Table inconsistencies

[GRC]

Schedule Layour Sept 26.odt (82.6 KB)
Each month I produce the attached document with some small changes and additions. It comprises 2 pages of A4 landscape, which are double-side printed and folded to create an A5 leaflet. I would like to make it more professional; however, I have two problems.
1 The Table>Autoformat>Simple Grid Row Style, when occupying the full height of the page creates two consecutive rows of grey shading at the foot of the tables. It does not do this on the smaller table.
2 I have a third blank page that I am unable to eliminate.
I would welcome some input.

I am using Win 10 and version 26.8.0

[ajlittoz]

Issue #1: you have used a so-called Table “style” where underlying macros are triggered at unexpected (from user’s point of view) times to repaint the whole table. I don’t know exactly how this interacts with your own added direct formatting. Table “styles” operate in the direct formatting layer thus erasing what you may have done (some attributes get overwritten, some deleting and others untouched).

Due to these spurious repainting, I stay away from table “styles”. You have to accept them as they are provided and don’t try to customise them. So, if they fit your needs AS IS, OK. Otherwise go for fully manual tables and use various paragraph and character styles.

Issue #2: a Writer document always ends by a paragraph mark. In your case this last paragraph is an empty one located after the last table. It is styled Default Paragraph Style with an already patched Liberation Serif 9pt font.

You have configured your pages with minimal margins to accommodate your large tables. There is not enough room remaining for a 9pt paragraph. Since the very last paragraph can’t be removed, adjust font size to 2pt. This fixes the issue.

If after modifying your table contents, the issue reappears, decrease just a tiny bit your bottom margin.

Extra issue: you document is heavily direct formatted. Use styles consistently.

• Default Paragraph Style is not the standard text for your topic. This is the role of Body Text. Deft. Para. Style is a “technical” style hosting your typographical and spacing preferences which are forwarded to all other styles. Customising it has unexpected effects on others if you’re not aware of it.
• Don’t vertically space with empty paragraphs. They cause more harms than solutions. It is easier to tune document layout if there are no such empty paragraphs. You adjust spacing in paragraph styles or padding around tables.

[PKG]

@GRC

Note:

You do not need to sort the pages for printing yourself. Let the printer handle that.

Keyword: Print as a brochure.

Schedule A5.odt (68,6 KB)

[ajlittoz]

@PKG

Print as a brochure.

@GRC With @PKG’s trick, you no longer need to split your tables one sub-table per page. You compose your document in reading order. You end up with a single table which is automatically split when needed. This should simplify maintenance.

[GRC]

Many thanks for your prompt response. As this document has beein inherited and evolved, I have endeavoured to eliminate all direct formating by using CTRL M throughout. Every part should have its own specific style.
Your simple solution to eliminate the spurious page is simple and effective

[GRC]

Print as Brochure.
The document is always printed as brochure and that is why it is laid out as it is. This unfortunately precludes it from being one table.

[PKG]

@GRC

This unfortunately precludes it from being one table.

I see it differently.

Schedule A5.pdf (2,8 MB)

[ajlittoz]

@GRC

to eliminate all direct formating by using CTRL M

There are various forms of direct formatting. The most obvious one is “typographical”; it is eliminated by Ctrl+M. However, you still have DF in your document.

Another most pernicious one is vertical spacing with empty paragraphs. It trashes your layout if you are not careful enough. Empty paragraphs mean you must check them after any editing with changes the number of lines in a paragraph so that you ascertain your layout is still meeting your expectations. The reliable way to handle (vertical) layout is with spacing and text flow parameters in paragraph styles, wrapping properties in frame styles (valid for images too) and padding around tables.

[LeroyG]

@ajlittoz

Since the very last paragraph can’t be removed

…hide it.

[EarnestAl]

As you want to maintain this document then a single table is easiest. To aid alphabetical sorting I changed the position of the asterisk to the end of the course name so you can use the Table > Sort feature. The asterisk has its own Character style, Big Asterisk, so you can change the appearance to suit.
.
As you are using 26.8 then you have a bit more control over the table styles. For your document, I created a new table style, U3A, and made sure it applied just background row colour and pattern, I left the last row set as Automatic so it will continue the pattern instead of applying its own background colour.
.
I changed Default Paragraph style to Arial 12 and added your new styles as subsidiaries of Default Paragraph style. I removed all the blank paragraphs and set the two images As Character so they could be centred nicely

The entire document is on A4 size, the intention is to print as brochure so each page will be A5 size. You can either print from LibreOffice, or if you are getting it printed elsewhere, export it to pdf and get the printer company to print as brochure, Adobe Reader is happy to print as Booklet (brochure). As a final option, you could print to pdf as brochure and have it printed normally.

Schedule Layour Sept 26_137386EA.odt (67.1 KB)

Schedule Layour Sept 26_137386EA.pdf (79.0 KB)

[GRC]

Many thanks to you all for your expert advice. Putting it all together, I have started from scratch using an A5 page style.
Schedule Layour Sept 26 Rev 2.odt (73.4 KB)
I had to use the Table>Autoformat style to get the striped B/G pattern; however, I then had to access the Table Properties and remove the padding.
I will investigate Earnest Al’s method of creating the B/G row colour and pattern as mine is too feint and also creating a character style for the asterisk.
Every couple of months we gain a new group and the challenge is to increase the number of table rows without exceeding four pages.
The document is ultimately distributed as a PDF which members can print as a brochure.

[ajlittoz]

@GRC

also creating a character style for the asterisk

BEWARE! You are using a table “style”. Whenever an event causes table repainting, the macros apply their decorations with direct formatting. If the cells contain “decorations” which conflict with the designer’s choices, “decorations” created with a character style will be hidden by the direct formatting.

So, proceed with caution. It works if any change brought by the character style does not interfere with the formatting of the table “style”.

[GRC]

Many thanks. I guess I will have to watch out for that.
Incidentlty, using 26.8 causes crashes when working with tables. It took three crashes and recoveries to apply the Header Rows Repeat Across Pages option.

[ajlittoz]

@GRC

using 26.8 causes crashes

You mentioned 26.8.0. x.y.0 and .1 are considered beta or early-adopter versions. They are frequently affected by residual bugs. x.y.2+ are “production” versions. Mine here is 26.8.2.1 which shipped a few days ago for Fedora 44 26.2.6.1.

EDIT: Oops! I read too fast my release number (but still updated a few days ago). Apologies to all and thanks @Hrbrgr. Probably old age.

[Hrbrgr]

@ajlittoz

26.8.2.1

Really?
The last download for windows from today is 26.8.0.3.

Download — LibreOffice

[EarnestAl]

In 26.8 there is no more None for table style, Default Table Style is now what you get for a new table.
The good news is that there is more control over what happens where.
The best news is that changing the style of a table from one of the included table styles to Default Table Style resets everything back to default, that is, Table Contents and Table Heading apply again.
.
How this works can be seen in the new Table Style dialogue. The only thing is that you cannot change the settings back to Automatic; you must change the table style to Default Table Style and start styling again. On the whole, it is a good step forward towards having table styles work in a similar manner to paragraph styles.

When you apply the table style from Table > AutoFormat Styles you can choose whether or not to apply the text characteristics. If they are not applied, they revert to Table Contents.