GeoPublish Tutorial Part 5 - Page Layout Mode

In this column we are going to start to 'pour' our geoWrite files into columns in our geoPublish document. To start with, however, we have to make a correction to the manual.

On Pages 3-10 and 3-11 of the geoPublish Manual we are introduced to the Page Layout Toolbox as part of the Tutorial chapter. Two of the tools are mislabelled.

On Page 3-10 the tool identified as the "Delete Region Tool" is actually the "Clear Region Tool". On Page 3-11 the tool identified as the "Clear Region Tool" is actually the "Delete Region Tool". I think you can see how this would be an important difference to know.

Start up geoPublish and OPEN the TutorialPart1 file that we created last time. Select the Mode Menu and then Page Layout mode (C= L). This mode is where we create Regions to pour our text into. We need to do a little preparation before making our regions though.

Gutterball

Remember how I said that I didn't like the Sample Master Pages that come with geoPublish because of the column sizing and use of Gutters? We're going to learn about gutters now.

If you have ever gone bowling you know what a gutter is. It is the trough down the sides of the lane where the ball goes if you don't throw it straight. The gutters stop your ball from encroaching on the lane beside you. In geoPublish a Gutter does the same thing - it prevents text from one column from running into text in the column beside it.

One nice thing about geoPublish is that we can set the gutters for each individual text region. We will take advantage of this later on. For now we want to check the Default Gutter values that will be used for each and every Region that we create.

Select the 'options' menu in Page Layout Mode and then choose the 'set gutters' option. When the dialog box appears you will see that the default value is 5 for the left, right, top and bottom gutters. Remember that our screen resolution in GEOS is 80 Dots Per Inch (DPI) in the horizontal direction and 72 DPI in the vertical direction. We are going to have two columns beside each other. So, with a gutter value of 5 for the right gutter of the column on the left side of the page and a gutter value of 5 for the left gutter of the column on the right side of the page (draw a picture if you have to, I won't start with screenshots for a while yet) you can see that we will have 10 points between our left and right column text. At 80 DPI this means we have 1/8th of an inch between our columns of text, which isn't a lot.

Generally, I like to set the default left and right gutter values at 10. This gives a total of 20 points (or 1/4 of an inch) between the text columns. The largest gutters we can create are 1 inch meaning a value of 80 for the left and right gutters and a value of 72 for the top and bottom gutters. We will do more gutter manipulation throughout this project. For now we will leave the default values alone so just press the OK button.

Our Master Page was laid out so we have choices of single column pages, 2-column pages or three column pages. We will start by using a 2-column layout for the first article. Since this is the first page for a new article we will also need to define a large title region.

In the options menu turn on SNAP. Select the 'Open Region Tool' [gP Page 3-11] and move your pointer onto the Page Work Area [gP Page 3-5] where it will take the shape of a crosshair. Move to the top left hand corner of the page and your crosshair should SNAP to the guideline junction. We want to create a region across the page from the 1" guideline to the 8" guideline and down the page from the 1/2" guideline to the 1 1/2" guideline. Click your mouse button to set the start point and then move your mouse over to the lower right corner of this area. Your crosshair should SNAP into place so just click your button to set the region. If you place the region incorrectly select the Pointer tool, click anywhere within the new region and then use the Move and Size buttons to fix the placement of the region.

We will now create two regions to hold our article. These will go from the 1 1/2" guideline down to the 10 1/4" guideline and will use the center guideline as the divider. Make sure the Open Region Tool is selected and position your crosshair at the 1" and 1 1/2" junction, click your button and then drag the region to the 4 1/2" and 10 1/4" junction and click your button. Place your crosshair at the 4 1/2" and 1 1/2" junction and click to set the top corner for the right column region. Drag this region down to the 8" and 10 1/4" junction and click to create our second region. We are now ready to import our geoWrite file.

There are two different methods to import the geoWrite file. Click the 'Text Placement Tool' [gP Page 3-11], locate the 'geoPub1' file in the file list box and then click the OPEN button. You will be returned to Page Layout Mode with a Pointer. Move the Pointer to the region where you want your text to be imported (the right column in this case) and click your mouse button. The text region will fill with a bunch of dashed lines.

The dashed lines indicate that a geoWrite file has been imported to this region but is not available to be worked on yet. To ripple the text and complete the import phase press the 'SHOW' button in the Layout Toolbox [gP Page 3-10]. The region will now fill with solid lines.

Once the text has been rippled you can enter Editor mode and work on the text file (we'll get to this later). You can also change pages in your geoPublish document after the text is rippled. If you try to change pages before the text is rippled geoPublish will automatically ripple the text.

