Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 53523
add support for side headings (sidehead)
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:35:17 UTC
Side headings (sidehead) are headings placed left (or right) to the regular text with the next paragraph on the same line. Side headings differ from run-in headings (#39582) in their vertical alignment. Example Side Heading: 1. REGULAR HEADING Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. SIDE HEAD Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. 2. ANOTHER REGULAR HEADING LONG Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla SIDE HEAD bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. PATHETIC Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. SIDE HEAD Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla.
Currently you have to solve this via Frames. Insert a frame via "Insert.Frame" menu and place it in the page border. Now fill it with the desired Heading content & format. An automatism for this could be helpful -> reassigned to requirements
Frames do not work properly. There are a few workarounds for getting the text laid out as in the example above. But none of the workarounds are practical for daily work with a document. None of the workarounds I have tried (frames, tables, columns) allow to use the Navigator (F5) to rearrange sections with side heads. The Navigator is a very powerful feature and major advantage over framemaker. Additionally, frames do not support the "PATHETIC SIDE HEAD" of the example. While called "pathetic", this happens unfortunately quite often. So, I do not believe frames to be the proper approach. It rather should be possible to have several paragraphs side by side. It looks like in OOo a sequence of paragraphs must vertically always be laid out one after the other. To me, the problem of side headings looks quite similar to run-in headings (Bug 39582). The difference being the left and right borders, which are the same for run-in headings and are horizontally one next to the other for side heads.
*** Issue 63142 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Note: The pathetic example given above is probably not precise enough and misleading. The issue with "pathetic headings" are side headings which take two lines for following paragraphs which take only one line. Any following paragraphs must of course be vertically not overlap with the "pathetic heading". PATHETIC Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. SIDE HEAD SIDE HEAD Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. PATHETIC Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. SIDE HEAD New bla bla paragraph without side heading bla bla bla bla bla. Note: The example (restricted somehow by the possibilities of ASCII art) shall not imply, that the vertical spacing between a pathetic side heading followed by another side heading is greater or different than the vertical spacing between a pathetic side heading and a new paragraph following the paragraph after the pathetic side heading. The vertical spacing is according to the paragraphs' definitions.
Hmm. Not sure that last example shouldn't look more like: PATHETIC Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. SIDE HEAD New bla bla paragraph without side heading bla bla bla bla bla. That said, I think that this, and the run-in headers, really need to to be done, and done well. One aspect that wants addressing is what happens to asymettric margins on facing page sets. Would the side heading go over to the right hand side of right hand pages? SIDE HEAD fred fred fred | nellie nellie fred fred fred | nellie nellie jock jock jock | jock jock jock | fred fred fred SIDE HEAD mary mary mary | fred fred fred
You are probably correct regarding my sample for the PATHETIC SIDE HEAD: The vertical positioning of the paragraph following the paragraph with the side head is probably something like the maximum spacing between the two paragraphs and the second paragraph and the side head. For our purpose the SIDE HEAD would stay on the left also in a mirrored setup. Reading left to right, top down, the heading would suddenly follow its text, which seems bizarre to me. We definitly want side heads always to the left. Others might have different requirements.
Adobe Framemaker offers the following settings for alignment of side headings: * The horizontal alignment is part of the column layout and allows to define the width of the side headings and the space to the main text of the column. Additionally, the side heads can be placed to the left or to the right of the column including closer to or away from the binding side. * The vertical alignment is defined by the paragraph following the side heading: first line, last line, top edge.