Intro to OpenOffice.org Styles
- Introduction and Getting Started
- Paragraph Styles
- Working with Paragraph Styles
- Working with Page Styles
- Finishing Up
Working with Page Styles
Those coming from a Microsoft Word background may find this section pretty interesting, as Word handles page formatting across the whole document while OpenOffice.org Writer handles Page formatting only across the page style (not the whole document). This is also the reason why many people moving from Microsoft Word to Writer have a slight difficulty in adjusting the page margins using Writer as the "Property Sheet" for this function is located differently in these two programs. In Word it is located at File -> Page Setup -> Margins and in Writer it is either in Format -> Page -> Page or by Modifying the Properties of the relevant Page Style.
Assigning Page Styles
You can assign page styles in a few different ways. First you can simply right-click the status bar where it indicates which Page Style is in use for the current page. Alternatively you can locate the Page Style you want in the Stylist and double click it to activate it for the current page.
Changing the Page Style using the Status Bar
So, go ahead and change the page with the Title, Subtitle and Table of Contents to be a "First Page", keep the rest of the pages as "Default".
Modifying Page Styles
You can modify Page Styles in the same way you modify Paragraph Styles, simply right-click the style you want, then select modify
Modifying the Default Page Style
Go ahead and open the Property Sheet for the "Default" Page Style. As you can see, the Organizer tab is very similar to the same tab when modifying Paragraph Styles. The important difference however is applying the correct "Next Style" for how you want for your document layout. For small documents setting the next style to be "Default" is a sensible solution. For larger documents you may want a separate Title Page and Index Page or maybe a separate "Left Page", then a "Right Page" for duplexing.
Page Style Dialog Box
Probably the most changed settings in reguards to Page Styles occur on the "Page" tab. Here you can specify the paper size, the orientation and the margins. You can also adjust some advanced settings under the "Layout Setting" section such as page layout and numbering styles.
Adjusting the Page Format for the Default Style
Adding a Header or Footer
Adding a header/footer using Writer is tied to the Page Style Function. This means that you can have different headers depending upon the page style layout you are using. For instance, if you wanted you can create a Left Page style and a Right Page style and have different headers on each page. Also, when you add a header, all of the pages that are specified with the same page style will utilize the same header or footer.
Adding a Footer to the Default Page Style
Lets add a footer to our document, first open the "Default" page style properties. Go to the "Footer" tab. Simply check the "Footer On" checkbox and hit OK. You will see that all of the pages that are styled as "Default" should now have a footer.
Adding to the Contents of the Footer
Now to add text in the footer simply put the Insertion cursor within the header, now you can either type, or add Fields to your footer. Go ahead and Insert the Title Metadata field that we created, Insert -> Fields -> Title. Now add the page number by hitting Tab until the cursor is located along the right side, type in Page then Insert -> Fields -> Page Number.
Adding a Footer Separtator
Once that is done, you may notice that there really isn't anything separating the actual document text from the footer, to add a line, simply re-open the "Default" Page Style properties, then go to the borders tab. Select a .5pt border then add it along the top. Now you should have a nice line break before the Footer.
