Starting a set of styles from scratch in LO Writer?

users
#1

Hello,

I would love to fully utilise templates in my Writer documents, but am still
confused about its organisation.

When I open the Styles and Formatting window, it shows all styles under the
Default "category". I can make changes to, and add new entries under
Default. However, I do not like organising my styles this way, because I
can't delete the stock styles in it.

Is there a way to start my own set of styles from scratch, independent from
the Default group? Once I created my styles, how do I save them into a file
so as to use in other documents?

Thanks!

#2

Default styles are there forever, you can't delete them.

Though, I encourage you to use them before any personal style creation, because

-- the stock styles get internationally supported

eg: EN Text Body is FR Corps de texte
-> This is understadable by whoever opens the document, English speaker or French native.

-- any user opening you docs will be able to have their own style settings which will automagically adapt your docs to their taste.

eg: you setup the Text Body paragraph style to use Liberation Sans font fo your document. If you pass it over to me, where I have the same style with the Liberation Serif font setup, I can read *your* document with *my* settings.

Styles are the pillar or OOo/LibO. Just because of this, I couldn't go back to MSO. It is very important to grasp the styles principles and learn their use. This knowledge brings a tremendous step in ease of typing, document structuring and management.
Designing your own styles is of course possible -- and you'll have to do so whenever the corresponding stock style doesn't exist -- but I strongly insist on the use of the stock styles before any other attempt.

HTH,

#3

Hi avamk,

avamk schrieb:

Hello,

I would love to fully utilise templates in my Writer documents, but am still
confused about its organisation.

When I open the Styles and Formatting window, it shows all styles under the
Default "category". I can make changes to, and add new entries under
Default. However, I do not like organising my styles this way, because I
can't delete the stock styles in it.

Is there a way to start my own set of styles from scratch, independent from
the Default group? Once I created my styles, how do I save them into a file
so as to use in other documents?

Each new document is based on a document template. This template contains a set of styles. For to get your own set of styles you have to generate a document and save it as document template. You can made your favorite template a default then.

Only in very few cases it is necessary to create own, independent styles, but in most cases it is better to alter an existing styles to contain the settings you need. Such changes do not effect other document templates.

Kind regards
Regina

#4

Perhaps the first step is to get the Writer Guide from
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation. Since you are
interested in using styles in Writer, Download the ODT rather than the
PDF version. There are two chapters on styles that you should study, and
I think chapter 9 is also important. There also is a chapter on
templates that you should find useful.
     At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting window is a drop down
list. One of the selections is Custom Styles. (The default setting is Automatic
for USA English.) Create your own styles, and select Custom from the
drop down list. You will only see the styles you created.
     All of the user guides listed on that web page is written almost
exclusively with custom styles. Open the Writer Guide in LO, open the
Styles and Formatting window, and select Custom Styles from the drop
down list I mentioned. And if you want to see all of the custom styles,
click on the icons at the top of the window. From left to right, you
have Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, Page Styles, and List Styles.
The last two icons are Fill Format Mode (See Writer Guide), and New
Styles from Selection.
     When I'm using Writer, I usually select Applied Styles from the
drop down list rather than Custom Styles. This allows me to find the
style I want easier. If I find that I need to use a custom style, I
select Custom Styles at the bottom and apply it. Then it appears in the
Applied Styles lists when I need it the next time.

--Dan

#5

Hello,

Thank you so much for your quick replies.

Looks like the general idea is that one should use styles by modifying the
"Default" set.

However, as you mentioned the LO Writer guide itself uses almost all custom
styles not in the "Default" set.

I guess I will start by reading through the LO Writer guide's sections on
styles, thank you for pointing me in that direction!

Just out of curiosity, if I set up my styles in Writer, and save a document
as a *.docx file, then open it in Micro$oft Office, will the styles work
correctly?

Thanks again!

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
Yes, the Writer's Guide does use it's own custom set of names but it seems to cause problems and the list has discussed changing to the proper ones.  Sadly they don't have much time to deal with stuff like that and need to focus on just getting the guides out there. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

Please don't draw conclusions of the problem until more is know.
The problem occurs with the numbering of graphics. What does this have
to do with applying custom styles? It is a function of the Insert
caption dialog.

--Dan

#8

Are you sure about it? I would consider it rather bug than a feature.

If I set my document to use 8pt MS Comic Sans as a default text body font,
then I want my document to be mostly 8pt MS Comic Sans. If I send this
document to my friend, I want him to see that absurd font setting (if only he
has MS Comic Sans installed). In electronic documents (as ODT) this is very
important to preserve any formatting applied by author.

Or maybe your comment applies only to documents created on base of default
Writer template? I have switched to my own default template years ago.

And yes, I know that if anyone wants to preserve formatting, then PDF is the
best choice. But sometimes you want to send editable document (Hybrid PDF does
not change anything, since it basically is ODT embedded into PDF, so any
remarks applied to ODT applies to Hybrid PDF as well).

#9

Hi :slight_smile:
Hmm, you are talking about the current problem that they are working on.  The styles issue is completely different and was discussed at least a year or so ago.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#10

-- any user opening you docs will be able to have their own style
settings which will automagically adapt your docs to their taste.

eg: you setup the Text Body paragraph style to use Liberation Sans font
fo your document. If you pass it over to me, where I have the same style
with the Liberation Serif font setup, I can read *your* document with
*my* settings.

Are you sure about it? I would consider it rather bug than a feature.

Well, YMMV.

If I copy and paste a given document (using stock styles) into my own template, I get the doc with the settings I like. I find this to be neat and useful :wink:

If I set my document to use 8pt MS Comic Sans as a default text body font,
then I want my document to be mostly 8pt MS Comic Sans. If I send this
document to my friend, I want him to see that absurd font setting (if only he
has MS Comic Sans installed). In electronic documents (as ODT) this is very
important to preserve any formatting applied by author.

Sorry, no, I don't think so. In fact there are two situations, as you mention below:
(1) the author wants his/her work to remain untouched -> PDFs
(2) s-he doesn't mind, or s-he respects the user's preferences -> ODFs

Or maybe your comment applies only to documents created on base of default
Writer template? I have switched to my own default template years ago.

Yes.

#11

Yes, the Writer's Guide does use it's own custom set of names
but it seems to cause problems and the list has discussed changing to
the proper ones.

Yes. I had mentioned that... err... "feature" some months ago. I consider this example to be the worst thing in documents that are precisely there to show what good practices are. And, for the reasons explained above, this is a very bad one. Reading avamk message is all grist for my mill.

Sadly they don't have much time to deal with stuff
like that and need to focus on just getting the guides out there.

Yes, that's for sure: fixing such extensive "stylisation" is a very time-consuming task.