Page layout with single and double columns?

[nickatwork]

Hi all,
Is it possible to a single and double column displaying on a page? I dont want to use tables. I want to use page layouts. I need the first few paragraphs in a standard single column layout, then the rest of the document needs to be in a 2 column layout.

Can it be done?

Thanks,
Nick

[RamonS]

Just throwing that out here, but could a snippet help?

[nickatwork]

I cant see how it would. This is a layout issue, unless you know something about snippets I dont?

[RamonS]

Probably not...was just a thought.

[nickatwork]

lol - dammit, had my hopes going then.

[lacastle]

All you would have to do in your page layout is make 3 body sections: the first would be the full width of your page (1 column) and the two under it would be half width each to make 2 columns. (i use a page layout like this all the time.) it's kind of hard to control how much information (body text) goes in the first section, but you may be able to manipulate the size of the section to make only the first paragraph fit.

[nickatwork]

Yeah now thats what I was thinking. But the content is always going to be changing its size, and I am unsure how to 'assign' a paragraph or block of text to sit within a specific area of a page layout. Can it be done, or is it a guessing game thing?

[lacastle]

I am unsure how to 'assign' a paragraph or block of text to sit within a specific area of a page layout.

I don't think it can be done, but you can submit a feature request! - https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[jay6678]

Make two types of page layouts - they would be identical in every way, except one would be 2 columns the other would be one column. In your print TOC, right click on the topic you want to have 2 columns, select Properties>Printed Output, assign the 2 column page layout here by making a chapter break (it's not really a chapter break per se, but it tells Flare to start using a new page layout). Then when you want it to proceed into the single column format again, just assign the single column page layout to a topic that will resume single column formatting. I do this all of the time because I'll have some topics that I want to fit only on one page, so I make them 2 columns instead of 1 like the rest of my book. So I have a few areas in my document that just list these items in 2 column formatting. Each item is it's own topic in my project. I take the first item and assign it the 2 column format and then each proceeding item "adopts" the format based on my TOC settings, making them all 2 column too. When I'm ready to switch back to one column, I do by opening the Properties for that topic in my TOC and giving it the 1 column page layout. I think this the same thing you are trying to accomplish.

[LTinker68]

Yeah now thats what I was thinking. But the content is always going to be changing its size, and I am unsure how to 'assign' a paragraph or block of text to sit within a specific area of a page layout. Can it be done, or is it a guessing game thing?

Sort of. You can create a generic class called .changeColumn or something like that and set its column-break-after or column-break-before, whichever you prefer, to "always", then apply that generic class to the appropriate content block to force movement to the next column. So you have some control over when content moves to the next column, however, the order of the columns will be determined by the flow in the page layout. You can't specify that content block 1 goes into column 3, for example, while content block 2 goes into column 2 -- you'd have to write content block 1 first for column 1, then content block 2 for column 2, then content block 3 for column 3, although you could have a blank line in one of those content blocks if you wanted its corresponding column to be blank.

One other thing... Last time I played with page layouts and Word output, Word complained about the multiple body frames in a page layout. I haven't tested that in v7 to see if that's changed, but I'm betting it hasn't. So if you're intending to produce Word output, then you have to make sure you only use one body frame to contain the columns.

[lacastle]

Make two types of page layouts - they would be identical in every way, except one would be 2 columns the other would be one column. In your print TOC, right click on the topic you want to have 2 columns, select Properties>Printed Output, assign the 2 column page layout here by making a chapter break (it's not really a chapter break per se, but it tells Flare to start using a new page layout). Then when you want it to proceed into the single column format again, just assign the single column page layout to a topic that will resume single column formatting. I do this all of the time because I'll have some topics that I want to fit only on one page, so I make them 2 columns instead of 1 like the rest of my book. So I have a few areas in my document that just list these items in 2 column formatting. Each item is it's own topic in my project. I take the first item and assign it the 2 column format and then each proceeding item "adopts" the format based on my TOC settings, making them all 2 column too. When I'm ready to switch back to one column, I do by opening the Properties for that topic in my TOC and giving it the 1 column page layout. I think this the same thing you are trying to accomplish.

Does this only work if your 1-column page takes up a whole page? I don't think a 2-column page layout can start in the middle of a previous page or wherever the 1-column page layout left off.

[nickatwork]

Make two types of page layouts - they would be identical in every way, except one would be 2 columns the other would be one column. In your print TOC, right click on the topic you want to have 2 columns, select Properties>Printed Output, assign the 2 column page layout here by making a chapter break (it's not really a chapter break per se, but it tells Flare to start using a new page layout). Then when you want it to proceed into the single column format again, just assign the single column page layout to a topic that will resume single column formatting. I do this all of the time because I'll have some topics that I want to fit only on one page, so I make them 2 columns instead of 1 like the rest of my book. So I have a few areas in my document that just list these items in 2 column formatting. Each item is it's own topic in my project. I take the first item and assign it the 2 column format and then each proceeding item "adopts" the format based on my TOC settings, making them all 2 column too. When I'm ready to switch back to one column, I do by opening the Properties for that topic in my TOC and giving it the 1 column page layout. I think this the same thing you are trying to accomplish.

Dont think I can do it this way. Each document is a single topic in Flare. I have had to do this because there are around 70, and I didnt want to create a Target for each one, so I have instead create a target that splits the Topics into a PDF each, there by meaning I only need around 10 targets.

I will look into it, as well as the style suggestion.

I just need one paragraph that spans the width of the page then all other content to be in a 2 column layout. Not a deal breaker, but a definite nice to have.

[cjeannette]

Hi Nick,

Did you ever get this problem figured out? I need to do almost exactly what you describe but did not find the responses to your question very helpful.

I need a chapter first page with top content block that is full page-width for some intro material, and the rest of the page below it in 3-column format. The following pages should be in 3-column format with no top full-page block.

Did you figure out how to do this?

Thanks,
Cathy Jeannete

[nickatwork]

Hi Cathy,
Unfortunately not. I ended up using a double column layou for the entire page. I think tables are your best bet.
I'm not sure if MadCap made any headway with this one in recent releases. I haven't checked.

Good luck !
Nick.

[cjeannette]

Thanks. Did you submit an enhancement request?

[nickatwork]

Dont believe I did.

[i-tietz]

Have a look at this thread: http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... it=+margin

[GinnyR]

You might be able to put the introductory, single-column paragraphs in a floating div. Specify the div width as the entire page width. If needed, you can set the first 2-column paragraph to "clear: left" so it will appear below the div, not beside it. I use this approch on my printed Index page, so the Index heading spans across the 2 columns.

[owenf]

i think madcap is thinking about introducing CSS3 and there was a thread asking what bits of it we'd like to see supported. I think CSS3 has better print support, and i also think it has columns...
owen

[RamonS]

The we'd only need browsers that consistently interpret CSS3 correctly....

[i-tietz]

... not only we need those browsers, but our users, too ...