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How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 3

Tavis J. Hampton — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:08:11 +0000

In this final part of our series on laying out a book with OpenOffice.org, you will learn how to position illustrations in your book, how to use paragraph styles, and how to export in different formats. What you will take away from this is one method that has worked for me and many other people. At the end of this post, I will provide links for further study on the subject.

Illustrations

To insert an image in OpenOffice Writer, simply click “Insert->Picture->From File“. Then, select the image that you want, and click OK.

By default, the text will wrap around your picture. If you do not want this or want a different type of wrapping, right click on the picture and choose the appropriate wrap method from the wrap menu.

The next thing to consider is anchoring. By default, your image will be anchored to the paragraph. That means that if text is inserted or delete above or below your paragraph, that picture will stay with the paragraph as it moves, even to another page. If your image is page-specific, you should right click, move your arrow to “Anchor” and click “To Page”. You can also do all of this from the Graphics toolbar, if you have it enabled.

One final point to note is that your printing company may have specific requirements for images. Many will require an image to be 300ppi (pixels per inch). It is beyond the scope of this article to teach you about photo management, but you can read more about this issue.

Styles and Formatting

For most books, you will want the same font and font size throughout the entire book. You will also want the same indentation, margins, and other formatting. To begin, do the following:

1. Click on the Styles and Formatting button in the toolbar.

2. Right click on “First line indent” and click “New“. (That will create a style with indentation already set).

3. Give your style a name.

4. Click the Indents & Spacing tab. You can change the amount of indentation and line spacing (most books are single-spaced).

5. Click the Alignment tab. Most books have justified alignment.

6. Click the Text Flow tab. Because your book will be justified, you will want hyphenation at the end to make the words flow nicely. Orphan and Widow control will keep single lines from ending up by themselves.

7. Click the “Font” tab and select the font, typeface, and size that you prefer. You can also select your language here.

8. Click the “Drop Caps” tab. If you want to display drop caps at the beginning of a paragraph, you can set that here.

Once you have your style the way you want it, click OK. You will now have a style that you can apply to any text in your document. By default, each paragraph will start with the previous style that you were using. You can even tweak that setting in the Organizer tab.

Exporting

Most professional printers will not accept Open Document Text (.odt) format. While that might change in the future, for now you will have to rely on other formats. While some printers allow you to export to Microsoft Word document format, you should avoid this if you can. Chances are, your styles and formatting will be altered in the conversion. The safest bet is to export in PDF or PS format.

OpenOffice.org has built-in support for PDF exporting. Just follow these easy steps:

1. Click “File”

2. Click “Export as PDF”

3. Keep it on “Lossless compression”. You should leave the other settings as they are unless you have been specifically told to change something.

4. Click “Export”.

5. Choose a file name and location and click OK.

If you need to export a PostScript (PS) file, use this method:

1. Click “File” and “Print”

2. Check the “Print to file” box.

3. Click “Print”

4. Choose the location and file name.

5. Click OK.

With the skills you have learned in this series, you now have a basic understanding of book layout using OpenOffice.org. There are other typsetting features, such as frames, that you may want to consider. There are also typesetting applications like Scribus for more layout-intensive projects (such as magazines). Depending on what you want to accomplish, there are free software tools available for your needs. In the end you will have quality work at an affordable cost.

How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 2

Tavis J. Hampton — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:00:58 +0000

In the first part of this series, I explained how to prepare an OpenOffice.org document for book layout. In this second part, I am going to highlight some key points raised by some of our readers and also how to properly align page numbers and format paragraphs.

There are a couple of things you should consider before proceeding:

1. If you are submitting your book to a publisher, they normally do not expect you to format the book or do any typesetting. That is their job. They just want the raw manuscript. In some cases, they may even insist that you use a particular generic font and not change default margins. Make sure you read their submission guidelines.

2. One of our readers mentioned that he usually formats his books after he finishes writing. This is undoubtedly the best method in most cases. What we created in Part 1 was a basic template that you can use without any further formatting needed before you start writing. Furthermore, if you are working for the publisher or are the publisher, the author might be someone else. In that case, you will take his or her text and prepare it.

Page Numbers

Basic page numbering is very easy in OpenOffice.org. Just click Insert->Footer, and then click Insert->Fields->Page Number. You can then left, center, or right align it. What that will give you is a page number at the bottom of every page (or at the top if you choose “Header” instead of footer).

