“I downloaded your document in the hope to characterise the problem.”
Thank you
“Alas, your book is a sin against intelligence: you have used only Heading 1, Heading 2 and Text Body paragraph styles; a single page style *Default Page Style; Emphasis, Strong Emphasis and a custom character styles.”
I used Liberation Serif size 10 for the whole text, in the document, and just changed sizes for the headings. For Heading 3 I used size 12, for chapters I used size 22. Why is that not allowed? What should I do?
“Globally your formatting is totally unstructured. Structuring your text with styles is mandatory on a 900-page document; otherwise you won’t be able to tune its layout and formatting…”
I removed all direct formatting when the problems with the TOC started showing up, Why is it still there?
*“You space vertically your text with empty paragraph without caring for the effect. As an example, you pollute your with Heading n empty paragraphs which end up in the TOC for no semantic reason.”
This is what happens every time I refresh the alphabetical index, I don’t do this myself.
“As an example of an erroneous usage, look at the dedication. It is logically a single paragraph you split into 4 independent ones with heavy direct formatting over Text Body. You should have created a Dedication paragraph style, centered, with a specific line spacing.”
Where do I find the command “Dedication paragraph’”?
“* Your outline is based on levels 1 and 3. Where is level 2?”
What do you mean with outline?
“Styling should follow your contents structure, i.e. styles primarily “annotate” text with semantic significance such as Heading n for headings (partially done), Text Body for main topic and other paragraph styles for other meanings like remark, caveat, chemical definition/composition, medical counter indication, prescription advice, … This the way an author communicates the nuances of his discourse to Writer. And vertical spacing is part of this meaning for structuring the text in parallel with your message to readers. Hence vertical spacing is configured inside paragraph styles.”
“Instead of that you apply everywhere direct formatting without caring for side effects.”
I removed all direct formatting through control A. Why is it still there?
“You have frequently short numbered lists (numerical or alphabetical) you enter manually instead of relying on automatic numbering thanks to list styles. How do you manage renumbering when you reorder your items?”
Why is that a problem?
“You have 6 empty frames which are useless and at least for one disturb standard text flow.”
These are what the alphabetical index inserts every time I refresh it.
“You have created hundreds of sections (and even sections within section) for absolutely no reason in your notes. Such a huge number put a big penalty on Writer and may result in instability.”
With penalty I think you mean strain?
“Due to your manual vertical spacing, your tables are no longer synchronised with page boundaries here (I may have a different font configuration which creates a cumulative slight offset page after page). In one occurrence at least, table heading are not repeated on next page. You should use table text flow properties to guard against such mishap.”
Thanks for the tip. I’ll look into that.
“As is your document, we can’t be really help. You must first rigorously restructure it. and remove all useless components. Remember that the more “objects” you have, the more difficult it is to manage formatting and layout. Read “objects” as paragraphs, direct formatting directives, sections, frames, images, notes, … Writer can handle “monster docs” like yours but make the task easier by trying to make do with as few objects as possible.”
