Making an event poster and the elements look weird when I sent the ODT file. What's going on?

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#1

Ok, so this isn’t my first rodeo, but I am not a graphics professional and I run events. I like to design my own advertising: the events posters and postcards. Generally, I use PS Print and they have a graphics layout program that lives on their website - but not, as they informed me - for creating posters!

For that, they advised that I use Adobe. But…I am a student, on a second-hand clone and don’t have the cash for Adobe…plus all the basic functions from platform to platform seem very similar to me, so I just rolled up my sleeves and launched good 'ol LibreWriter.

Well, all the tools seemed to be there, even though I don’t think I am using the graphics end of the suite, per se, it is doing the job. What resulted was an ODT file that looked great, so I sent it to one of our customers (to show it off!) and to my horror, it looks like Shite.

All the formatting is missing and it’s just terrible and embarrasing. Plus, I don’t think the printer can use this mess either. Please let me know what’s gone wrong. I often have to recreate what I have built on other platforms as I learn their capabilities, their limitations and their best applications. It isn’t always intuitive but it usually makes sense.

I think I did something wrong which is quite basic and I hope someone here can explain what that was and how to fix it.

Many thanks! I’ve included the poster as an attachment. Also, if someone out there knows how I can take a screenshot, I can at least let the printer know how I wanted the poster to look and it may help them advise me, as well.

Many Thanks!

Leslie Landberg
Oaktown Supperclub Creative Gourmet EventsNoel Coward Event Poster.odt

EDIT ebot: taken from Leslie’s answer

I am hoping a change of file format to pdf will straighten everything out. I will write back if this resolves the issue. I know the printer (or at least now I recollect) that the printer specified uploading in pdf! Thanks to all. Leslie

#2

If you want some serious help, edit your question (don’t use your answer) to explain how “it looks like Shite” (this is no technical matter-of-fact expression). Tell us what you’re trying to achieve (e.g. overlay an image with text in a defined area, the structure of the poste like a cover page followed by “standard” flowing text, …). Is your poster “page-based”? I mean are the pages a fundamental break-out element? On the contrary, you don’t care for pages, accepting how Writer spills over text on subsequent pages?

With reagrd to screenshot, the procedure depends on the OS which you didn’t mention. What could also be of interest is LO version.

Read these guidelines and act accordingly because my crystal ball is down for maintenance.

#3

Thanks for letting me see the guidelines! But what does it mean when you say: “don’t use your answer”?

I am not technical, but I will try to specify platforms and file forms used a little more comprehensively in future. However, I explained the formatting is missing, so that IS very straightforward i.e. the page doesn’t look the way I designed it to when I sent it. Not mysterious. Yes, obviously it is formatting issues. And yes, I forgot to specify what platforms I am using and where I am sending it, etc. so that could help you figure out where I might have gone wrong. I believe someone here has replied that I need to convert to pdf. I believe that might solve all my issues across all platforms. Fingers crossed! Thanks for the input.

#4

“Don’t use your answer”: this is a question&answers site, not a forum. This means any user is entitled only one answer and you can’t start a discussion because of this restriction. Answers must be solutions to the problem. Moreover, the site engine reorders the answers by order of “relevance” (and its criteria for relevance don’t follow common sense) making the temporal sequence vanish in the process (i.e. a follow-on may appear before the contribution it answers to!)

The only available way to simulate a discussion is through comments (and comments remain in their chronological order).

#11

From the comments, clarifications and explanations you provided about the document and its contents, it confirms what I suspected from the start: you focus your interest on the first page.

What you want is to position various elements at precise positions in the page. You have no need for sophisticated text flow. You are in the DTP (DeskTop Publishing) domain.

With such a specification, Writer and LO in general is not the adequate tool. You should look at Scribus, a libre DTP application. The primary objects in Scribus are pages (not automatic spill over to next page) and frames within pages. Frames may contain pictures, graphical elements or text. They may be overlayed with or without transparency and positioned very accurately.

Considering your example poster, you’ll experience less trouble with Scribus than with Writer, Impress or Draw.

The reference in DTP is Quark XPress but it is rather expensive if you aren’t a professional and it doesn’t exist under Linux (in case this is your platform).

To show the community your question has been answered, click the ✓ next to the correct answer, and “upvote” by clicking on the ^ arrow of any helpful answers. These are the mechanisms for communicating the quality of the Q&A on this site. Thanks!

#5

I agree with you that formatting the different elements is not easy. For example, the text fields were too big for you (empty at the bottom, an unnecessary “A” at the top). In my opinion, the white font with a red border does not look very serious. It is also difficult due to the background image, which has some limitations.

I once made you a pattern that (I hope) looks a little better. The stars are now “grouped” in the Horizotalen.

Good luck with further tinkering!

Noel Coward Event Poster_02.odt

Noel Coward Event Poster_02.odg

Please change after download the extension “odg” to “pdf”.

Note 1: I would put the following text (2 pages) in a separate document.

Note 2: I suspect my help is shady.

Nevertheless: If my answer has solved your problem, please click on the checkmark in the circle Bildbeschreibung to the left of the answer for upvote. This will tell the community that the question has been answered correctly.

#6

With me Windows 10 Home; Version 1909; 64-Bit | LibreOffice, Version: 6.4.0.3 (x64).

#7

I guess it moves me in the right direction and thank you so much for the thoughtful input. What is a Horizotalen? Never heard of that! It is the formatting that is the problem, not the design. Another person commented that pdf format will resolve these issues - and come to think of it, that is what my printer would probably have told me, as well. Oh, btw, the text after the poster were all just scraps of an advert I preserved in case it got erased on the platform I was trying to upload it onto. New platforms can eat your shit, so I cut and paste and that was a handy landing spot, is all.

#8

The pdf conversion may solve it. And yes, to having to keep on tinkering. Experience may make me faster eventually, but I suspect that even seasoned pros have to “futz around” to get it just right.

#9

Horizontalen is the German plural form for “horizontal”. I thought initially that @Hrbrgr named an object as Horizontalen but either he forgot or he did it and the name disappeared. All the Draw objects are named Shape n in the revised document.

#10

Uh sorry, in the “Horizontalen”, it should read: The stars are grouped in the horizontal.

Grouping is a good function for connecting objects. They are moved together when you click on them.

#12

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