More than one section title page in one page layout?

[tempestdancer]

I think I know the answer (as in "can't be done"), but wanted to see if anyone has solved a problem like this.

We are working on a PDF Guide that will be a companion to 2 different classes taught on one day (morning and afternoon sessions) by different instructors. I have one page layout already for the Cover page, but then each of the 2 classes and then an appendix will have their own title pages (which I am calling section titles). The graphic is different for each of the section titles. I've crashed Flare twice now trying to insert the graphic into the topic and then attempting to do the off-page bleed. Is there an easier way to specify different graphics for each of the section titles?

Here are the options I'm considering:
1) Page layout for Cover, 1 for each of the section titles, and 1 for the actual guide pages (5 page layouts)
2) Page layout for Cover, and a page layout for each of the sections (4 layouts, plus ability to be sure that the [System.Title] variable will display the guide title correctly)

Anyone have an easier way of doing this that has worked for them in the past?
Thanks!

[alex]

I think I know the answer (as in "can't be done"), but wanted to see if anyone has solved a problem like this.

We are working on a PDF Guide that will be a companion to 2 different classes taught on one day (morning and afternoon sessions) by different instructors. I have one page layout already for the Cover page, but then each of the 2 classes and then an appendix will have their own title pages (which I am calling section titles). The graphic is different for each of the section titles. I've crashed Flare twice now trying to insert the graphic into the topic and then attempting to do the off-page bleed. Is there an easier way to specify different graphics for each of the section titles?

Here are the options I'm considering:
1) Page layout for Cover, 1 for each of the section titles, and 1 for the actual guide pages (5 page layouts)
2) Page layout for Cover, and a page layout for each of the sections (4 layouts, plus ability to be sure that the [System.Title] variable will display the guide title correctly)

Anyone have an easier way of doing this that has worked for them in the past?
Thanks!

It's entirely possible I'm misreading your post, but I do think you can do what you need to do

Have you tried using conditional tags on the images (and text, or on snippets containing them)?
Or just creating an .htm page for each of the sections with the appropriate graphics on that page instead of trying to put the graphics in the page layouts?

Also, you may be able to get away with not having so many page layouts. I have a Cover page layout and a Chapter page layout which includes a "Chapter Preview" First page and then Normal pages that automatically apply to the rest of the pages in each chapter. I also have an Index page layout, which I use sometimes. So that's 3 page layouts (and I could probably cut that down to even fewer, but I'm happy with my setup).

When you right-click a "Section" page in your TOC and go to the Properties tab, set the Break Type to Chapter Break, select the Page Layout, and then select "First" as the Page Type. As long as you don't specify any other page layouts on the pages within that section in your TOC, the Normal pages (or Left and Right, or whatever Page Types you set up - you can tweak those settings in the Chapter/Page Layout Break section, too) are then applied to the rest of those pages. Repeat this for each "Section" page in your TOC. Apply the Appendix page layout to the Appendix page, and you should be set.

[tempestdancer]

I did discover the Chapter Break option late yesterday, but haven't tried it yet. I thought about conditional text, but couldn't figure out how to make that work. When I tried inserting the graphic into a topic and then fixing it so it would bleed as designed, Flare crashed. After the 2nd time, I just moved on to something else.

Now I'm trying to figure out why the images (except for the first one, a header logo on the cover page) won't appear in the PDF output, though they are specified in the page layouts.

Edited: The images appeared in the PDF output after accidentally changing one of the TOC item properties to Chapter Break. Just wanted to share that in case anyone else had trouble and lands on this later. Random, but it worked in this case.

[jasonsmith]

You could think about Setting up multiple page layouts and using a Page Layout break within the TOC to define the relevant layout at the relevnat place. Page Layout 1: StandardContent; 3 pages, page types Title, Left, & Right. Page Layout 2: Section Title 1; page type Title. Page Layout 3: Section Title 2; page type Title. Page Layout 4: Appendix; page type Title
Alternatively you could try and cram everything into a single page laout file by using the page types Title = Cover, First page = Section Title 1, First Left or First Right page = Section Title 2, Normal page = Appendix Title, Left and Right pages = Content

I would use the first Option if I were you, or think about simplifying my layout...