Initials

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useeger
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Initials

Post by useeger »

Is there a way to create initial letters with Nisus?

Enclosed a snapshot how it should look like.

Thanks for help
Ulrich
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exegete77
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Re: Initials

Post by exegete77 »

This thread might help you. Drop Caps style sheet

Be sure to look at the attachment that has drop caps style.
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

No, does not help. My desired initial does not stand on the first line. I fear, the only way to accomplish that task is to insert the initials as graphics, what is a little bit complicated (I have 20 chapters which should each beginn with initials).

But anyway, thanks for thinking about my problem
Þorvarður
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Re: Initials

Post by Þorvarður »

useeger wrote:I fear, the only way to accomplish that task is to insert the initials as graphics
Have you tried text boxes?
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

Oh, nice idea! Didn't try it. Seems to be a little bit tricky with the spacing of the lines (in your example line 4 has an additional space, what is not wanted).

I made it now by inserting graphics of the big letters. It worked fine and it wasn't as complicated as I feared.

Enclosed an example how it looks like now

Thanks for help
Ulrich

btw: of course Nisus is only a word processer and not a layout program. but I have no layout program and I don't know how these programs work. so I make everything with Nisus.
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Þorvarður
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Re: Initials

Post by Þorvarður »

You can use the Shape Metrics palette to tweak the size and determine where the shapes appear on the page.
Shape Metrics palette.png
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I think line 4 has now the same space:
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b.png
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

Very nice, never saw before "shape metrics". One never stops learning.

But now line 5 should also have the same space, then it is perfect.
Þorvarður
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Re: Initials

Post by Þorvarður »

useeger wrote:But now line 5 should also have the same space, then it is perfect.
This was done deliberately, because my "Lorem Ipsum" text shows the first two paragraphs of the novella Heart of Darkness by Józef Teodor Nałęcz Konrad Korzeniowski, better known as Joseph Conrad. The 5th line is the second paragraph of the story; therefore the additional space.

If you give me your first 4 lines, then I can see whether this is possible. It is also important to know how big you want the "S" to be.
S.png
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The screenshots you provided are not very helpful. They just indicate that you want Drop Caps.
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

I think, there does not exist a printed edition of Joseph Conrad with additional space before paragraphs. In print a new paragraph is marked by indentation, not by additional space.

I prefer 3 lines for the height of the initials, but that's not important, others may make 4,5,6 ... lines. Enclosed an example how it should look like, I hope it's clearer now. I am sorry for my lack of clarity.

If the first paragraph of a chapter is very short (in my case less than 4 lines), these initials make some additional problems. Therefore I avoided the paragraphs which are in the original text in my example .
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Þorvarður
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Re: Initials

Post by Þorvarður »

useeger wrote:I think, there does not exist a printed edition of Joseph Conrad with additional space before paragraphs. In print a new paragraph is marked by indentation, not by additional space.
Hi Ulrich,

I checked my printed edition, and I think you may be quite right. Thanks for pointing this out. I guess I will have to reformat my whole Lorem Ipsum Glossary-text now. :lol:

As far as I can see, your example looks perfect now.

If you inserted the "S" as graphic, then check out how it looks on printed paper before you change your (whole) document. I remember, when I inserted graphics in my texts, they often looked blurred compared to the actual text. Maybe it was just an issue with my HP Officejet 5600 printer, I don't know. I haven't had the need to print out anything for a long time.
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

Today I learned, that the English name of these "initials" is indeed Drop Caps (as you wrote). Didn't know that word before.

Yes, I made it as graphic. I wrote the desired capitals in a Nisus doc with 55 point and saved it as PDF. Then opened the pdf with GraphicConverter in 300 dpi, cut out a letter and saved it as jpeg. It should have now 300 dpi what is sufficient for my purposes. But you are right, I should make a test before and will make it.

greetings from Germany
Ulrich
Bendrus
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Re: Initials [drop-caps]

Post by Bendrus »

Yes, I made it as graphic. I wrote the desired capitals in a Nisus doc with 55 point and saved it as PDF. Then opened the pdf with GraphicConverter in 300 dpi, cut out a letter and saved it as jpeg. It should have now 300 dpi what is sufficient for my purposes. But you are right, I should make a test before and will make it.


