Writer Guide

Introduction
Chapter 6 (Introduction to Styles) described the basics on how to use,
apply, and manage styles. This chapter gives a more detailed
description of how to create or modify a style, using the many options
available on the various pages of the Style dialog box. You will learn
how these options affect the appearance of the style and how to use
them efficiently. Examples and hints are also provided.
The Style dialog boxes share many of the same pages as the manual
formatting dialog boxes, so you can also use this chapter to help you
apply manual formatting (though you do not need that if you use
styles).
Creating custom (new) styles
In addition to using the predefined styles provided by OOo, you can
add new custom (user-defined) styles. In Chapter 6, two methods were
given for creating a new style: the drag-and-drop approach and the
New Style from Selection icon in the Styles and Formatting window.
These methods are very convenient because it is possible to
immediately check the visual effects that the style produces before
creating it. However, they may require you to access several different
menus, and you have a somewhat reduced amount of control on style
(particularly when it comes to organizing them). The method described
in this chapter, therefore, concerns only the use of the Style dialog box.
The Style dialog box
Open the Styles and Formatting window. Select first the category of
style you want to create by clicking on the appropriate icon in the top
part of the Styles and Formatting window. For example, select the third
icon from the left if you want to create a new frame style.
Right-click on the main window and select New from the pop-up menu.
If you right-click on an existing style, the new style will be linked to the
style you clicked on. If you right-click on an empty area, then the initial
settings of the style are copied from the Default style of the
corresponding category.
The dialog box that is displayed depends on the type of style you
selected. Many of the pages are the same as those that are displayed
when manual formatting is applied. Therefore, if you are familiar with
manual formatting, you will find that you already know how to use
Chapter 7 Working with Styles 221