Use two formatting styles in one paragraph

[charliehara66]

Hi there - I would like to use two different formatted styles within the same paragraph, but when I try, one overrides the other. The two styles I want to incorporate within the same paragraph are my own custom styles, which I have created and saved within the 'format and styles' dropdown box. Is there a way to use two different styles in this way? I am using Apache 4.0.1 in Windows 10.
Thanks!

Edit: Changed subject, was Formatting styles  Make your post understandable by others  -- MrProgrammer, forum moderator

[Hagar Delest]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Do you mean that you want to apply 2 [character] styles to the same text?
I take for granted that you have no problem with the fact that a character style overrides a paragraph style.

Then, see this discussion that is similar I guess: [Workaround] Set relative (dynamic) font size to hyperlinks.

[keme]

Please tell us what you try to achieve. You have only told us how you try to achieve it. What is the desired end result?

IOW, Why do you want to apply the different styles?

Also note that Writer distinguishes between paragraph, character, frame, page and list styles. This is different from MS Word which has the notion of "text style", a sort of hybrid of Writer's character and paragraph style classes. This difference between the wordprocessing apps is the source of much confusion.

[charliehara66]

Hi - thanks for the responses.
I'm trying to layout a script, where dialogue and character names and direction need to be placed in specific positions on the page. So character names, for example, appear uppercase on the left and their corresponding dialogue appears on the same line but to the right and in lowercase. This obviously requires two different styles (the uppercase character name, and also the lowercase dialogue) that need to appear on the same line. Direction also needs to be placed in specific areas on the page, but this is no problem, because it always appears as standalone paragraphs, where only one custom formatted text style is needed for the whole paragraph. Word has something called a 'style separator', which allows two or more styles to work separately on the same line, so I'm assuming Openoffice has something similar. (Hope that's relatively clear....). I have tried using the 'character' tool for one and then the 'paragraph' tool for the other, but they also seem to cancel each other out.

[JeJe]

Is your layout like this one?

https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/v ... p?p=524568

Edit: from what you describe you just need a character style for the uppercase and apply that style to the section of the paragraph required.

Edit2: Or, as I suggested in my last post on that thread, you could use something like autocorrect to enter your character names T for TOM etc. and save some typing effort and avoid a change of styles.

[Bill]

As I understand it, the style separator in Word is used when you want only the first part of a paragraph (before the style separator) to appear in a TOC or index. In this case, if the character names won't be in a TOC/index, then there is no need to use a style separator. The described layout can be achieved using paragraph indents and tab stops.

[keme]

As far as I know, actors, directors and any other entity assessing a submission towards acting, will expect a script to follow strict rules. The standards for screen (TV, movie) and stage (live theatrical piece) are quite similar, as documented e.g. here, here and here. I can not match this to your description of requirements.

Consider:

• Do you want to change your layout to comply with "industry standard" scripting guidelines?
  Most likely a template for this already exists. This one shows some promise, though I find it a bit cluttered.
  If you don't find anything you can use, someone (possibly me) might accept the challenge and at least provide a useable mockup.
• Have you received other guidelines from some editor/director/publisher?
  Share those guidelines with us verbatim, not rewritten in your own words.
• Do you want to stick to the layout you already have envisioned?
  Create a detailed description of what you want to achieve. Preferably examples.
  Look to the items linked above to understand the level of detail you need to provide.

You may want to do this yourself, just need some pointers from us. The level of detail required is still similar. Solutions which are visually only slightly different, sometimes require radically different procedures to work optimally, so they may call for different advice.

[John_Ha]

It is very difficult to set up AOO for ease of use for writing screenplay dialogues. You are far better to use one of the many editors, some free, designed to produce screenplays in the industry standard format. Search the web for download screenwriting software

Search this forum with screen or screenplay or dialogue to see numerous posts.