Frame Styles in OOo Writer

An Introduction to Creating or Modifying Styles for Frames in Writer

© Brendan Vittum

May 12, 2009

Since Frame's can seem complex and therefore not worth the hassle, it might be useful to look at the seven predefined Frame Styles in OpenOffice.org Writer, and what each is used for. These default Frame Styles are sufficient to cover most user needs. However, in cases where the default Frame Styles do not do what might be needed or desired, one can create or modify a Frame Style in OOo Writer very easily.

Setting Frame Styles in OOo Writer:

The Frame Settings can be accessed in one of several ways.

1. Push F11.
2. Click the Frame Style icon [Figure 1].
3. Right click with the mouse on a Frame and selecting New or Modify.

Another way is to click Insert → Frame on the menu. Once a Frame has been added to a document double-clicking the Frame border opens the Frame dialogue box.

Frame Settings Window in OOo Writer:

In the Frame Settings Window the following tabs have formatting options {figure 2}:

• Type: Frame size and position are controlled on this tab. A useful option is AutoSize which automatically adjusts the frame for the size of its contents.
• Options: controls whether the Frame contents are printable or editable in a read-only documents. This tab also controls text direction.
• Wrap: controls how text is positioned relative to the Frame and how closely text and Frames spaced from each other. If the Frame content needs to stand out from the text around it, set the Wrap to None. Possibly the single most important tab for controlling Frames.
• Background: determines background color or graphic of a Frame. Mostly used for text frames in complex layouts where a text frame needs to have a different appearance from the overall page.
• Border: determines the border line around the Frame.
• Columns: used to control the number of columns used in a Frame this tab can be ignored unless a text frame is being created.
• Macro: used to control and set any macros used in or by the Frame. The options here are really only useful when building an on-line Writer or HTML document.

Though not visible in the Frame Settings Window, the Frame Style dialogue has the additional tab Organize. This tab is common to all Style settings in OpenOffice.org and holds basic information about such as the Name, Linked with, Category, and Contains.

Applying Frame Styles in OOo Writer:

Whenever an object is inserted into a document it automatically is placed inside a Frame. To apply a defined Style to a Frame:

1. Click the Frame to select it.
2. Open the Styles and Formatting Window [press F11].
3. Click the Frame Styles icon [Figure 1].
4. Double-click the name of the Frame Style to be applied.

Most of a Frame's Style can be controlled with Styles. There are however, exceptions which must be set manually for each Frame:

1. Anchoring: controls how the frame is positioned relative to the rest of the content on the page.
2. Arrangement: used to control the Frame position in a stack or layer of objects.
3. Adding a Hyperlink: allows a click on the Frame to open a Web page or other document in an HTML file.

As always, it seems complicated at first glance but, after a little playing around Frames can become very easy and indispensable piece of layout design, no matter what kind of document OpenOffice.org Writer is being used to create.

Figure 1: The Frame Styles Dialogue Icon.

Figure 2: The Frame Properties Window.

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