[Solved] Front Matter Styles and Formatting

[Hrodlandson]

I hope inserting text here won't foul everything up. Also, I pray you are still with us.
Looking at the file I am simply awed.
I have a Writer file of ~150 pp in which I would dearly like to implement certain of the features of the file you posted. I am stunned by the hyperlink and cannot imagine how to incorporate iit. I am dismayed at the prospect of copying my 150 pp into that template.
My main problem is how to get my cover, paste-down and flyleaf to be ignored when Writer numbers the subsequent 100+ pp. I see the ref to multiple sections but when I tried that approach, page number sequence blithely continues as if the section isn't there.
I hope there is something I am overlooking when I try to establish Section specific numbering and that the "something" is simple enough for me understand.

(The file you posted is a real tour de force.)

I advise working in .odt rather than .rtf - OO's RTF support is patchy at best. If one must work in RTF, Windows Notepad or Windows Wordpad (probably this) may be best.

Try the attached file. I normally place each Chapter into an OO Section, with a different coloured background. To start a new Chapter, click in the space between chapters and press Ctrl 1 (or apply Heading 1 style to that paragraph mark. If you wish to insert the new chapter into its own Section, highlight the Chapter Number line that now appears and /Insert /Section. set other Section parameters as you wish.

To remove the page number from the preliminaries pages, highlight a number and press Delete. To remove the Header line completely from all Preliminary pages, /Format /Styles and Formatting, press 4th icon from left, right click Preliminaries, select Modify and uncheck Header checkbox on the Header tab.

To identify which page style is being used for the current page (where cursor is), look about 1/4 way across Status bar and you will see it displayed.

Edit: Split from [Solved] Front Matter Styles and Formatting as that issue is solved. New problem, new topic. [robleyd, moderator

[RoryOF]

I will return to this later - meetings and other things most of today (06 Sept 2024)

[keme]

I suspect that your issue is caused by ambiguous terms, where Microsoft Word and OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer use similar terms for slightly different concepts. General wordprocessing advice online is often based on the Word mindset, which adds to the confusion.

• In Word, a section is a "structural break" inserted within the content flow.
  • This break can be a placeholder for a page break, and for a break in page formatting inheritance.
  • Reset page numbering is a section attribute.
  • Word pages can only inherit layout settings from the immediately previous page.
• In Writer, a section is a part of the text flow.
  • The section can have some layout settings (e.g. columns) different from the general content.
    The section layout is always subject to the page layout, but can add to it.
  • Page breaks can be "inserted", but are technically paragraph attributes, applied to the subsequent paragraph at insertion time.
  • When a paragraph has the page break attribute set, it may additionally set the attribute to alter page number, and select a different page styling by named page style.
    Reset page numbering is a paragraph attribute, not a section attribute.
  • This adds "abstraction", so it may appear complicated at first. A great advantage of the "named page style" approach is that Writer pages can "inherit" layout settings from other pages anywhere in the document.
    It really inherits from the page style, but by changing page attributes on any page using it, you actually edit the page style itself.

So, in Word if you want to mix single and triple column layout, you insert a section whenever you want to switch between them, and format each part (between the section marks) accordingly. In Writer you keep the page layout single column, and insert 3 column sections where needed.
Remember, while Word sections (which you may be used to working with, or get advice based on) are transitions between content parts, Writer sections are content parts.

[RoryOF]

Firstly, I start with an Apologia. The cited document, at
download/file.php?id=36633
gives _my_ process of formatting a book-length text. It may not suit everyone and others may develop their own formatting methods.

I use that document (or template derived from it) to give automatic formatting as I write, so that I have a good idea of how the text will look when printed, which in my case is on A5 sized pages, usually in 10.5 pt Georgia font. I make each Chapter a Section (note: an OO Section, not a Word Section) so that I can give that chapter a unique coloured background (which I don't print). Such coloured background reduces the glare from monitor screens, and the differing colour for each Chapter reminds me when I move to a new chapter. By Naming each Section with the Chapter title, I see this on the Status Bar, about 2/3 way across bottom of OO Writer window - again, a reminder of where I am in a long document, which is being written at intervals and not sequentially.

The use of Sections also permits quick movement about the document using Navigator (/Format /Navigator, or F5 key) and rearrangement of the Chapter/Section ordering. It would also permit quick reformatting of one or more Chapters, say to Columned page layout or change in footnote/endnote handling or indents. One can also edit a Section/Chapter properties to Hide it or make it Write Protected.

As I said above, this is _my_ method of working: I don't clam it is perfect; your methods may/will differ.

[RoryOF]

How to cope with Hrodlandson's formatting problem?

There is no "magic" way. I suggest he firstly takes his existing work (or a copy of it - he does have backups?) and counts the number of chapters in it. Then open a new document using the sample file and go to the end of it. Press Ctrl 1 to insert a new Chapter heading and count. Select that line, and then /Insert Section, giving the new section a meaningful name, perhaps the Chapter title and if desired selecting a colour in the Section properties dialog.. To Exit the Section back to the unsectioned document, place cursor at last position of the section and press Alt Enter. Repeat this until there are sufficient Sections to hold the Chapters of the original document.

To find the last or the first position in a Section it is useful to have /View /Non printing characters turned on.

Then, on a Chapter by Chapter basis in the original document, select each chapter's text, Copy and Paste it into the appropriate Section of the new document. Ditto for the preliminary matter.

Once all this is done, any minor unpleasantnesses, such as Chapter titles etc can easily be sorted out.

[Hrodlandson]

I will return to this later - meetings and other things most of today (06 Sept 2024)

Praise the Lord!
Wonderful to learn you are still on this side of the grass. Your post way back then was just what I needed.
This forum is marvelous because of folks like you.
Thank you!