In most non-fiction books, however, the page numbers are right aligned on the recto and left aligned on the verso. The result is that page numbers are always on the farthest ends of the pages away from the spine. The second problem to tackle is that page numbers normally start with the text, whereas the default numbering will start with your title page. This is where OpenOffice.org’s sophistication comes in handy. While it is easy to add page numbers, the available variations are extensive.

As I mentioned above, this particular part of layout is something that you must do after the book is completely finished, edited, reviewed, and ready for printing. Otherwise, you will most likely be wasting your time and will have to go back and make changes.

1. There are three page layout buttons at the bottom of your window. The first shows you one page at a time. The second shows you pages side-by-side, and the third specifically shows you mirrored pages like that of a book. Click the third, and you should now have the title page by itself and then two pages mirrored throughout the rest of the document.

2. Count the pages preceding your first page of text. In my example, I have six.

3. Insert a header or footer. All of your page-number work will be performed there.

4. Go to your first page of text before proceeding so that you can see the results. Then, click Insert->Fields->Other.

5. Under Type, select Page, leave it on Page numbers, and As Page Style.

6. This is the important part. Under Offset enter the number of pages you just counted with a negative sign in front of it. In my example, I entered “-6″.

7. Click Insert. If your first page of text now has the number 1, you are good to go. If not, undo and recount until you are satisfied.

8. When you are satisfied, click Close.

9. Click on Format->Page.

10. Choose the Header or Footer tab, and un-check “Same content left/right“.

11. Click “OK” and scroll down to pages 2 and 3.

12. Highlight the number “3″ and right align it. Page 2 should still be left aligned.

Now all of your pages should alternate their page numbers properly. There is an alternative method of accomplishing this same task. You can read about both methods here.

Paragraph Styles

Another beautiful feature of OpenOffice.org is its extensive use of page and paragraph styles. You can even create styles for specific characters. Click on the “Styles and Formatting” button or simply press F11, and you will see a sidebar with all of the currently available paragraph styles. You can create a style and format it however you see fit. To begin with a style that is already created, right click on it and then click “New”. This will copy that style and allow you to build from it.

This is where you can control indentation, line spacing, alignment (which you will most like want to justify), text flow (books usually hyphenate at the end of lines), fonts, and much more. It is completely up to you or whoever is setting publication guidelines for you.

Give your style a name and select the “Next Style” drop-down menu. This allows you to identify which style the next paragraph will use. You could conceivably have two alternating styles or just the same style automatically applied whenever you start a new paragraph.

I have made a document with everything I have done available for download so that you can actually see and play with my changes. In Part 3, we will cover illustrations, more in-depth style techniques, and export formats.

How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 2 originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 1

Tavis J. Hampton — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:29:45 +0000

It is all in your head: the plot, the characters, the locations, and even the scenes, but for some reason, staring at the blank page and blinking cursor makes you freeze. You like the idea of writing a book but cannot imagine actually completing it. If that feeling sounds familiar, then this might be the right article for you. Even if you have written a book and have it all ready to go, you may intend to self-publish it, start your own publishing company, send it to an editor, or just layout your book so you can see how it looks.

There is a long list of reasons why you might need to prepare an OpenOffice.org document in book form, and once you have learned how to do it, you will have a useful skill that you or people you know may need in the future. You can use this method for both print publications and e-books.

1. Start OpenOffice.org Writer with a regular blank document template.

The first thing you will need to do is set the size of your book. In my personal experience, it helped me tremendously with writing to be able to see each page at a normal book size rather than the 8.5″x11″ college essay size. Suddenly, writing one hundred or two hundred pages will not take so long or seem so daunting.

2. Click “Format” in the menu and then click “Page…”

3. Enter in your custom width and height.

The current format will be “Letter”. Many non-fiction paperbacks will be 6″x9″, while fiction paperbacks are often smaller sizes, such as 5.25″x7.5″. If you are doing this purely for effect, then it it entirely up to you. If you have to meet certain printing press specifications, follow them precisely.

There are lead pages that always proceed the actual text of a book. If you are preparing a book for printing, they will be crucial. Bookstores rely on that information for stocking, and libraries rely on it for cataloging.

4. Create a title page.

There is no particular format set in stone, but a title page should include at least the title of the book and statement of responsibility (author’s name). If available, it should also include the publisher and place of publication. This is the place to be creative. You can use whatever font style and size you want. Create a manual page break at the end of the title page.

5. Create the title page verso.

This is the page directly on the other side of the title page and usually contains more detailed publication information, including copyright, ISBN, and CIP (cataloging in publication) data.

6. Click “Format” and “Paragraph”.

Click on the “Alignment” tab, and change it to “Justified”. From this point on, you will want your text to be justified.

