The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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__________________________ | | | Section 7: PAGE LAYOUT | |__________________________| CONTENTS 7.1 Page Styles 7.2 Multiple Columns 7.3 Leading (Line Spacing) 7.4 Headers and Footers 7.5 Layout Printing Sequence 7.6 The Folio (Page Number) 7.7 Vertical Justification 7.8 Widows and Orphans 7.9 Page Layout Over-Rides 7.1 PAGE STYLES 7.1.1 PAPER SIZES The PREVIEW and DOT-MATRIX PRINTER DRIVER functions of Version 2.2C of the Rubicon Publisher support only one size of paper: Letter Size (8.5x11 inches). Of course, you do not have to use the entire page: you can make the printed area of the page as small as you like, by adopting appropriate margin settings, using the <Margin...> instruction tags explained below. Many of the laser and PostScript printers supported by the Publisher will accommodate more than one size of paper. The Publisher can be adjusted to conform to any size of paper such printers can handle, by means of the tag: <PAPER long= short=> where long= the long dimension (length or height) of the paper, and short= the short dimension (width) of the paper, specified in any units accepted by the Publisher. 7.1.2 THE PRINTABLE ZONE Many printers, especially laser printers, are not capable of printing right out to the edges of the paper: there are "unprintable" areas along the top, bottom, and sides of the paper, which the printhead cannot reach. We will refer to these as the "Unprintable Zone", and the remaining portion of the page as the "Printable Zone". Note that the unprintable zone forms a frame around the printable zone. For the HP Laserjet II printer, in "portrait" (normal) mode, there are normally unprintable strips 0.50 inches wide across the top and bottom edges of the page, and 0.25 wide along the left and right edges of the page. Unfortunately, different models of printer have different unprintable zones. If the unprintable zone dimensions for the particular printer in use are unknown, and cannot be determined from the printer manual, it is prudent to allow for unprintable zones of up to one-half inch on all sides, when specifying the page layout co-ordinates. 7.1.3 PAGE LAYOUT CO-ORDINATES All page layout measurements used by the Publisher are measured from the TOP LEFT CORNER of the paper. This is called the ORIGIN of the page. It can be regarded as the origin point (0,0) of a Cartesian co-ordinate system, of which the x-axis, representing rows, extends down the left side of the paper, and the y-axis, representing columns, extends across the top. PAGE ORIENTATION The normal orientation of printed text on a page is referred to as "Portrait" mode: the paper is oriented vertically; that is, one of the short edges is the top. Ordinary text is almost always printed in Portrait mode. The alternative page orientation is called "Landscape". When text is printed in Landscape mode, the paper is oriented horizontally, or "turned sideways"; that is, one of the long edges is the top, so the width of the page is greater than its length. This mode is generally used only if there is some special reason which makes it necessary, for example if information is being presented in tabular form, and the table is too wide to fit on the page in normal (Portrait) orientation. Landscape printing is initiated by the tag <landscape=on>, and cancelled by the tag <landscape=off>. If this tag is used, it must be read by the Publisher at the beginning of the file, before any printable text. It should be followed by one or more <margin> tags, setting all 6 margins, which must also precede any printable text. NOTE: The current version of the Publisher does not support Landscape printing on dot-matrix printers, and documents in Landscape orientation cannot be Previewed. The default mode of printing is Portrait; that is, if there is no <landscape=> tag, the document will be printed in the normal Portrait orientation. PAGE INTERIOR The tag: <margin top= left= bottom= right= > where top= defines the top margin of the page interior left= defines the left margin of the page interior bottom= defines the bottom margin of the page interior right= defines the right margin of the page interior is used to define four margins around the edges of the page. These margins in turn define a rectangle called the "Page Interior". The Publisher prints the main text within the confines of the page interior. Auxiliary text such as headers, footers, and footnotes may be printed outside the page interior, for example, in the top or bottom margins. When specifying margins, it is of course necessary to ensure that the specified locations (particularly for the right and bottom margins) fall INSIDE THE PRINTABLE ZONE for the size of paper being used. Note that all margin locations are measured FROM THE ORIGIN. EXAMPLE: <margin top=1.0in left=0.75in right=7.75in bottom=10.0in><qz><R> defines a page interior 7 inches wide and 9 inches long. Margins may be specified using any of the units of measurement accepted by the Publisher. HEADER AND FOOTER DROP The combination tag: <MARGIN header=m footer=n> or the separate tags: <MARGIN header=m> and <MARGIN footer=n> are used to define the header-drop m and the footer-drop n, that is, the locations of the top (highest ascender) of the header and of the footer. Example: the tag <margin header=1in footer=10in> will locate the top of the header one inch below the top of the page, and the top of the footer ten (10.0) inches below the top of the page. When specifying header and footer locations, it is necessary to make sure that they fall INSIDE THE PRINTABLE ZONE. In most cases, it is also necessary to make sure that they fall FAR ENOUGH OUTSIDE THE PAGE INTERIOR so that the header and footer will not impinge on the main text. If the header (or footer) consists of more than one line of text, the definition of the header (or footer) should contain an appropriate <leading...