Page Styles in OOo Writer

A Brief Guide to Page Style for OpenOffice.org Writer.

May 1, 2009

Figure 1: Page Styles icon., B. W. Vittum

This article is an overview of what Page Styles are, and how they can be used in for document standardization in OpenOffice.org Writer.

After covering the basics of Formating in OpenOffice.org Writer, the next step is to understand how to control the individual Types of Style. The first of these is the Page Style. A Page Style in OpenOffice.org Writer defines the page settings for margins, headers, footers, borders, backgrounds, and columns.

Unlike other styles where formatting can b directly applied like fonts and sizes, pages only have a Page Style without any direct formatings.

Why Should Page Styles Be Used In OpenOffice.org Writer?

Page Styles should be used for many reasons in formatting documents in OpenOffice.org Writer. Using Page Styles offers a number of advantages over manually formatting every time a document is created. Some examples of why Page Styles should be used include:

Time: once a Page Style any document created Writer can take advantage of the predefined layout which saves hours of formatting time.
Standards: when a document format is used regularly like a letterhead, a term paper, a company report, a book manuscript, or FAX cover sheet for example, Page Styles allow a standard look.

While the use of Page Styles can become an efficient means of productivity for one individual, imagine if a whole bunch of people in an organization are creating the same type of document repeatedly?

When Should Styles Be Used In OpenOffice.org Writer?

The short answer is always. If the document being produced fits any of these conditions:

If the document is lengthy.
If the document will be revised extensively.
If the document will be edited by multiple individuals.
If the document will be edited after the initial creation.
If the document belongs to a class of standard documents.
If the document will be used in a variety of ways, each requiring minor changes. Example: printing a document on both white and black paper.

using Page Styles makes sense. Even when only one of the first five of these conditions is met, using styles still make sense

OpenOffice.org Writer Page Styles Settings:

The Page Styles dialogue is accessed by right-clicking on the body of the page whose style is to be affected, by clicking Format → Page from the menu, or by pressing F11 to open the Styles and Formatting Window in OpenOffice.org Writer and selecting the Page Styles icon [figure 1].

There are eight tabs on the Page Styles Window. These are:

Organize: this tab is common to all style settings in OpenOffice.org and holds basic information about the style such as the Name, Next Style, and Contains. Additionally the Linked with and Category options are visible, but cannot be set for this style type [figure 2].
Page: this where the general settings of the page are controlled. Settings include Paper format, Margins, Paper tray,and Layout settings[figure 3].
Background: this tab allows the setting of backgrounds for the page. Backgrounds in OpenOffice.org Writer can include either a solid color, or a graphic whose position can be controlled in a number of ways [figure 4]
Header: this tab controls the settings for page headers in the current page style. A header is an area in the page's top margin, where text and graphics can be added. Page Headers can also have borders or background colors [figure 5].
Footer: this tab controls the settings for page footers in the current page style.A footer is an area in the page's bottom margin where text and graphics can be added. Page Footers can also have borders or background colors.
Borders: this tab allows for creating and controlling borders around text portions of the page. The border's position, size, and style in OpenOffice.org Writer can all be specified.
Columns: this tab allows for the page to be divided into columns. Predefined column layouts or custom layouts can be created. When a layout is a page style, all pages in a document using that style are updated automatically.
Footnote: this tab is used to adjust the appearance of the footnotes for the page. A Footnote's height, spacing, weight, position, and separator are all controlled through this tab.

This seems intimidating at first, but once each tab is looked at individually they make sense and become easy to understand.

The copyright of the article Page Styles in OOo Writer in Office/Business Software is owned by Brendan Vittum. Permission to republish Page Styles in OOo Writer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.