7. Insert another page break, and you can enter any number of optional pages such as a dedication.

This can include a half title page with just the title or title and author’s name on the second to last page before the text. The final page before the text will be blank, and the text should begin on the recto or right-hand side.

8. Insert a page break and begin your text.

Most books will begin with a chapter number, chapter name, or both.

In part 2, you will learn how to properly align page numbers and format paragraphs. You are now well on your way to preparing your book for publication. Writing a book can be a very rewarding experience, even if you have no intentions of publishing. With OpenOffice.org, free and open source software, you have all the tools you need to make it happen. Happy writing!

How to Layout a Book with OpenOffice.org: Part 1 originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

How to Remove OpenOffice Splash Screen For Good

Damien — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:33:53 +0000

I have been using OpenOffice for the past few years and on the whole, I am very happy with it. If there is anything that is causing me frustration, it has to be the splash screen that forcefully take over your desktop when you load an OpenOffice application.

If you are feeling the same frustration as me, here is the way to remove the splash screen. It works for StarOffice and NeoOffice as well, since they are basically a branch out of OpenOffice.

In Windows:

Go to Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program.

Open the file soffice.ini with your notepad.

Locate the line Logo=1 and change it to Logo=0.

Save and close the file.

In Linux

This example is with respect to Ubuntu system. If you can’t find the respective file in the etc/openoffice folder in other distributions, you might want to do a search for sofficerc in your file manager.

Open your terminal and type:

gksu gedit /etc/openoffice/sofficerc

Locate the line Logo=1 and change it to Logo=0

Save and close the file.

In Mac

Open your Finder and navigate to the Applications folder. Locate the OpenOffice or NeoOffice. Right-click and select Show Package Content

Navigate to Content->MacOS. Look for a file sofficerc. Double click to open it in Textedit.

Locate the line Logo=1 and change it to Logo=0.

I have tried this with OpenOffice 3.0 and it works. However, for NeoOffice, it required administrator access to edit the file. If you see this message,

Go back to the Contents folder. Right click on the MacOS folder and select Get Info. On the new window that pop up, scroll all the way down till you see the sharing and permission. Click on the lockpad to unlock and change the file permission to Read and Write

You should be able to edit the sofficerc file now.

Once you are done, remember to change the file permission back to Read only.

How to Remove OpenOffice Splash Screen For Good originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Twittering From Open Office

Damien — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:56:00 +0000

Using clients like twhirl or twitterfox, you can post tweets to twitter from your desktop and Firefox browser. However, if you spend a lot of time on Open Office, you may want a quicker way to get your twitter updated, without having to leave Open Office.

OOoTwitter is a simple Open Office extension that allows you to post to Twitter. Once installed, it will load an input field where you can submit your message to Twitter. It is very easy to use and it is unobstructive and can be loaded from the menu Tools -> Add-ons -> Post to twitter.

OooTwitter uses cURL to send message to Twitter. You will have to install cURL in order for the extension to work.

A point to note is that OOoTwitter only allows you to send tweets. It won’t be able to receive any updates from your friends.

Download OOoTwitter.oxt

Twittering From Open Office originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

A Look Into OpenOffice.org 3.0: new features, pleasant surprises

Damien — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:22:35 +0000

While everyone is looking forward to the launch of OpenOffice 2.4, I am already looking at the latest development project: OpenOffice 3.0, that promises better usability, Web 2.0 collaboration and enhanced interoperability with other office suites and format.

OpenOffice 3.0 is still in development stage and there are plenty of bugs yet to be solved (over 2000 issues, and counting), but if you are keen to test out the beta release, you can download the Ooo-Dev_DEV300_m3 from the OpenOffice ftp mirror.

New features in OpenOffice 3.0

New Personal Information Manager
New Chart engine with new chart wizard and types
PDF import and export
Presenter console for Impress with multi screen support
Web 2.0 support with blogging & wiki component
MS Office XML 2007 import
New report engine for Base
Improved Pivot tables and new Solver in Calc
Improved extension management… and many extensions
New Platform: Mac OS X

Some of the features found in the beta version

New Splash screen

There is a change of the splash screen to reflect the new OpenOffice version

Start Center

When you start OpenOffice without a document or module, it will load the start center where you have a one-click access to any of the module.

multiple page view and zoom slider

There is a set of icons at the bottom right hand corner of Writer to allow you to toggle the view of your document and a zoom slider to change the size of the document.

notes taking in the margin

You can now take note in the side margin in Writer

translucent highlighter in calc

The highlighting in Calc has changed from black to translucent blue.

