Hi Harold,
I've used sections quite a bit and I think I understand how they work
for the most part, although I also haven't thought about things quite as
deeply as you obviously have! :)
Comments in line ...
Harold Fuchs wrote:
I've read some of the documentation on Sections in OOo Writer but I've
decided I don't understand the thinking behind them. Perhaps some
would explain it to me:
If I create a new blank Writer document, type a few lines and then
insert a section, a few things are puzzling:
1. The new section is named "section 1". Why not "section 2"? Why
isn't the text *before* the new section considered to be Section 1? Of
course, programmers prefer to count from zero ;-) but the text above
the new section isn't "Section 0" either ...
A section doesn't exist unless you specifically create one. There
probably could have been different terminology used instead of the word
"section", although I can't think of a better term at the moment. So
when you create a section after typing a few lines, the section you
create is indeed the first section, or section 1. What you typed before
isn't a "section". Might not make sense but that's the way it is ...
2. The text before the new section doesn't seem to belong to any
section. I don't seem to be able to format it like I can the new
section. What is happening here?
Well, because it isn't a section. If you want to format that text like a
section, you need to highlight it and then choose Insert > Section.
3. When I create the new section, a faint box appears on the screen
and the cursor jumps to a point *below* the bottom of this box. But
where the cursor is doesn't seen to be a section (section 2?) either.
That's correct; kind of unusual/unexpected behaviour in my opinion. But
to type text in Section 1, which you just created, just click in the
faint box and you'll be in Section 1.
4. If I set the Navigator to select Sections then "Next section" and
"Previous section" behave strangely (to my eyes): If the cursor is
*inside* the new section then Next Section and Previous Section do
nothing. If the cursor is in the text above the top (below the bottom)
of the new section then Next (Previous) Section jumps into the new
section. So the cursor can be made to jump into the new section but
not out of it:-(
I usually don't use the Navigator so I can't shed any insight into this
observation.
5. If I new insert a new section *inside* the one I just made then it
is named Section 2 and the old Section 1 seems to have divided into
two - part above and part below the new section. If I format Section 1
(say by making it into multiple columns) then both "halves" of the
section acquire the new format.
Yes -- this seems unexpected as well. I can see that formatting Section
1 might affect Section 2, because Section 2 was created as a sort of
subset of Section 1. But I also tried formatting section 2 as 4 columns,
while Section 1 was already formatted as 2 columns. Formatting Section 2
changed the number of columns in Section 1. I can experiment with this
some more, but it's more like they're a single section rather than two
sections.
6. If the cursor is inside Section 2 then Previous Section moves it
into the top half of Section 1 but Next Section does nothing.
There's obviously a fundamental something which I'm misunderstanding.
Please ...
I'm sure I haven't helped much. To corrupt the words of Brian Barker, "I
trust this doesn't help".
But if it's any consolation, I do find sections extremely useful, if a
little mysterious. I edit the newsletter for our local orienteering
club, and I make very extensive use of sections. For example, if I want
the heading for an article to span the width of the page, but the
article to be in two columns, this is a perfect use for sections. There
are many other uses also. As I've said, I haven't thought about their
peculiarities nearly as deeply as you have! When I find something that
seems a bit unexpected, I just accept it and roll with it.
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