Hi, I’m using a nested DIV layout on a master page and then filling in the content on the individual pages.
However, adding the page content breaks the connection with the master page.
And if I later alter the master page and do a Re-apply Master, it overwrites the page-specific content.
So for each change on the master page I have been having to cut the page-specific content, re-apply master, then paste back the content - for every page.
Is this just how things are or have I missed some option somewhere?
Does anybody have any idea whether this is being worked on for a future release of Freeway?
(I get the impression that Softpress aren’t as secretive as certain other Apple-related companies - well OK, specifically Apple - so possibly somebody can say.)
Master pages are quite a big thing and nested DIV layouts likewise, so…
(I get the impression that Softpress aren’t as secretive as certain other Apple-related companies - well OK, specifically Apple - so possibly somebody can say.)
Hmm…you might be mistaken there. All software producers have some kind of NDA in place.
Hmm…you might be mistaken there. All software producers have some kind of NDA in place.
I was thinking more of the possibility a comment from somebody actually within Softpress rather than an outsider – it’s not unheard of for software companies to say they’re thinking of this or that feature for an upcoming version.
(Although I suppose this is more likely with small indie developers moving to unlikely with large corporate companies, as a generalisation.)
I’d like to see the ability to distinguish between Master Page Items with and without content. Sort of like “Master Content Items” and “Master Layout Items.”
The latter would allow editing of the placement, size, child aspects etc. of the Master Layout Item while essentially ignoring any page item’s content. Then I would click a button or somehow invoke a dialog to “Apply to Pages.” Then FW would apply those changes to all relevant pages and reflow content appropriately.
Of course if Master Content Items have had their Page content edited, a whole can of worms is opened. In that case, FW would have to behave pretty much the way it does.
We are indeed planning to improve the behavior between master pages and in-flow items.
Hope this helps,
Joe
On 16 May 2010, at 11:38, stewart wrote:
On 16 May 2010, 1:10 am, chuckamuck wrote:
Hmm…you might be mistaken there. All software producers have some kind of NDA in place.
I was thinking more of the possibility a comment from somebody actually within Softpress rather than an outsider – it’s not unheard of for software companies to say they’re thinking of this or that feature for an upcoming version.
(Although I suppose this is more likely with small indie developers moving to unlikely with large corporate companies, as a generalisation.)
I’d like to see the ability to distinguish between Master Page Items with and without content. Sort of like “Master Content Items” and “Master Layout Items.”
The latter would allow editing of the placement, size, child aspects etc. of the Master Layout Item while essentially ignoring any page item’s content. Then I would click a button or somehow invoke a dialog to “Apply to Pages.” Then FW would apply those changes to all relevant pages and reflow content appropriately.
Of course if Master Content Items have had their Page content edited, a whole can of worms is opened. In that case, FW would have to behave pretty much the way it does.
I’m with you all the way on the above.
I mistakenly thought Freeway already did this and spent ages searching for the relevant check-boxes! (On reflection, maybe I was thinking of InDesign. Does that do it?)
On 17 May 2010, 8:48 am, stewart wrote:
I mistakenly thought Freeway already did this and spent ages searching for the relevant check-boxes! (On reflection, maybe I was thinking of InDesign. Does that do it?)
Well, kind of yes, and kind of no. Short version, “no”…
In InDesign, and most page layout programs, if you have a Master Item to which you apply changes on Pages, the “link” is broken. This makes sense, in that you could have many pages on which you have made many different changes to the same Master Item. In that case, how could the software “know” which changes to preserve–or discard/override when you edited the Master Item?
Longer version, qualified “yes”…
In Indesign, and I think Quark XPress–although it’s been ages since I worked with it–you can have Master Text Frames which will maintain unbroken links to Page text frames. There are a few caveats.
You cannot edit the Master Items to be outside the Page Margins.
You cannot change the size of the Page frames on a page.
Something else I can’t at the moment remember.
But I hope you get the idea, and see the relevance to my post above. So long as you obey the rules for limiting the changes to the Master Text Frame Items, you can add text and/or graphics to the associated Page Text Frame Items; edit the size and placement of the Master Items; and then have those changes apply to the Page Items.
In InDesign and others, it’s a matter of discriminating between Content and Layout (as above).
And it seems to me, FW does this to single Master Page Items. Even when filled with Page Content, FW will allow placement and size editing of the Master Item. But only one level deep?
Seems that putting items inside Master Page Items prevents the linking from being editable on the Master Page.
The behavior of the Inspector Palette is also somewhat inconsistent. Inflow Master Items are treated strictly as Page Content: the “Use Master Content/settings” checkboxes don’t appear for them.