Conclusion

These are just few of the changes already included in the current OpenOffice 3.0 beta release. More features will be ready as the days go by. Judging from this release, There are great improvement over the current OpenOffice version and most of them are useful, with some new features that come as pleasant surprise. Overall, I am impressed with OpenOffice 3.0, even though it is still in beta version. I am definitely looking forward to the final release.

OpenOffice 3.0 is scheduled to release in September 2008.

A Look Into OpenOffice.org 3.0: new features, pleasant surprises originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

Mastering OpenOffice: Tips And Tricks For Your OpenOffice (Part I)

Damien — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:36:34 +0000

Being an open source software, OpenOffice has made it very easy for Microsoft Office users to migrate over. Not only is it highly versatile and has almost the same user interface as Microsoft Office, it also contains tons of great features that put other paid office-suites to shame.

The following are some of the useful OpenOffice tips and tricks unknown to many.

1) Shortcut keys

In OpenOffice, you can basically configure any shortcut keys to perform any tasks. Go to Tools -> Customize… Select the Keyboard tab.

You will see a couple of boxes with options. The upper box shows the current shortcut keys while the lower boxes show the available functions that you can map to.

On the lower box, scroll to the functions that you need and highlight it. Now on the upper box, select the key that you want to set as the shortcut and click Modify. For example, to configure the open office to open a new window with the key Ctrl+N, first scroll to New (Left lower box -> application and right lower box -> New) and highlight it. Next, select Ctrl+N on the upper box and click Modify. Now you can see the configured shortcut key at the right lower box.

You can mix and match till you find the most comfortable shortcut keys for your frequently used functions. There is no need to be bounded by the default shortcut key configuration.

If you want to migrate to another machine and don’t wish to reconfigure the shortcut key again, you can simply save the current shortcut keys as a configuration file and load it in the new machine.

2) Sending Your Document as E-mail

It is easy to send your document to your partners/friends/colleagues as email within OpenOffice. There is no need to save the file, start your email program, compose new mail, attach the file, enter the email address and click send. All you need to do is to go to File->Send->Document as Email. OO will take a snapshot of your current document, fire up a ‘compose new mail‘ window from your default mail program and attach the snapshot as a attachment. All you need to do is just enter the email address of your friends and click send.

You can choose to attach the document as OpenOffice document (.odt), Microsoft words doc (.doc) or as PDF file (.PDF). OO will automatically convert the snapshot to the format you want. In addition, the file format uses ZIP compression by default, which makes the attachment file small and compact.

3) Get help at any time

OpenOffice comes with a huge library of functions, which means that there are plenty of icons residing on your tool bar. If you are overwhelmed by the array of icons and cannot make out what is the function of each icon, you can simply press “Shift+F1” to load the help function.

Upon pressing Shift+F1, the mouse cursor will instantly change to a question marks with a down arrow. Point the question mark to the icon and a dialog box will appear to explain the function of that icon.

To deactivate the help function, simply click your mouse anywhere inside OO.

4) Feeling bored? Play StarWars game in OpenOffice

Open up OO Calc, click on any cell, type =GAME(”StarWars”) and press Enter.

You can now play StarWars game inside OpenOffice.

5) Enable spellchecking

You can easily turn on the spell check function for OpenOffice. Simply go to Tools->Options. On the left pane, navigate to Language -> Writing Aids. Put a check on “OpenOffice SpellChecker“, “Hyphenator” and “Thesaurus“. On the last box, put a check on “check spelling as you type“.

If you can’t find the spell checker function for your default language, you can download the complete spell checker dictionary from http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Dictionaries. You can install via File -> Wizards -> Install new dictionaries.

6) Searching the Web From Within OpenOffice

When you are typing your document, there will be moments where you want to check up one word/phrase. Instead of firing up your browser, navigate to your search engine and perform the search, now you can do it all in your OpenOffice.

Go to View->Toolbar. Locate Hyperlink bar and put a check beside it. A new toolbar will now appear. Now, whenever you highlight a word, it will appear on the left column of the hyperlink bar. On the extreme right, you can see a icon of a globe and magnifying glass with a dropdown option. Select the dropdown option and you can find a list of search engine. Click on your favorite search engine. Your default web browser opens and searches the highlighted terms in the search engine.

You are not restricted to the search engines listed in the hyperlink bar. You can add new sites for OO to search. Simply go to Tool->Options->Internet->Search. Click on the “New” button to add your favorite sites.

