Columns in middle of chapter

[Charles Beck]

Very nice solution, Dan! A bit of work to set up, but sounds like the
results would be very impressive. 

Just out of curiosity, do you know if doing this with tables would be a
viable option? 

Chuck  

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+charles.beck=infor.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+charles.beck=infor.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Daniel Emory
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 1:05 AM
To: Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D.
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Columns in middle of chapter

--- "Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D." <lisa at balbes.com> wrote:
> My client wants one section of a particular chapter to be in columns, 
> instead of the full page width
text of the rest of the chapter.  This 
> section will extend over several pages, and will probably have things 
> added and deleted as we
continue editing the document.  They want the 
> columns to flow like a newspaper - filling both columns on one page 
> before moving on to the next.
============================================
There is a viable way to do this in FrameMaker. 

First, your Left and Right master pages must both be converted from a
single-column page layout to a 2-column layout.

Second, to make it work, you must have two sets of paragraph formats
which at differ in a single setting within the Pagination pane of the
Paragraph Designer,
namely:

1. the paragraph formats for the ordinary single-column content are all
set to "Across All Columns":, 

2. The paragraph formats for the 2-column content are set to " In
Column".

Take note also that you'll need to define 1- and 2-column paragraph
formats for graphic and table anchors if the 2-column text contains
graphics or tables. 

With this setup: 

Each time you switch from a 1-column paragraph style to a 2- column
paragraph style, lines of 2-column text are produced. Then, switching
back to a 1-column paragraph style will cause the lines of 2-column text
above it to be balanced out within the two columns, and the text below
will resume the 1-column layout 

You can switch back and forth between 1- and 2-column text multiple
times within a single page, thus you can begin and end the 2-column text
anywhere within the same page, or you can start the 2-column text
anywhere on a beginning page, and end the 2-column text anywhere on a
succeeding page.

This solution works best when:

A. Single-column text appears at the top of a page, and either fills the
page or is followed by 2-column text which fills the rest of the page,
or

B. The 2-column text appears at the top of a page, and either fills the
page, or is followed by 1-column text which fills the rest of the page.

If, as you state, there are likely to be subsequent edits which cause
both the 1-column text and the 2-column text to shrink or grow in size,
you may find it necessary to manually force page breaks more often that
usual in order to keep the 2-column text coherent. This, however, should
not be much of a problem if all the 2-column text is in one solid,
multi-page block that is preceded and/or followed by solid blocks of
single-column text. 



Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
<danemory7224 at sbcglobal.net>
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