Hi Joe! and thanks for the very intuitive post! I think your comment expresses my conclusions with OOo Writer sections precisely.
On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Joe Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > >
