Drop Cap

Request new features or suggest modifications to existing features of Atlantis.
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wildchild1954
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Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:32 pm

Drop Cap

Post by wildchild1954 »

I would like to request that you add the ability to format text with a drop cap. I like to format the first paragraph of a chapter or paper with a drop cap aligned to 2 or 3 lines as Microsoft Word does but you don't have that. It would be a really nice feature to have. :D
Attachments
Drop Cap Example.docx
This is a fan fiction piece that I'm working on. It shows how I format the first paragraphs for PDF and would like to be able to do so for ePub files created in Atlantis.
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gyuen
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Post by gyuen »

There's an idea. The book I'm scanning and turning into an ePub also has dropcaps. Though seems like it might be hard to get just right. From what I've read, it'll look and be spaced different with variations in font. If you want to be just right, you'll have to embed the font.

If you're ok with a bit of editing the ePub afterwards, for now you could style each letter you want dropped in a unique way (like make it size used nowhere else). Atlantis will apply a character style (span) to that letter. Then just go into the css afterwards and change one line. That might do it.

Here's some examples :

http://code.stephenmorley.org/html-and- ... drop-caps/
http://blog.epubandebookhelp.com/2011/1 ... b-content/
wildchild1954
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Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:32 pm

Post by wildchild1954 »

I am almost completely css illiterate. I use the drop cap option in my Microsoft Office Word 2007 and it formats it for me. That's why I would like to have that option in Atlantis. You find the command in the text section of the Insert Ribbon in Word. This allows you to put your pointer somewhere in the paragraph, click on Drop Cap, set your paramaters (Text, number of lines, and distance from text), and click on Apply. This ability is what would be nice to have in Atlantis.

I have the Tweak program for Atlantis but I have no idea in Hades how to tweak the rtf files to give me that drop cap.
rstroud
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Drop Caps

Post by rstroud »

Yeah, I would like to have this feature, too.

I am competent at tweaking epub files. I can create the drop caps in the epub that Atlantis creates (and Atlantis does a fantastic job at this).

But for preparing a PDF for possible commercial printing, it would be nice to have the capability of drop caps.

The last thing that I want to do is to use Microsoft Word for something like this, because it makes me dependent on horribly expensive Microsoft software. I use several computers and only have one copy of MS Word. I had thought that I could use the free LibreOffice for adding the drop caps right before I create a PDF ... but, alas, I discovered this week that LibreOffice creates a beautiful drop cap but totally bollixes up the footnotes (if you have any). I am correct about the footnote issue, because it was not something that only I was experiencing. I did an internet search and found that people have been complaining about screwed-up footnotes in LibreOffice for years.

So now I am back to MS Word for drop caps. I can only sigh in frustration. Atlantis is a fantastic program. I really love it. It handles styles in a clean fashion (instead of dumping a host of unwanted styles into every template). It has countless wonderful features. So why not drop caps? I think that the first comment on this issue was from six years ago.

So I will sigh for now and keep using Atlantis for my writing (I always save as .docx) and Word for drop caps. By the way, I ran a simple test, and Word imported my Atlantis .docx file and did not mangle the footnotes.
rstroud
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Drop caps and footnotes

Post by rstroud »

Okay, I was wrong. And what a relief it is! Here is the real situation.

BACKGROUND
Atlantis has no drop-cap feature. Consequently, another application has to be used at the end of a project to add the drop caps. LibreOffice and OpenOffice can provide the drop caps. However, it appeared that LibreOffice was corrupting the format of any footnotes in the imported .docx file from Atlantis.

CONCLUSION
LibreOffice (and presumably OpenOffice) can handle the footnotes from Atlantis. You will probably need to tweak the footnote settings in LibreOffice (after the import), but the notes will behave after that.

