Publisher - spreads, margins and guides

[Paul Martin]

I produce a simple A4 newsletter, typically 8 pages in length which I publish as a PDF. I expect most readers will either read that on screen or print it on a laser or inkjet printer for convenience.

Initially, I copied the settings that I use in Serif PagePlus but as I have come to understand Affinity Publisher better, I have started to wonder if my set-up is either as attractive or as flexible as it could be. For instance, I often change the page-order as articles are received but I have never figured-out whether my "spreads" and guides are optimal.

I would be grateful for any tips on getting the best out of this kind of job.

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, Paul Martin said:

I have started to wonder if my set-up is either as attractive or as flexible as it could be. For instance, I often change the page-order as articles are received but I have never figured-out whether my "spreads" and guides are optimal.

My knee-jerk reaction is "if it isn't broken, don't fix it". But...

We would really need to see a mostly blank document with some filler text showing the sort of "... change the page-order as articles are received ..." changes that occur. Include the Paragraph Styles and Character Styles that you use.

[Paul Martin]

19 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

My knee-jerk reaction is "if it isn't broken, don't fix it". But...

We would really need to see a mostly blank document with some filler text showing the sort of "... change the page-order as articles are received ..." changes that occur. Include the Paragraph Styles and Character Styles that you use.

Thanks, Old Bruce. What caused me to worry about how pages might be unhelpfully affected by moving them around was two observations. First, the colour/positioning of guides seemed inconsistent. Second, when I output to PDF (using PDF Architect) pages changed orientation/scale! Clearly, operator error was responsible, but it left me wondering how to avoid such hiccups. Hence, I thought a standard layout aimed at laser/inkjet final output would be good practice. I hate reinventing the wheel, so I posted here to see if (as usual) others were way ahead of me! For instance, I know that I don't properly understand the relationship between spread and page layout - which to change, which takes precedence.

[Old Bruce]

We have single page Spreads and double page spreads. You can have a document with single pages presented or a document with double pages presented side by side. Double pages are, left to right, even then odd number pages. I prefer to work with the double page spreads because that is how I see a finished book. Each double page spread is twice the size of a page, so an 8 1/2 x 11 inch page is represented by a 17 x 11  inch spread,  don't worry about this dimension because it is done for you automatically when you choose "Facing Pages"

Guides and margins may move about when you add/subtract a page from a publication due to being laid out in a Facing page spread with un equal distances to the spine (centre) of the book/magazine. To get them to the right place reapply the appropriate Master Page to that page/spread.

Do use Master pages and place the text frames you'll need for every page on the master page. Page numbers for instance. But seeing as you are doing a news letter you may not need to include text frames for the text of the news letter if it is a collection of captions and specially formatted text.

Newsletters don't really have an obvious (obvious to me at least) text layout, that is why I suggested a look at how your's is set up.

[Fixx]

Probably simplest setup is that some users print to A4 and some users read onscreen with fit width zoom setting (or similar). That suggests that you better use A4 format and place content such way that it is easily readable as half page portions. Some PDF players tend to display spreads by default but it is not readable that way.