Lot's of formatting issues
Posted: 2017-02-25 13:24:59
UPDATE: I did "pull the plug" and bought a 3 user license of Nisus Writer Pro. Much of what I experienced was due to operator error and lack of a good understanding of how the software works. Several members here really helped out as you will read below...
I'm about ready to pull the plug but I don't know what other options I have. I'm writing a book–my 5th– and I've used Word and Pages on Mac in the past. Both of these have bogged down with simple things like captions on images constantly going missing, and lots of other layout issues. I was hoping Nisus would be better.
My books are typically 150pgs and 11x8.5" format. I do use lots of images, an average of 50 per book. I like to include sidebars as text blocks inline in the text near where the sidebar thought is relevant. I like these sidebars to have a light colored background to match the rest of the book design. Single column text. TOC, the basics, not rocket science.
I've been using the Nisus demo to test what it can do with my next book and for the most part I've been very happy with the features. I've typed and partially formatted about 50 pages with 15 sidebars and 18 images with captions. I also use several bullet list styles and number lists in the text.
I have been having all sorts of layout issues where the software seems to go haywire and number everything in my document. I also have an odd situation that when I try to use small caps on "fff" it sometimes works and sometimes does it partially. Very odd this one.
But the BIG issue I have is maintaining my layout for text - images - sidebars. Seems like any little thing I do causes the images and sidebars to jump to odd places and it is time consuming and difficult to repair.
Some of this might be operator error but these are the same sorts of issues I have with Pages and I have tried a lot of different options for anchoring, etc.
Initially I tried using Text blocks for my sidebars with a light blue background. Formatting the blocks so they are a consistent width-the width of my page-is a bit of a challenge. The margin fields for the block don't always correspond to the actual page margins so I have to position by hand. Using the mouse to drag sometimes works but often causes the block to jump to another page. Very odd. I ended up abandoning using text blocks and now just insert my sidebars inline where I want them using a different face. I use a rectangle object with a blue fill and position it behind the text. I have to manually align these and even though I try to anchor to the sidebar text/paragraph itself, the anchor doesn't stay put. Every time I touch the file, a few of these boxes will move up or down a little (say 2 lines or so) and throw the layout off.
I've had more than one occasion where i've had to revert to an earlier version simply to recover from some very odd auto-reformat/layout issues.
It's driving me nuts so I thought I see if any experts here who understand what I'm seeing might have some best practices or other advice for what I'm trying to do.
Are there any ways of "purging" a Nisus file to remove cruft and stuff that might creep into it? I had written a utility for Pages 09 that did this - cleaned out unused styles, etc - and that helped a lot.
cheers,
Michael
I'm about ready to pull the plug but I don't know what other options I have. I'm writing a book–my 5th– and I've used Word and Pages on Mac in the past. Both of these have bogged down with simple things like captions on images constantly going missing, and lots of other layout issues. I was hoping Nisus would be better.
My books are typically 150pgs and 11x8.5" format. I do use lots of images, an average of 50 per book. I like to include sidebars as text blocks inline in the text near where the sidebar thought is relevant. I like these sidebars to have a light colored background to match the rest of the book design. Single column text. TOC, the basics, not rocket science.
I've been using the Nisus demo to test what it can do with my next book and for the most part I've been very happy with the features. I've typed and partially formatted about 50 pages with 15 sidebars and 18 images with captions. I also use several bullet list styles and number lists in the text.
I have been having all sorts of layout issues where the software seems to go haywire and number everything in my document. I also have an odd situation that when I try to use small caps on "fff" it sometimes works and sometimes does it partially. Very odd this one.
But the BIG issue I have is maintaining my layout for text - images - sidebars. Seems like any little thing I do causes the images and sidebars to jump to odd places and it is time consuming and difficult to repair.
Some of this might be operator error but these are the same sorts of issues I have with Pages and I have tried a lot of different options for anchoring, etc.
Initially I tried using Text blocks for my sidebars with a light blue background. Formatting the blocks so they are a consistent width-the width of my page-is a bit of a challenge. The margin fields for the block don't always correspond to the actual page margins so I have to position by hand. Using the mouse to drag sometimes works but often causes the block to jump to another page. Very odd. I ended up abandoning using text blocks and now just insert my sidebars inline where I want them using a different face. I use a rectangle object with a blue fill and position it behind the text. I have to manually align these and even though I try to anchor to the sidebar text/paragraph itself, the anchor doesn't stay put. Every time I touch the file, a few of these boxes will move up or down a little (say 2 lines or so) and throw the layout off.
I've had more than one occasion where i've had to revert to an earlier version simply to recover from some very odd auto-reformat/layout issues.
It's driving me nuts so I thought I see if any experts here who understand what I'm seeing might have some best practices or other advice for what I'm trying to do.
Are there any ways of "purging" a Nisus file to remove cruft and stuff that might creep into it? I had written a utility for Pages 09 that did this - cleaned out unused styles, etc - and that helped a lot.
cheers,
Michael