On 08/26/2009 06:15 AM, Alex Zachopoulos wrote:
I have this Write file which I am putting together, and I would like to keep
it organized with Sections, so that I can apply different settings to each
section, such as page borders, headers& footers etc.
...
I am trying to figure out how I can manage my sections so I actually
understand what I'm doing, but I find the documentation in the Help section
sadly lacking. Any tips?
The first key to understanding OOo Writer's "sections" is that the term
"section", as used in Writer, is somewhat misleading: a Writer section
has almost nothing to do with a section of a document, as I am familiar
with the term.
From what I read, Writer's "section" is also different than sections in
MS Word, and that seems to confuse a lot of people coming from Word.
A "section" in Writer is really just an arbitrary chunk of document
content, some paragraphs that are grouped together for some reason.
You don't need Writer's sections at all for most documents: They are not
needed for configuring the logical structure of a document, and they do
not participate in page layout at all. One (paper) page could comprise a
hundred Writer sections, or none; one Writer section could stretch over
many pages, even crossing major document divisions ('chapters' or whatever).
What most people think of as the sections of a document--the "logical"
sections--do not exist as a structural element in a Writer document.
Instead, logical sections exist only as indicated by the document layout
and formatting--primarily, numbered headings. The headings are merely
paragraphs: they do not structurally "include" or "contain" the text
that logically belongs to them. And, since the logical section is not a
structural element, there's no way to apply any format to a logical
section of a document.
Page layout and formatting is done through page styles, which are also
attached to paragraphs, usually through specific paragraph styles. E.g.,
a specific paragraph style is applied to the chapter headings and that
heading paragraph style also specifies that a "first page of chapter"
page style should take effect for that page.
The document creator is responsible for coordinating the document
headings with applying and changing the page styles as appropriate to
provide the layout and formatting of the document's logical sections,
and Writer's "section" element is not normally involved.
Maybe this will give you some perspective as you read through the Writer
Guide.
<Joe
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