7) Alternative way to insert Tables

While you can insert tables via the Insert->Tables functions, you can also insert table by typing the syntax

“+—+————-+—–+”.

Enter a line like this “+——–+———+”. The very moment you press Enter, the line gets converted into a table, where the “+” characters are turned into vertical borders.

If that conversion doesn’t happen, you might have deactivated the feature in the past. Go to Tools -> AutoCorrect -> Options. Put a check beside “Create table”. Check that Format -> AutoFormat -> While Typing is enabled too.

This ends the first part of OpenOffice tips and tricks. I will continue to uncover more tips and tricks and post it here. If you have any tricks up your sleeves, feel free to leave your comment here and share with the rest.

Mastering OpenOffice: Tips And Tricks For Your OpenOffice (Part I) originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

12 Must-Have OpenOffice Extensions

Damien — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:51:49 +0000

Other than being a free complete office suite, OpenOffice allows users to install extensions to improve its functionality and enhance the user experience. Here is a list of useful extensions for you.

1) Alternative dialog Find & Replace for Writer

This is an improved version of the default Find & Replace function. It has functions such as searching for blocks of paragraphs (rather than words or phrases), multiple searching and replacement in one step, searching for objects according to their types and many more.

2) Bookmarks Menu

BookmarksMenu allows you to add bookmarks to your favorite (or frequently accessed) document.

3) clker.com openoffice.org addon

Clker.com is a site where you can download free cliparts. This clker.com extension provides integration from clker.com to openoffice.org. This means that you can access the clker site database from your OpenOffice document, choose the cliparts you like and save them to your clipart basket.

4) LanguageTool

OpenOffice by default does not has a grammar and language checker. This extension serves just that purpose. It allows you to check your language rules and grammar mistakes. This is also the closest alternative to Microsoft Office Grammar check function.

5) Multidiff

MultiDiff is a tool that enables you to save your document in various format simultaneously. You can choose to send the documents by mail or save them in a directory, so that other users can access them.

6) OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs

Always on the move? Don’t worry, this extension allows you to open your Google Docs or upload your current document to Google Docs so that you can access it anywhere.

7) Pagination

This is a simple, but useful macros that allows you to add page number easily to a page in the way that you want it to be.

8) Professional template pack

Need help typing a standard document? Use a template instead. This template pack contains more than 80 nicely done template for Writer, Calc, Draw and Impress. Stop cracking your brain to design the best template when it is readily available for you.

9) Sun Presentation Minimizer

The Sun Presentation Minimizer is used to reduce the file size of a presentation file. It compresses the images and remove data that is no longer needed. With this extension, a 60MB presentation file can be easily compressed to less than 10MB.

10) Writer’s Tools

Writer’s Tools is an all-rounded tool designed to help OpenOffice.org users perform a wide range of tasks. It makes it easier to back up documents, look up and translate words and phrases, manage text snippets, and keep tabs on document statistics.

11) Tabbed Windows

Fancy a tabbed window just like your Firefox browser? This extension allows you to do so. It groups all your document window into tab. Instead of opening many OpenOffice windows, you now have only one window with document tabs.

12) Annotation tool

In the default OpenOffice setup, it requires a number of steps just to add/delete a note. This simple tool enables the user to create a note referring to a highlighted text – and to delete all notes in a document by one click in the menu.

Check out the Open Office extensions repository for more extensions.

12 Must-Have OpenOffice Extensions originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

How To Make Disappeared Icons In OpenOffice Return?

Damien — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:38:14 +0000

If you have encountered situation where your Openoffice icons are lost and were replaced with texts, here is what you can do:

Go to Tools -> Options. Under OpenOffice.org -> Views, look for the section Menu and make sure that the Show icons in menu box is checked.

If the icons are still lost after you have checked the show icons box, your openoffice could be missing the icon set for your desktop theme.

There are two ways that you can solve this issue

1) Install the icon set

If you are using tango theme, in your terminal, type

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-style-tango

or look for “openoffice.org-style-tango” in your Synaptic Package Manager. If you don’t like tango theme, you can also choose from a selection of icon theme. Currently, open office supports the following theme: Andromec, crystal, default, hicontrast, human (installed by default), industrial, tango.

2) Switch the openoffice icon theme to human

Your Openoffice installed the human theme by default. In your Openoffice, go to Tools -> Options. Under OpenOffice.org -> View, look for the section Icon sizes and styles. On the right dropdown box, select Human and press OK.

You can see that your icon is now back on your Openoffice.

Cheers.

How To Make Disappeared Icons In OpenOffice Return? originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)