> tag, to ensure proper line spacing within the header (or footer). Normally, the contents of the header are printed entirely above the page interior, in the top margin, and the contents of the footer are printed entirely below the page interior, in the bottom margin, with a reasonable amount of space separating them from the main text. However, the Publisher has the ability to position items anywhere on the page while printing a header or footer. For example, it is possible to place a ruling line between the columns of the page interior, from a header or footer. 7.2 MULTIPLE COLUMNS 7.2.1 THE COLUMN TAG The arrangement of text in columns is governed by this very important tag: <column...>. Two alternative procedures are available for specifying a multiple column layout. The column measure (width) and gutter-width may be specified, in which case the Publisher will automatically calculate the number of columns which will fit on a page. Alternatively, the count (number) of columns and the gutter-width may be specified, in which case the Publisher will automatically calculate the corresponding column measure. 7.2.2 COLUMN MEASURE The first alternative is implemented by the tag: <column measure= gutter= > where measure= specifies the column measure (width), and gutter= specifies the column gutter (space between columns). The column measure and gutter may be specified with any of the units of measurement accepted by the Publisher. The tag settings take effect at the end of the current output line. At run time, the Publisher will automatically lay out columns and gutters of the specified dimensions on a page until the space remaining in the page interior is insufficient for another column, and will then start a new page. Of course, the specified column measure (width) must not exceed the width of the page interior. It is possible to use any column measure which does not exceed the width of the page interior, but for practical reasons, some choices are better than others. Unless blank space is being deliberately preserved to accommodate illustrations, or for some other reason, it is usually desired to use all, or at least most, of the page interior for text. Accordingly, if the page interior is 7 inches wide, a column width of 4 inches would be a poor choice, since there would be room for only one such column per page, and more than 40% of the page interior would be left blank. 7.2.3 COLUMN COUNT The second alternative is implemented by the tag: <column count= gutter= > where count= specifies the number of columns per page, and gutter= specifies the column gutter (space between columns). At run time, the Publisher will automatically lay out the specified number of columns and gutters of the specified dimensions on each page. It is possible to use any value for the column count, but for practical reasons, a value should be chosen which will produce lines of text which are neither too short nor too long for the size of type being used. Several narrow columns are easier to read than one very wide column, provided that each column is wide enough to contain a reasonable number of words of average length. The proper width for a column therefore depends on the type size: in general, the smaller the type, the narrower the columns should be. As an approximate "rule of thumb", the line length in picas (6ths of an inch) should not exceed twice the type size measured in points. For example, a line of 12-point type should not exceed 24 picas (4 inches). Of course, the values given by this rule should be regarded as guidelines, rather than rigid rules. For some documents, it may be necessary to depart from these values, for a variety of reasons, even though this will result in some loss of readability. For example, some kinds of documents set in 12-point or smaller type are routinely formatted in a single full-width column, much wider than 4 inches, to comply with custom or tradition, or because such a format is required by law or government regulation. NOTE: In theory, the <Column...> tag can be used anywhere in a document, but changing the column setup in the middle of a page is tricky, and should not normally be attempted. Generally, the <Column..> tag should only be used at the beginning of a document, or at the beginning of a page following a "hard" page break. A full-width heading on a multi-column page can be produced by defining it as a header: see Section 7.4. 7.3 LEADING (LINE SPACING) Leading (pronounced "ledding") refers to the vertical spacing between lines of type, measured from baseline of one line to the baseline of the next. The tag: <leading line= para= >, where line= defines the inter-line leading or "line spacing", and para= defines the inter-paragraph leading or "paragraph spacing", is used to define the vertical spacing between lines and paragraphs. This tag takes effect at at the end of the current output line. Any unit of measurment accepted by the Publisher may be used in this tag. Line leading is space between output lines, measured from baseline to baseline. Paragraph leading is an extra amount of vertical space added between paragraphs. The last line of one paragraph and the first line of the next paragraph are separated by the normal line leading plus the paragraph leading (measured from baseline to baseline). The amount of leading used is to some extent a matter of style: however, it must be sufficient to ensure that the descenders of one line do not overlap the capital letters or ascenders of the next line, and if underlining is being used in the text, additional leading may be needed to accommodate it. The amount of leading needed obviously depends on the point size of the type. It may also depend on the typeface: some styles have longer ascenders and descenders than others. Normally, the line leading must be at least as large as the point size of the type, and preferably somewhat larger. As an approximate guideline, a leading 20% greater than the point size is recommended for small type sizes (less than 12 point); a leading 25% greater than the point size is recommended for larger type sizes (12 point and up). For example, the recommended leading for 8-point type is 9.5 points; the recommended leading