THE STEPS
* I use the .docx format in Atlantis.
* A .docx file imports just fine into LibreOffice most of the time. In fact, the footnote number and the footnote text at the bottom of the page look just fine when you import a file with footnotes.
* But when you save your file as a .docx file in LibreOffice and then reopen the file in LibreOffice, the footnotes are screwed up. And they may become more screwed up every time that you reopen the file. (A tab that I was using kept proliferating with each reopening.)
* However, if you open the .docx file in LibreOffice and immediately save it as a LibreOffice .odt file, you will preserve the file, and you can perform any tweaks that are needed.
* Then you can save the document as an .odt file, and everything will be fine when you reopen the .odt file.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
I am not going to explain in detail how to format footnotes in Atlantis and LibreOffice, because that is not really the issue here. However, I will tell you that it is not a task for people who always throw up their hands in despair when they have to do something unusual with software, even if it is simple.

Numbered references within the text of the document are traditionally superscripts. The footnote numbers at the bottom of the page (where references are cited, or comments are made) really should be normal in size, not superscripted (see Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, section 14.19). However, word processors usually superscript these numbers at the bottom of the page also. You can easily work around this problem in Atlantis, but you will probably have to tweak your LibreOffice settings for footnotes after the import. All of this is really not difficult for a software-savvy person, but it is too daunting for the average user.

Maybe in a day or two, if I have time, I will post a "how to" article on formatting footnotes in Atlantis to conform with the recommendation of the Chicago Manual of Style.
jpavel
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Post by jpavel »

You can use a table to simulate a drop-cap, as in the attached file. The first style works well for print or PDF publication, since you can break the first few lines out of the table as appropriate, and the second style could work in eBooks where the line length can change. It's not perfect, but it could avoid round-trips between two programs.

~Jesse
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Drop Cap.rtf
(3.71 KiB) Downloaded 564 times
rstroud
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Post by rstroud »

Thanks, Jesse, but I do not feel inclined to use workarounds for features that ought to be part of a mature program like Atlantis.

This issue is like the problems with Atlantis in the days before Atlantis supported tables and horizontal lines. Workarounds were available for these, too. (I remember using a graphic occasionally for a table.)

But eventually (after a very, very, very long time) Atlantis introduced tables; and then horizontal lines.

I am a great supporter of Atlantis. It is a wonderful program. But when I need a feature that it does not offer, I will follow this procedure:

1. When you finish your document, preserve a copy of it as an Atlantis .docx file.

2. For PDF files: Import a copy of the original into Word or LibreOffice/OpenOffice. Create a drop cap in places where it is needed. Then create PDF with whatever PDF driver you prefer.

3. For ebooks: Create an ebook (.epub) from your Atlantis file. Import the .epub into Calibre (free program). Use Calibre to edit the places where you need a drop cap. I have not checked lately, but a couple of years ago you had to tweak the CSS code to do this. Possibly you can do it by selecting an option now, but I doubt it. Tinkering with the CSS code is very easy, but most people are going to be intimidated and will not do it.

So I say again ... Drop caps, please!
the-silverware
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Post by the-silverware »

Any chance you might put this into the next update? Some publishers do want editors to insert drop caps in the texts.
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Post by admin »

The next release of Atlantis Word Processor will support floating images (including with text wrapping). So you could use any graphic file as a "dropped cap".
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Post by admin »

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Post by admin »

The Drop Caps feature is in the works, and should be available in the coming months.
rstroud
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Drop caps

Post by rstroud »

admin wrote:The Drop Caps feature is in the works, and should be available in the coming months.
That is wonderful news!
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Post by admin »

Version 4.1 with support for drop caps has been released:
https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/e ... _0_000.htm
rstroud
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Drop caps

Post by rstroud »

The steps to use the Drop Cap feature:

Highlight the capital letter that you want to be a drop cap.

On the Main Menu click Insert > Drop Cap. This takes you to a simple dialog window, where you see three options.

Select Dropped.

You may want to adjust Distance from Text. With this you can put a little more space between the drop cap and the next letter to the right. I tried 0.02-inch, and it looked great.

You can also put the drop cap out into the margin. This can be a nice-looking method of handling a drop cap. I found that the result looked good without adding any space between the drop cap and the text. You can experiment around and see what you like.

I did not check the result when you generate an ebook. I am assuming that everything works fine.

My sincerest thanks to Atlantis for adding this really nice feature to an already great software application! :)
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