Five long months ago, Alex Zachopoulos [mailto:[email protected]] replied to Joe-somebody: > Hi Joe! and thanks for the very intuitive post! > > I think your comment expresses my conclusions with OOo Writer sections > precisely. > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Joe Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On 08/26/2009 06:15 AM, Alex Zachopoulos wrote: > > > >> I have this Write file which I am putting together, and I > would like to > >> keep > >> it organized with Sections, so that I can apply different > settings to each > >> section, such as page borders, headers& footers etc. > >> ... > >> > >> > >> I am trying to figure out how I can manage my sections so > I actually > >> understand what I'm doing, but I find the documentation in the Help > >> section > >> sadly lacking. Any tips? > >> > > > > The first key to understanding OOo Writer's "sections" is > that the term > > "section", as used in Writer, is somewhat misleading: a > Writer section has > > almost nothing to do with a section of a document, as I am > familiar with the > > term. > > > > From what I read, Writer's "section" is also different than > sections in MS > > Word, and that seems to confuse a lot of people coming from Word. > > > > A "section" in Writer is really just an arbitrary chunk of document > > content, some paragraphs that are grouped together for some reason. > > > > You don't need Writer's sections at all for most documents: > They are not > > needed for configuring the logical structure of a document, > and they do not > > participate in page layout at all. One (paper) page could > comprise a hundred > > Writer sections, or none; one Writer section could stretch > over many pages, > > even crossing major document divisions ('chapters' or whatever). > > > > What most people think of as the sections of a > document--the "logical" > > sections--do not exist as a structural element in a Writer document. > > Instead, logical sections exist only as indicated by the > document layout and > > formatting--primarily, numbered headings. The headings are merely > > paragraphs: they do not structurally "include" or "contain" > the text that > > logically belongs to them. And, since the logical section is not a > > structural element, there's no way to apply any format to a > logical section > > of a document. > > > > Page layout and formatting is done through page styles, > which are also > > attached to paragraphs, usually through specific paragraph > styles. E.g., a > > specific paragraph style is applied to the chapter headings > and that heading > > paragraph style also specifies that a "first page of > chapter" page style > > should take effect for that page. > > > > The document creator is responsible for coordinating the > document headings > > with applying and changing the page styles as appropriate > to provide the > > layout and formatting of the document's logical sections, > and Writer's > > "section" element is not normally involved. > > > > Maybe this will give you some perspective as you read > through the Writer > > Guide. > > > > <Joe
This is old (last August...) but I found it useful as far as it went, when it appeared just this week. I wonder where it's been for five months... :-) But having covered what Sections are NOT useful for, the explanation didn't get to what they ARE useful for. I have parallel problems with numbered list styles. To make a numbered list (like a set of instruction steps), you don't actually use List 1, List 1 Cont, List 1 End, etc. nor Numbering 1, Numbering 1 Cont, Numbering 1 End, etc. Instead you just format a paragraph how you'd like it and click the "Numbering On/Off" icon. Just as OOo Writer's "sections" are confusing to somebody who came from a Word background - or a FrameMaker or WordPerfect background - similarly the use of "Numbering 1", etc., and the "List 1", etc. styles is equally confusing for somebody coming from those backgrounds. I used styles like those all the time in FrameMaker, and that was because they did something both useful and necessary... and it was obvious that they were working. The same was not true when I tried using the "List" and "Numbering" styles in OOo Writer. That is, they don't do anything that you'd expect them to do, and whatever they actually do is something that you ignore/work-around, because you had to start out working around them, and now you've got too much time (and sets of documents) invested in your workaround to bother doing it the "right" way. Whatever that is. Someday, I'll go looking for a modern explanation of why I should be using those sets of styles in 300-page customer-facing documents. Some day. - Kevin (who holds his nose every time he's forced to apply "local" formatting in Writer) The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