So we have imported our file into the right column on our page. Ooops! We actually want to start the file in the left column. Make sure that the Pointer tool is selected and click on the right column which should be full of solid lines. The Move and Size buttons will appear to indicate the region is active. Now click on the Clear Region Tool so we can fix our mistake. The ripple lines will disappear. Click on the shaded left side of the geoPublish screen to deselect the region, click the Show button and then click on the left column region.

With the left column selected click on the Text Placement Tool and choose our geoPub1 file again. When you click the OPEN button this time the text is automatically placed into the selected left region. Click the Show button to Ripple the text.

So now you have seen the two methods to import a geoWrite file. The first method is the one I prefer to use since, after selecting the text file, you can then select multiple regions to place the file into. To see how this works Clear the left region where our file is rippled (highlight the region, use the Clear Region Tool and then deselect the region by clicking your button on the grey shaded area on the left side of the geoPublish screen).

Now select the Text Placement Tool and choose our geoPub1 file again. After you press OPEN you will be back at the Page Layout Mode so move your pointer into the left column region and press your mouse button. The region will fill with dashed lines. Now move your mouse into the right region and click your button again. This region will also fill with dashed lines. When you press the SHOW button both columns will be rippled.

When you import geoWrite files you may get a surprise sometimes. If your regions are not level (you didn't use Guidelines and one is closer to the top of the page) the geoWrite file will begin in the region closer to the top of the page no matter which region you pour the text into first.

After rippling our text the solid lines not only show that the text is ready to be worked on but give an indication of the amount of space taken up in our regions. Both columns that we filled have dashed lines going all the way to the bottom of the regions. Since we previously printed off our geoWrite files we knew that this file was going to require more than one full page. To import the rest of the file we need to create another page in our geoPublish file.

Go to the options menu and select next page. A dialog box will pop up saying the program can't go to the given page and asking if you want to create the next page. Click on the OK button. The screen will be redrawn and you will see by the info in the Document ID Box [gP Page 3-5] that we are now on Page 2 of our file. Since this is a new page it has no regions defined. You should also notice that this page is based on our Left Master Page.

Since this is Page 2 for our file we don't need to create the large title region. We will create a space for our titles in another manner. I have also formatted the text file already so it will print in Full Justification mode so you can see the difference from the previous page.

We will now create our text regions. Select the Open Region Tool, place your crosshair at the 1/2" and 1/2" junction in the top left corner and click your mouse button. We are still going to use 2 columns so drag the region box down to the 4" and 10 1/4" junction. Click your button to set the region and then create the second region from the 1/2" and 4" junction to the 7 1/2" and 10 1/4 " junction.

We should now have two regions created. Select the Text Placement Tool and again choose our geoPub1 file in the list box. After pressing the Open button click your mouse button in first the left and then the right regions to create the dashed lines. Complete the text import by pressing the Show button.

Once the text is rippled you should see that the left column is completely filled and the right column does not have a lot of space used up. This is OK and we will fill that space later.

Now, we need to make room for our Article Title. With the Pointer Tool selected click on the left column, select the options menu and then choose 'set gutters'. The box is different than before. There is a Default button. This can be used to return a regions' gutters to the default values in effect when that region was created. Since we haven't made any changes yet what you see are the default values for this region.

In our third article in this series we defined our font usage. We said we would use a 30 Point size for the main article title and then a 24 point size for titles on subsequent pages. We will need to leave enough room for our 24 point text plus some extra space between it and the article so we can underline the title or put a box around it. Press the Return button twice to get the cursor into the Top Gutter Value field. Press the Delete key and then enter a value of 36 for our top gutter. Press Return and then press the OK button.

Our text has gone back to un-rippled as we have made some changes to the region. We could ripple the text again but the best thing is to wait and ripple both columns at the same time. Click the right column, go to the options menu and choose set gutters. Again, press the return key twice, delete the value of 5 and enter a value of 36, press Return and then click OK.

Click anywhere on the grey shaded area on the left of the geoPublish page to deselect the right column and then press the Show button to ripple the text.

When the text is rippled you will see that the solid lines still go all the way to the top of the regions but that the right column looks a little fuller than it previously did. We are going to leave the rest of this page empty as a playground for Page Graphics Mode but we want to even out the text columns to give our page a more balanced look.

With the Pointer tool selected click on the left text region. Grab the Size button in the lower right corner of the region and move the bottom of the region up to the 6 1/2" mark on the page. Click your button to set the region and then ripple the text with the Show button. I used the Zoom view in Page Graphics Mode to make sure the columns were lined up after adjusting the region.

At this point we are done with our first article as far as setting the regions and importing the text. We will come back to these 2 pages later on as we work with Page Graphics Mode.

Next time we will look at Document Conversion methods in case you aren't a fan of GeoWrite.

Until then, enGEOy your Commodore!

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