How can I limit running headers to a certain number of characters?

Report · Oct 06, 2013

I have a client that has a few very long headings in their book. The headings can't be re-written. The immediate problem is that I have running headers in this book, so when Frame is using one of these long headings for the running header, the running header is garbled. The text runs all the way to the end of the line, then it starts over at the beginning of the line over the words that are already there.

Is there a method to limit the number of characters in a running header (or does someone know of another tactic) to force the running headers to display suitably?

I'm using Frame 9 on Windows 8. (It also occurs on Windows 7 with Frame 9.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Karen

Report · Oct 07, 2013

Or is there a way I can make the Running H/F run off the page so that they don't double back, yet they are white after they enter the margins?

Report · Oct 07, 2013

I recommend this approach:

Create a text frame.

In the text frame create a table with only a single row.

In one column insert your Running H/F variable. In the other column whatever you want to have there.

If the height of your text frame allows to show only a single line, then the text of the Running H/F variable will just get cut off. The text will flow into a second line which is not visible.

If the height is larger, then you might be able to see two lines of text.

If you want the table start exactly at the top of your insertion mark, then set the Spacing below Pgf to a negative value, e.g. -8 pt. Set the same negative value in the Table Designer as Spacing Above.

Report · Oct 10, 2013

Great ideas everyone—I really appreciate all of the feedback! Thanks Winfried!

As a quick solution for this issue, I created custom master pages (by duplicating my Left and Right master pages), then added more space for the extra lines, and applied them to the three pages where I’m having the issue. We’re about to go to press, and I don’t want to update all of the page layouts at this time. (I was hoping for a paragraph tag setting I had overlooked.) However, after this run, I think I will use Winfried’s table solution as custom master pages can be a maintenance issue as the content is added or removed.

Thanks,

Karen

Report · Oct 07, 2013

If the MasterPage frame that contains the RHF is only one row high, and suitably short, I would expect lone text string to get clipped at the frame edge. Problem is, that might be in the middle of a character.

I'd be tempted to use a variation on the RHF trick described lately at:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5730734#5730734

where each Heading1 has an anchored frame normally visible only to the author, containing the actual Heading1.RHF text picked for use in the header.

For most instances, each Heading1.RHF could just be an Xref to the full Heading1.

For the troublesome long Heading1's, the Heading1.RHF text would be hand-typed and shortened suitably.

> The headings can't be re-written.

In this hack, they aren't.

> I have a client ...

That's always an easy problem to fix .

If the anchored frames become an issue, you can also use the Marker trick described by Arnis in that same referenced thread. Markers take up no visible space, but might be less obvious for future document stewards to puzzle out. That person might be you .

Report · Oct 07, 2013

Use the Header/Footer $1, Header/Footer $2, etc. markers in your text and the corresponding <$marker1>, <$marker2>, etc. building blocks in your h/f variable definitions on the Master Pages. You can then insert in the marker(s) whatever (abbreviated) content you need for the header(s) that way. This is what they were designed for. This saves having to play around with additional paragraph tag defintions, reduces template tag pollution, and simplifies document maintenance by removing related tricks for workarounds.