Changing the page layout to two columns – PDF output

[IF]

Which file do I need to modify to create a PDF document in which body pages have two columns?

I tried to modify the file  “…AppDataRoamingSoftQuadXMetaLSharedDITA_OTdemoxmfoCustomizationfolayout-masters.xml”
by  adding a  column-count=”2″ statement but it did not work.

For example:

        master-name=”body-even”
        page-width=”215.9mm”
        page-height=”279.4mm”>
                    column-count=”2″

Maybe it's because I'm supposed to be modifying the file xm_layout_masters_overrides.xls instead?

Using XMetal 6.0 on Windows 7

Reply

[gcrews]

Look around 77 and 88 in xm_layout_masters_overrides.xls , I had a devil of a time modifying the layout-masters.xml until I realized the attributes and values I put in there were being striped by the overrides and not passed though.

Reply

[IF]

Thanks! Editing the file xm_layout_masters_overrides to add a couple of ” 2” worked.  I managed to make the TOC two-column in the process, but I'm sure that something I can fix. Thanks for the help.

Reply

[DITALearner]

Hello IF,

I am trying to achieve the same thing as you but failing to get it working. Would you please share your complete code?

Thank

Thanks! Editing the file xm_layout_masters_overrides to add a couple of ” 2” worked.  I managed to make the TOC two-column in the process, but I'm sure that something I can fix. Thanks for the help.

Reply

[IF]

I added the    2 lines
in this section of the file %AppData%SoftQuadXMetaL SharedDITA_OTdemoxmfoCustomizationfoxslxm_layout_masters_overrides.xsl

Note that I am not an expert and that I am learning by trial&error and reverse engineeering…

      match=”fo:region-body[contains(parent::*/@master-name,'even')] | fo:region-body[contains(parent::*/@master-name,'last')]”
      mode=”layout-masters-processing”>
           
           2
           
         
               
         
     
   

   
       
           
            after
           
       
   

Reply

[DITALearner]

Thank you very much.

Just tried the solution and it worked fine.

Reply

[DITALearner]

Hi again,

Now that I have manage to get the two-column working in my document, would you tell me if you did manage to make yours one-column? If yes, please share with me the changes you made.

Thanks.

Reply

[IF]

Are you asking if I managed to make the TOC one column? If so, the answer is that I did not try to do that because I don't need a TOC for that document type.

Reply

[DITALearner]

Yes, I was asking if you managed to. In any case would you know the way to do it, if so would you mind sharing or at least a hint in that direction?

Thanks.

Reply

[Author]

Posts