MadCap|variable vertical alignment

[Bonnie Kern]

I am using two variables in a page layout header. The variables are in a table, with Heading.Level1 in the left cell and System.ChapterNumber in the right cell.

The vertical alignment differs for the System.ChapterNumber variable.

I have attempted to match the vertical alignment of both variables in the table by changing several settings on System.ChapterNumber, as it needs to be closer to the bottom of the table (padding bottom, block vertical align, box margin bottom, and box padding bottom), but have not yet found the solution.

How do I align them both vertically?

[LTinker68]

Assuming that you double-checked that you didn't inadvertently put one of the variables inside another tag (like a <p> tag) that's controlling placement, then my guess is that Flare must be automatically putting that variable inside a DIV or something. Unfortunately, some of those things you can't see until you build a WebHelp output and can look at the source code. You might want to insert that variable in a test page and build WebHelp output so you can see what type of container tag is around it, then create a custom selector in the main topic stylesheet to override what's happening.

Or you could try setting its bottom margin to a negative number. That might work, but it also might screw up the border, but you could try it.

[NorthEast]

Looking at that, it may be that the number and text are vertically aligned.

The font size of the chapter number is much larger than the text, so proportionately it will have a larger gap below it. They may actually both be on the same vertical baseline.

For a test, if you increase the font size of the text on the left to match the number; do they look aligned then?


Anyway, to make them appear aligned, you may have to tweak the the chapter number's margin/padding or line-height until it looks right (as LTinker suggests).

[Bonnie Kern]

Thanks for great troubleshooting tips. The difference is in the size of the fonts applied.

Flare 6 does not accept a negative number on the padding (anymore?), so an alternative is to raise up the text, which works. However, this approach presents too much spacing from the line up to the text, and an option to raise the line in the table or page layout frame does not seem to exist.

Is there another way to bring the text and line closer together?

[LTinker68]

Flare 6 does not accept a negative number on the padding (anymore?)

I'm not sure you can do negative padding in CSS, but you can do negative margins, but I just remembered you're in a table, so I don't think you can go beyond the cell walls of the table. Or maybe you can. Dave mentioned the line height -- try setting that to the same size as the font. So if the font size is 18pt set the line height to 18pt.

[Bonnie Kern]

Thanks. First the question, and then the problems...

Question: What is the best method for getting a Heading 1 and auto chapter number on the page: In the page layout or in the topic itself?

Problem 1: In Page Layout - Table containing Heading 1 in left cell and system variable chapter # in right cell - Setting the line height of Heading 1 equal to the height of the chapter number causes the vertical line spacing in a 2-line chapter header to be separated by the height specified. (However, single-line heading looks fine, but problem 3 occurs.)

Problem 2: In Topic - Heading 1 height is set to that of the chapter number - This setting presents the same vertical spacing problem as in Problem 1.

Problem 3: If Heading 1 is used only in the page layout, it does not appear in the topic itself. How do I cause the Heading and chapter number to appear in the topic if I am using the page layout?

So I still need your expertise...please, and thank you.