Tough go with transitioning to Flare

[sdcinvan]

Hello folks,

[UPDATE: I called Madcap's excellent support this morning and quickly had all my problems solved - thanks Laura!]
NOTE: If there are others [newbies?] that require clarification on any of the issues below, please PM or respond to this post - I am happy to pay it forward. I am getting a little smarter with Flare.


First time using Flare (but long-time FrameMaker and Word writer).

Here are some initial observations and challenges encountered. I completely understand that these issues will soon become trivial once I understand the software. What I am looking for are tips and where I can find information on how to resolve these issues. Flare doesn't seem as intuitive as I had thought it was... but I am starting with near zero knowledge.

I am starting with the Flare v9 "book" template...

Cover page
The Cover needs a company logo on the bottom justified left and the document version on the bottom justified right. I've tried but failed to place the logo and the text directly across from each other. I can place the left-side logo either above or below the two lines of text. It is not a simple matter of dragging the logo where I need it. What is the trick?

Solved! The trick is to use tables - the easiest way to mix text and graphics to ensure alignment

Footer
The footer is present on all pages except for the cover page.
I been unsuccessful in placing an image logo on left, document title in center, page numbering on right, and removal of the black footer line. How do I change this?
Solved! Use tables - the easiest way to mix text and graphics to ensure alignment

Preface
I have customized some of the styles, such as "h1". The style h1 is used for headers and it includes an underline. It is mostly used at the top of a page but in some cases, I wish to use this style more than once on a page. The problem is that when I use it, Flare is automatically placing the style on a new page. What do I need to change so that using "h1" does not force a new page?
Solved! CSS! - Edit the style class and change margin-top (under the box properties) to a much lower value - in my case, 1.25" down to 0.25"

Bullets
This is a puzzle to me.
When I use bullets, the text ALSO automatically changes to Ariel, bold, 12 pt. So it changed my original font type, size, and attributes. Why? Bullets should default to indenting text and adding a bullet symbol. This is odd behavior! How do I stop this behavior?

Another problem with bullets??
It I place a bullet list inside a table/cell, it becomes automatically indented. I do not want that! How do I prevent bullets from being indented? Clicking the <- button in the ribbon un-indents BUT also turns off the bullet.

Solved! CSS again! This time the ul style - margin-left under box properties

BTW, I do not have the luxury of taking a MadCap Flare course (at this time).

Thank you for your kind assistance.

[sdcinvan]

In regards to bullets

I guessed that I need to change the style of the bullet (li) to:
font = as is
size = as is
style = as is
etc.

But after I save the Bookstyles.css and test it on a bullet list, the font and size still change! Going back into the style settings for (li), I see that it is back to the default settings. What am I doing wrong?

Like I stated earlier, my default paragraph font is 10pt Calibri. If I select text to be a regular bullet list, the font changes to bold, Ariel, 12pt! Switching from xml view to text view, the code shows nothing more than li - /li. Checking the .css (Bookstyles.css) in advanced mode, all the attributes are set to "not set". In simplified view, the font preview looks large (but that may just be a default preview). In properties (F4), font is indeterminate (no selection), size is default (even though I had previously selected "as is"), and style is regular (ditto to prev. comment).

The conclusion... I have no idea why the bullets are changing to 12pt, Ariel, bold! Can anyone explain this?

[wclass]

Hello folks,

...
Preface
I have customized some of the styles, such as "h1". The style h1 is used for headers and it includes an underline. It is mostly used at the top of a page but in some cases, I wish to use this style more than once on a page. The problem is that when I use it, Flare is automatically placing the style on a new page. What do I need to change so that using "h1" does not force a new page?

Edit your stylesheet in the Stylesheet editor - select the h1 style you want to change and look for the "page-break-before" property. Depending on how you display the info in the stylesheet (I used Advanced - Show Property Groups), you should be able to find that property in the "Print Support" group.

[sdcinvan]

Hello folks,

...
Preface
I have customized some of the styles, such as "h1". The style h1 is used for headers and it includes an underline. It is mostly used at the top of a page but in some cases, I wish to use this style more than once on a page. The problem is that when I use it, Flare is automatically placing the style on a new page. What do I need to change so that using "h1" does not force a new page?

Edit your stylesheet in the Stylesheet editor - select the h1 style you want to change and look for the "page-break-before" property. Depending on how you display the info in the stylesheet (I used Advanced - Show Property Groups), you should be able to find that property in the "Print Support" group.

Thanks, I appreciate your assistance.

I changed the property to 'avoid' (and experimented with other settings). That sort of worked but instead of page breaks, I am now seeing huge gaps of 10 lines between each "h1" header.