Writer Guide

• Realize that clicking the Bold icon in the toolbar is not easier
than double-clicking on a character style that is preset for bolding
the font typeface.
• Leave the Styles and Formatting window open to make character
styles easy to access.
Working with frame styles
Frames are often used as containers for text or graphics. To provide
consistency in the appearance of frames used for similar purposes, it is
a good idea to define styles for frames. For example, you might want
photographs to be enclosed in a frame with a drop-shadowed border,
line drawings in a frame with a plain border, marginal notes in a frame
without a border but with a shaded background, and so on.
Writer provides several predefined frame styles, which you can modify
as needed; and you can define new frame styles. The technique for
defining and applying frame styles is similar to that for other styles.
Tip
There is considerable overlap between the uses of frames and
of sections for some page layout purposes. You may find it
useful to take a look at Chapter 4 (Formatting Pages) for
information about the use of frames and sections.
How frame styles work
When an object is added to Writer, it is automatically enclosed in a
frame of a predetermined type. The frame sets how the object is placed
on the page, as well as how it interacts with other elements in the
document. You can edit the frame by modifying the frame style it uses
or by using a manual override when a frame is added to the document.
Because frames and objects are used together, it sometimes is easy to
forget they are separate elements. In some cases, such as charts, you
can edit the frame and object separately, so the distinction is worth
remembering.
Unlike other elements that use styles, frames can be defined only
partly by their style because their use can vary so much. Several
elements of frames, such as the anchor and protected elements, need
to be defined manually for individual frames.
You can format a frame manually when you select Insert > Frame.
The dialog box that opens contains all the settings available when
frame styles are set up, as well as some only available when the frame
242 OpenOffice.org 3 Writer Guide