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

[johnb3665]

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

[K.Daube]

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..

[johnb3665]

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

[shalomb61686619]

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

[johnb3665]

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

[shalomb61686619]

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

[johnb3665]

Thx for the clarification. The handoff from Accellera (the standard's body in the semiconductor chip development and EDA worlds) to the IEEE has been completed. It represents close to 4 years of work.

I've been working on the Accellera standard and will now work on the IEEE activity. SystemVerilog is the expression language for the IP-XACT. (You probably know Richard Weber, whom I believe was on both standards.) The document has just been handed off the IEEE-SA. I've been talking with them during the update of the IP-XACT standard to incorporate newer IEEE formats and styles. Still, I'm sure they'll have further updated before the IEEE approves the final std. Cheers -- John

[shalomb61686619]

Lucky you.

I recently finished working on Accellera's PSS v2.0 (Portable Test and Stimulus Standard). It was originally planned to be a small revision called v1.1 and turned into a much bigger and longer effort that lasted more than a year. 

Unfortunately for me, Accellera doesn't need another technical editor at the moment, and apparently IEEE-SA doesn't either (I've asked). Work is starting on the next SystemVerilog revision, but it will probably still be a while before they are ready to hire an editor.

Regards,

Shalom

[johnb3665]

Lucky? For continuing to work on the standard? I don't anticipate a lot of work over the next 6 months.

Thx for mentioning that you worked on the PSS standard. I was wondering who picked up that work. Did you take over for Stu Sutherland? I essentially took over for Joe Daniels. Both colleagues passed away in 2018 and they had collectively worked on a slew of standards.

I'll let you know if I hear of any work that I don't pick up. I write technical articles and whitepapers in addition to standards work. Cheers -- John

[shalomb61686619]

I picked up PSS after Joe Daniels passed away. I didn't know Joe very well, but Tom Fitzpatrick from Mentor wrote about him in a column he wrote, and I knew Tom, so I asked him delicately whether they were looking for a replacement, and they were.

I took over for SystemVerilog from Stu Sutherland, who was a good friend. This was actually before his death. He had taken a leave of absence to do missionary work for a year. I was shocked at his death because he was not old nor sick. The same for Joe, actually, as far as I know.

Regards,

Shalom

[Barb Binder]

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 

[johnb3665]

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

[Winfried Reng]

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.

[Stefan Gentz]

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

[johnb3665]

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

[shalomb61686619]

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

[johnb3665]

Yes, I'm well aware of the history of the document. But the 2020-2021 IEEE style guide doesn't confirm what you suggest. Where do you get your information? (BTW: I'm confirming directly with contacts at the IEEE SA.)

Cheers -- John

[johnb3665]

I believe you sent one other respond after this one, but I can't find it. The email treads in this community app seem a bit out of sync to me. Regardless, I'll share with you what I find out from the IEEE. I need to specific the correct IEEE documentation to proceed with updating the standard.