I have a completed novel on Atlantis 1.6.1.3 and am in the process of editing. Each chapter heading starts on line 8, double space.
When I make changes, such as the deletion of a line, this changes the length of the chapter and moves the next chapter heading up on the page. Fine.
But when I change the next chapter heading back to its correct position, I find the following chapter headings don't necessarily follow suit. I will have some that are a line up, some that are a line down, and some that are quite a ways off.
What's more, the line positions, once set, don't hold. The next day the chapter headings may be off. This is a big pain. Any ideas?
Line Position Changes
Re: line position changes
Greetings–
First, you should be aware that for word processors the basic text unit is not the “line”, but the paragraph. Word processors do not deal with “lines”, they simply place the document text as it flows naturally within each paragraph, given the constraints of the associated left and right page margins. So the number of lines of a paragraph is never set. It depends on the number of words that are inserted/added/removed within the paragraph. Consequently, you cannot build the page layout of your novels with the “line” as a unit. You have to think in terms of paragraphs.
I am not sure that I understand what you mean by “double space” and by “each chapter heading starts on line 8”. But if it means that you want each chapter to start with a heading, and that each heading should be located at some distance from the top of a new page, here is what you can do:
1. Apply a Heading 1 style (or any other appropriate Heading style) to your headings.
2. Define or modify that style so that it has the following paragraph properties:
– Page break before.
- “Space Before” value that will make these heading paragraphs look as if they are starting on “line 8”. Try different “Space Before” values (from 20 to 100pts, for example).
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Robert
First, you should be aware that for word processors the basic text unit is not the “line”, but the paragraph. Word processors do not deal with “lines”, they simply place the document text as it flows naturally within each paragraph, given the constraints of the associated left and right page margins. So the number of lines of a paragraph is never set. It depends on the number of words that are inserted/added/removed within the paragraph. Consequently, you cannot build the page layout of your novels with the “line” as a unit. You have to think in terms of paragraphs.
I am not sure that I understand what you mean by “double space” and by “each chapter heading starts on line 8”. But if it means that you want each chapter to start with a heading, and that each heading should be located at some distance from the top of a new page, here is what you can do:
1. Apply a Heading 1 style (or any other appropriate Heading style) to your headings.
2. Define or modify that style so that it has the following paragraph properties:
– Page break before.
- “Space Before” value that will make these heading paragraphs look as if they are starting on “line 8”. Try different “Space Before” values (from 20 to 100pts, for example).
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Robert
Robert...
Thanks for responding. Writers do go by so many lines down when positioning their chapter headings, just as they would with a typewriter. When the manuscript is double spaced, one-third of the way down the page would be line 8 in the position bar. I never had a problem before, either with the older Atlantis, Word, or Word Perfect, especially with the positioning changing once the document is saved and put to bed. After all, there is no change in paragraphs involved in that case.
I'll try the method you suggested, but I suspect it will be more straightforward to simply adjust all the headings before printing, pain or no.
Jim T.
Thanks for responding. Writers do go by so many lines down when positioning their chapter headings, just as they would with a typewriter. When the manuscript is double spaced, one-third of the way down the page would be line 8 in the position bar. I never had a problem before, either with the older Atlantis, Word, or Word Perfect, especially with the positioning changing once the document is saved and put to bed. After all, there is no change in paragraphs involved in that case.
I'll try the method you suggested, but I suspect it will be more straightforward to simply adjust all the headings before printing, pain or no.
Jim T.
Re: line position changes
Unfortunately, the days of typewriters are gone. Word processors do not work line by line. Pure text editors (like Notepad) will still change "line" when you insert a "carriage return". But word processors create their own lines within the page margins and will only change "paragraph" when you press Enter. Authors cannot control the flow of text itself, except by positioning the paragraphs the best they can.JimT. wrote:Writers do go by so many lines down when positioning their chapter headings, just as they would with a typewriter.
Now if your "headings" are associated with appropriate Heading styles, using the method I described (page break before and space before attributes) will probably solve your problem. Your headings will all start on a new page, at some distance from the top of the page.