Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

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cmastr22
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Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by cmastr22 »

Just trying to reduce my amount of work. I can create a 2 column page layout from scratch, but I thought if someone already HAD one and was willing to share, I'd be very grateful. :D
cmastr22
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by cmastr22 »

Here's what the document looks like now. It's in Word and we want to convert it to Flare.
cmastr22
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by cmastr22 »

Well, shoot.
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doc_guy
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by doc_guy »

Take the 1 column one you are currently using for body text, right click on it, and set it to two columns.

It seems that adjusting my layout to match the other pages already in your layout would be a lot harder than converting your existing single column layouts to accommodate 2 columns. Or did I misunderstand?
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wclass
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by wclass »

Are you having trouble generating a Word output document with 2 columns? There is still a bug in Flare where it can't create multiple columns (the page layouts work fine in PDF if that is suitable for your output).
If you need this in Word I suggest you add to the bug reports: https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback/bugs.aspx
Margaret Hassall - Melbourne
cmastr22
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by cmastr22 »

I don't currently have a 2 column page layout. I'm asking if anyone has a 2 column page layout that they could share with me. I currently have numerous 1 column page layouts, but can't figure out how to make it a 2 column.
wclass
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by wclass »

If you create a test project using the Sample or Book templates then there is a page layout for the Index in there that you could use as a base - it has multiple columns etc. Prefer not to send anything with our corporate logos, etc, and also, the Index example includes left and right pages so it is more complete than anything I have.

To set a page layout with 2 columns:
In the page layout, there are 2 options in the right-click menu - "Properties" and "Page Properties". The first is for the frame properties and will let you change the columns, the second the page size and orientation, among other things. You can also get to the Properties by double-clicking the body frame, and you can get Page Props by double-clicking in an area in the layout that is the page margin.
Hope this helps.
Margaret Hassall - Melbourne
cmastr22
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by cmastr22 »

Thank you! I ended up modifying one of our existing one column layouts to a 2 column. Not as hard as I thought.
dalogan
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by dalogan »

What about two or even three columns for online help. Not using a table. When you use a table project wants to use the table.css. I want to do HTML5 output with multiple columns using my regular stylesheet.
LTinker68
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by LTinker68 »

dalogan wrote:When you use a table project wants to use the table.css.
Only if you tell it to use that table stylesheet.
dalogan wrote:I want to do HTML5 output with multiple columns using my regular stylesheet.
When you insert the table, just don't point it to any of the table stylesheets. It will then use the table-related tags in the topic stylesheet.
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jbananak
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by jbananak »

HI
I can create 2 body frames in a page layout document. But the text flows automatically from column to column. (And the h1 has the number in the first column and the text in the 2nd column.)
I need to know how to create a document in which there are 2 columns (of different widths), where from page to page, the text flows in the same column, and does not flow into the other column.
Would love some help please.
Thanks
Joanna
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by robdocsmith »

Hi Joanna,

It depends what you are trying to achieve. You can't maintain two separate body flows of text but you can simulate the effect in various ways. Here's a few off the top of my head:

- You can create two text frames on a page template and have only one of them as a body frame. This will allow text to flow only in that body frame from page to page. The other frame would have to be a decoration frame containing static text.
- You can create two column layouts on your page either using separate body frames for unequal columns or right clicking a body frame and specifying it has x number of columns for equal columns.
- If you want headings to be in a separate 'column' from the body text, You can create a 'two column effect' by using margin or padding space in styles to offset body text from headings.
- You could use a two column layout and liberal use of column breaks in your page content (or better, in a style definition) to control where text falls on a page.

Cheers,
Rob
jbananak
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by jbananak »

HI Rob
When you say "static text" you mean that the same will appear on all pages?
robdocsmith
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by robdocsmith »

Yes, anything that is defined in a decoration frame in a page layout such as images or text will appear on all pages that use that layout. So if you've a decoration frame on a Left page layout, the contents of the frame will appear on all Left pages in the document. I use decoration frames for things like a company logo or a coloured bar at the start of each chapter.

Rob
vpierce27
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by vpierce27 »

So, I'd also like to create a two column layout where each column has unique content (no over-flow on a page) that each carry from page two page. After reading the above comments, I know that having two body text boxes won't work and I know that a decoration text box won't work. So question from a super novice: am I limited to the types of text boxes available now? I see Header, Footer, Body, and Decoration.
robdocsmith
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Re: Does anyone have a 2 column page layout to share?

Post by robdocsmith »

Hi,

Yes, there are just five types of Frame you can use:
Body, Header, Footer, Decoration, Image

Decoration and Image frames are unsupported in Word or Framemaker output.
Each page layout can contain just one Header or Footer frame, but you can have many Body frames.

The only way I can see to have two separate flows is a very tall two column table with content 1 in cell 1 and content 2 in cell 2. I've never tried this though and I imagine it could create layout issues. I'm not sure if you could independently force paragraphs to start at the top of the next page for instance.
Or perhaps instead of a table, have a two column page layout and create styles that force various bits of text to either start at the next column or to start on the next page depending on whether it needs to go in column 1 or column 2:

Code: Select all

h1.col1 {
   page-break-before: always;
}
h1.col2 {
   column-break-before: always;
}
You'd have to make sure the text that followed each column wasn't longer than the page height otherwise it would throw out all the pagination.

Rob
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