place anywhere you like. It's more of a desktop publishing concept than a text composition concept. You can of course use frames to get multiple columns, but it's more work to do it that way, e.g. AFAIK frames can't go over page boundaries.
I have figured out how to use sections to put text into 2-column format. Each section is uniquely (and sequentially) named. What I would like is a template that I can apply to each block of text to be converted. Then if I modify the template, all the text gets the changes. I haven't yet figured out whether OO writer 2.4 (or 3.0) has that kind of template. A good intro to OO would help me ascend the learning curve.
It's called a style. What you are looking for is exactly what styles are for. You define the style (think of it as a template if you like) and apply it to the appropriate text. If you later change the style, everything gets updated automatically.
Having said all that, if you're going to invest the time and effort it might be more useful to do it in Docbook rather than OO. That way you could have both online and printed versions from the same source.
I have no knowledge of Docbook, but if I knew what the Docbook software tools were, I could try it out (this conversion effort is an OO writer learning exercise. I could do Docbook instead.)
There's a bunch of Docbook tools included in Fedora, since it's the basis for Fedora's documentation. However be aware that they are mostly batch-based, i.e. you write your doc in some editor (which may or may not have builtin support for Docbook) and then apply commands to transform it to the kind of output you want, i.e. it's not a word processor in itself. See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject, which includes several tutorials.
poc
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 06:56:43PM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
There's a bunch of Docbook tools included in Fedora, since it's the basis for Fedora's documentation. However be aware that they are mostly batch-based, i.e. you write your doc in some editor (which may or may not have builtin support for Docbook) and then apply commands to transform it to the kind of output you want, i.e. it's not a word processor in itself.
I've always liked batch. Makes doing things repeatedly until you get it just right a lot easier. The concept of Docbook appeals to me as well.
See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject, which includes several tutorials.
Thanks for the link. I will study the tutorials.