Ulrich, looks like you achieved a satisfactory resolution. But to optimize file size and quality, keep the drop-cap as a "live" character (drawing upon the font rather than freezing pixels in a raster image).

I'm still back on OS 10.4.11 and Nisus Pro 1.3 but I can achieve such a text-block by copying in a graphic from AppleWorks Drawing, or from a iWork Pages element, or by setting a small page size with zero margins and print preview and save the resulting .pdf file to insert into the Nisus document. I expect that with NWP 2 you could create a text block or object directly and use it as the graphic.

Of course if one wants the full text to stay in tact (for screen readers & searching), a very inelegant solution to extend Martin's solution to actually drop down into the paragraph would be to make the first (drop-cap) character a sub-script format with increased descent distance as needed and then insert an option-return and tabs or spaces to push the subsequent lines of text to the right, out from under the drop-cap. Tweak the descent, font size, and tab stops/spaces.

All the Best,
Ben Andrus in Montana
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useeger
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Re: Initials

Post by useeger »

Hello Ben,

thanks for your suggestions. Of course it would be better to maintain "live" letters.

I tried to insert the initials not as jpeg but directly as pdf. The result was, that Nisus does not treat them as graphics but as normal text letters.

Your second proposal is also not practicable because adding option-return destroys justification (the right alignment).

In the meanwhile I made printing tests with my 300 dpi jpeg graphics of the drop caps ... and it looks perfect. So my problem is solved and it wasn't really a lot of work.

all the best
Ulrich
allenwatson
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Re: Initials

Post by allenwatson »

I'm still looking for a really good solution to formatting a Drop Cap. I've looked at one solution I found in another thread, offering two styles, one for the paragraph, one for the Character to become a drop cap. It results in a drop cap, sorta, that sits on the same baseline and extends above the rest of the paragraph, rather than sitting down in the paragraph with the remainder of the text wrapped around it, as in the text box solution.

The current Nisus Writer Pro manual, page 231, offers this solution:
Use Text Boxes to create a “Drop Cap”

While Nisus Writer Pro does not currently support an automatic drop cap capability, you can accomplish this using the “Images”.

1. Choose the menu command: Tools > Insert Shape > Text Box.

2. Drag the “Cross Hair” pointer to the approximate size you want the dropped cap.

3. Type the character you want for the dropped cap.

4. Select the character and set its formatting using the tools of the Character palette.

5. Resize the text box so that it “hugs” the character.

6. Select the text wrap option from the menu: Tools > Shapes > Wrap Text Around Shape.

7. Drag the character to the beginning of the paragraph where you want it.

8. Adjust the padding as needed using the Padding section of the Shape Wrap palette. You can make other modifications as needed.

This is tedious for a single paragraph, and way too much trouble if you are using it often, as I'd like to do (8-15 times in a single document). But if that process could be at least partially automated by a macro, it would be terrific. It would have to prompt for the character, but for me at least, it could include fixed settings (size, font, etc.) for the character. It would be okay with me if I had to drag the text box containing the character to its position and adjust the padding, since that is going to vary according to what the character is.

I'm not great at macros, however. Would anyone be willing to take a crack at it?
B.Otter
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Re: Initials

Post by B.Otter »

Still in learning mode with Nisus here; had to try this. Really, once you get a handle on the variables you can tweak, to do this for 20 chapters should not be onerous, especially relative to what you've invested in writing 20 chapters, I would imagine.

The attached screenshot compares a Nisus drop cap on the left, following the steps above, with the automatic drop cap using Pages on the right. I'd say the Nisus Way would be viable. I see I could have tweaked the alignment a touch. If the box is selected, you can use the cursor arrow keys to joggle it a touch, more precisely than with my MBP trackpad. From a typesetting standpoint, the ideal would be for the baseline of your dropped cap to match the baseline of line you've dropped to, and to have the top your dropped cap to align with cap line, the height of the uppercase letters of your font, of your first line.

Brad
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