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johnb3665
Known Participant
May 30, 2021
Question

How to create two text columns (left aligned and right aligned) in header

  • May 30, 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 1608 views

Hi all. I've inherited a document that seems to have two text columns in the header: one is left aligned and the other is right aligned). However, the previous editor seems to have just used tabs to position the two set of text. The problem is that the right-aligned text doesn't start on the top row. Instead, it starts on the second row (of the right aligned column) which causes the and the last part of it to be missing in the unseen third row (see attached). Note that I can not change the size of the header.

 

This is probably a simple problem to fix but I can't figure it out. Thx for any help.

 

Cheers -- John

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    5 replies

    S
    Community Manager
    Stefan GentzCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 31, 2021

    I second @shalomb61686619: It's probably best to follow the IEEE recommendation when creating this kind of content.

     

    You can find the 2021 IEEE SA Standards Style Manual and the FrameMaker templates here:

    https://standards.ieee.org/develop/drafting-standard/resources.html

     

      J
      johnb3665Author
      Known Participant
      May 31, 2021

      Hi Stefan-Gentz. Good comment. I've been using the template from the start. Unfortunately, this isn't much mention of how the header should look aside from being centered on the page in the actually Style Manual. But more importantly, it dosn't describe how it shouldn't look. Other standards have used different styles (see comments above).

       

      Cheers -- John

      S
      shalomb61686619
      Inspiring
      May 31, 2021

      Hi,

       

      The last approved version of IEEE Std 1685 was in 2014. At that time, the IEEE header style was different. Now it is centered, as I mentioned. If you don't center it, IEEE will do it to the final draft anyway.

       

      Regards,

      Shalom

      W
      Community Expert
      Winfried RengCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 31, 2021

      Another option is to put a table into the header text frame.

      This way it's easier to format and align the two columns. Especially when the text in one of the columns breaks into a second line or touches the text of the other column.

      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 30, 2021

      Hi John:

       

      You could lay this out in two separate frames—one for each side—or use a tab character between the left and right content, and then set a right-align tab stop.

       

      In my screen shot:

      1. There is one tab character  >  after IEEE and after Std 1685-2021 (View > Text Symbols to display the non-printing characters.)
      2. There is a hard return at the end of the first set of XXXs (not visible), which represents your first line of text. If you are using a hard return, both lines should assigned the Header style. You can also use a line break (Shift+Enter) to break to a new line, so that both lines are a single paragraph.
      3. There is one right-align tab stop above the right margin, and directly underneath the right indent triangle. (There is a 3-part series on working with tabs, starting here—https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-setting-tabs-part-i/.

       

      ~Barb 

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        J
        johnb3665Author
        Known Participant
        June 7, 2021

        Hi Barb. Thx. I ended up just adding another tab and adjusting manually - for now.

        S
        shalomb61686619
        Inspiring
        May 30, 2021

        As far as I know, current IEEE Standards Association style is for the document designation and the document name to be centered at the top of the page, not to be at the left and right. So you should probably be updating the page header format, anyway.

        Regards,

        Shalom

          J
          johnb3665Author
          Known Participant
          May 31, 2021
          Hi Shalom. Good comment, but I see nowhere in the "2020 IEEE SA Standards
          Style Manual" that restricts or even describes how the header should
          appear. Would you mind sharing or sending me the link to your reference
          document? Much appreciated.

          Cheers -- John
          S
          shalomb61686619
          Inspiring
          May 31, 2021

          Hi,

           

          You can see there in Annex B, "Example of a Draft Standard", how it looks.

          When I was the technical editor for IEEE Std 1800-2017 and sent the final draft to the IEEE editors, they changed the header to be centered, like you can see in Annex B.

           

          Regards,

          Shalom

            K.Daube
            Community Expert
            K.DaubeCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            May 30, 2021

            Hi John,

            Please use View > Text Symbols ON to identify the formatting of the header area.

            IMHO there is a Right TAB stop defined far right close to the width of the frame. Then you should see a TAB character (displayed as a vertically stretched > ) in front of the right adjusted text portion.

            From the first to the second line you most likely will see a Hard Line Break (displayed as a vertically stretched <)

            I hope that my assumptions are true...

            Klaus

            I need to describe the involved symbols as "vertically stretched" because the forumeditor doe not accept the Unicode characters U+3008 and U+3009..

              J
              johnb3665Author
              Known Participant
              May 31, 2021

              Hi Klaus. Pls see the attached image with the "Text Symbols ON." I'm not exactly sure what to do next to fix it. Thoughts?

               

              Thx -- John

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