for 12-point type is 15 points. When the type size changes from one line to the next, a value for the leading between the two lines may be calculated as 1/3 the leading for the point size of the first line, PLUS 2/3 the leading for the point size of the second line. EXAMPLE: If one line is in 6-point type and the next line is in 10-point, the leading between the two lines should be 1/3 x 7 + 2/3 x 12 = 10.3 points. When the calculated value includes a fraction, it is prudent to round it up to the next point: 11 points in the present example. The leading need not be specified in points: any unit of measurement recognized by the Publisher may be used. 7.4 HEADERS AND FOOTERS A Header or Running Head consists of one or more lines of text printed at the top of every page. The contents of the header may be changed from time to time. Sometimes, there might be no header at all. The header text may be printed anywhere on the page; it is not restricted to the top margin above the page interior, although it is normally confined to that area. A Footer or Running Foot consists of one or more lines of text printed at the bottom of every page. The contents of the footer may be changed from time to time. Sometimes, there might be no footer at all. The footer text may be printed anywhere on the page; it is not restricted to the bottom margin below the page interior, although it is normally confined to that area. The Publisher does not calculate line breaks or perform paragraphing inside headers or footers. It is the user's responsibility to place all desired line breaks inside header and footer definitions. HEADER/FOOTER POSITIONING The header-drop is the distance from the TOP of the page to the TOP of the header; the footer-drop is the distance from the TOP of the page to the TOP of the footer. The header- and footer-drop are set via the tags <margin header= > and <margin footer= >, or the combined tag <margin header= footer= > If the header or footer contains more than one line, the interline leading, line break tags, and alignment instructions can be used to position lines within the header or footer. The positioning of headers and footers is described in more detail under "Page Layout Co-Ordinates" (Section 7.1.3). HEADER/FOOTER DEFINITION The text for a header is defined by placing it between the tags <header> .... .... .... .... <end> The text for a footer is defined by placing it between the tags <footer> .... .... .... .... <end> The tags <header>, <footer> and <end> are PUBLISHER DIRECTIVES. Unlike other tags, a directive must appear by itself on a separate line. That is, there should be no material whatsoever on the same line as the directive tag, either before or after it. Headers and footer definitions may consist of any number of input lines. Each input line should end with a line break tag (quad tag). Headers and footers may be defined inside include files. 7.5 LAYOUT PRINTING SEQUENCE The Publisher goes through the following steps, in the given order, as it lays out each page. 1. Header. Print the most recently defined header (defined before the first printable character of the page interior). Note: a header intended to appear on the first page must be defined in the initialization sequence, before any printable character. 2. Page Interior. Format and print the page interior, according to the paragraphing, columning, etc. specified by the user. 3. Footer. Print the most recently defined footer (defined before the last printed character of the page interior). There are certain special tags that only function inside headers and footers. They have no effect in the page interior. See the Folio section below. PRESERVED VARIABLES The following variables are saved before a header or footer is printed, and are restored afterward. In this way, tag settings in the page interior will not affect tag settings in a header or footer, and vice versa. font column width justification para indent left indent right indent interline leading 7.6 THE FOLIO (PAGE NUMBER) The "folio" is the usual typesetting term for the page number. The Publisher can automatically print the folio as part of the header or footer text. The digit representation of the folio can be in Arabic Numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) or Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc.). Roman numerals may be printed in upper case or lower case letters. The folio is optional; it can be disabled, or printed at a particular location, as specified by the user. The tag for printing the page number is: <PN> - Print Page Number (Print Folio) This command may appear anywhere in the header or footer definitions. As it occurs in an output line, it is replaced by the current page number. Example: to print the folio at the bottom, center of each page, place the following code into the footer definition: <PN><QC> The tag: <PN=n> - Set Page Number (Set Folio) sets the folio number to the specified value n. It will take effect for the next folio that is printed. The page number will be increased by one on each subsequent page. In the absence of a <PN=n> tag, page numbering will start at "1". NOTE: The tag <PN=n> must NOT be placed inside a header or footer. DIGIT REPRESENTATIONS The folio can appear in ordinary Arabic digits (1,2,3...), in uppercase Roman numerals (I, II, III ...) or in lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii ...). The digit representation of the folio is controlled as follows: <folio roman= case= > roman= `1' Roman Numerals; `0' Arabic Numerals case= `1' Upper Case Numerals; `0' Lower Case Numerals (only applicable to Roman numerals) If the document in the text file is going to stand alone, the page numbering will normally start at `1'. However, if it is part of a lengthy document occupying several files, and if the whole document is to be numbered continuously when published, the numbering of the pages in the second and subsequent files will start at values other than `1'. For example, if the first file of a long document takes up 11 pages when published, the numbering of the second file would start at `12'; if the second file, when published, ends at page `21', the numbering of the third file would start at `22'; and so on. 7.7 VERTICAL JUSTIFICATION The term Vertical Justification is applied to the process of making a small alteration in the length of the space occupied by the text; this is often done to make the text fit into a specified number of pages, or columns. Such "vertical justification" of a document may be accomplished by adjustment of such variables as the line leading, the paragraph leading, the top margin and the bottom margin, to change the number of lines of text appearing on each page. EXAMPLE: A document is processed by the Publisher; it fills 4 pages, and runs over on to a fifth page that contains only 3 lines of text. This not only has a clumsy, unprofessional appearance, but is also wasteful, particularly if 5000 copies of the document are going to be printed. We will assume that the document is being printed in 10-point type with the optimum line leading of 12 points, that the paragraph leading is also 12 points, and the page interior is 9 inches long. The need for the short 5th page can be eliminated by the simple step of reducing the line leading and paragraph leading by 0.24 points, to 11.76 points. The reduced leading is still well within the recommended range for 10-point type: indeed, the change is so small that it will hardly be visible to the naked eye; but it will make room for an extra line of text on each page, so that the document will end one line short of the bottom of the 4th page. NOTE: The smallest increment by which leading (or any other Publisher parameter) can be adjusted is 1 "dot", and the size of a "dot" depends on the resolution of the output device. For 300x300 dpi devices (most laser printers), a "dot" is 1/300 inch, or 0.24 points. For 180x180 dpi devices (most 24-pin dot-matrix printers), a "dot" is 1/180 inch, or 0.4 points. For 120x72 dpi devices (most 9-pin dot-matrix printers), a "(vertical) dot" is 1/72 inch, or 1 point. In this Example, the need for a 5th page could also be eliminated by increasing the length of the page interior to allow an extra line of text on each page, for example by moving the bottom margin down 12 points (about 0.167 inches), or by moving the top margin up 6 points, and moving the bottom margin down 6 points. This method would be more visible, but may be acceptable in some cases, provided that it leaves enough space for the header and footer (if any), and that a minor alteration in margins and page interior is not otherwise objectionable. In the foregoing Example, vertical justification was applied to an entire document, but it can also be applied to part of a document. For example, the leading of part of the document may be reduced or increased to change the location of a column break or page break. 7.8 WIDOWS AND ORPHANS In typesetting parlance, the term "orphan" is often applied to: 1. The last line of a paragraph, standing alone at the beginning of a page or column; and 2. A heading for a new paragraph or section, or the first line of a new paragraph, standing alone at the end of a page or column. Orphans look awkward, impair the legibility of the document, and should therefore be avoided. An orphan of type (1) can be removed by using vertical justification; that is, the leading of part (or all) of the document preceding the orphan can be reduced slightly in order to pull the orphan back into the preceding column, or it can be increased slightly to push one or more lines forward into the new column to keep the orphan company. Essentially the same method can be used to correct orphans of type (2). That is, the technique of vertical justification may be used to push the heading (or first line) forward into the next column, or to pull some text back from the next column. In typesetting parlance, the short last line of a paragraph, if less than one-third the normal line length, is called a widow. The best typsetting practice is to avoid widows. (A widow which contains nothing but the concluding part of a hyphenated word is particularly objectionable.) A short widow at the end of a paragraph can generally be eliminated by Tracking part or all of the paragraph, to pull the contents of the widow back into the preceding line. A relatively long widow at the end of a paragraph can generally be eliminated by Expanding part or all of the paragraph to push additional text into the last line so that it will no longer be a widow. 7.9 PAGE LAYOUT OVER-RIDES When a document is being processed by the Publisher, the areas available for text in a column, and on a page, are defined by the page layout instructions, and the Publisher automatically starts a new column or page when the current one is full. However, it is sometimes desirable to override these automatic functions, and force the start of a new column or page before the current one is completely full. This is known as inserting a "hard" column break or page break. It is done by means of the following Publisher Directives: <NP> - New Page. Starts a new page, beginning with the next line. <NC> - New Column. Starts a new column, beginning with the next line. Note that these tags are "Directives". A Directive must be located on a line by itself, with no text or other instruction tags on the same line. EXAMPLE: Suppose that in PUBLishing this section of the Manual, an automatic page break occurred immediately after the heading for Section 7.9, leaving the heading alone at the bottom of a page. A "hard page break" can be used to move the heading to the top of the next page, as follows: A relatively long widow at the end of a paragraph can generally be eliminated by Expanding part or all of the paragraph to push additional text into the last line so that it will no longer be a widow.<QL> <NP> 7.9 PAGE LAYOUT OVER-RIDES When a document is being processed by the Publisher, the areas available for text in a column, and on a page, are defined by the page layout instructions, and the Publisher automatically starts a new column or page when the current one is full. However, it is