Publisher Master Pages: Best Practices?

[Spellscribe]

Hi folks! I'm quite new to formatting software, sorry. I'm using Publisher to format a book. I've read some guides, and watched some videos... I'm getting there.

I'm formatting for press/facing pages. So far I've been creating a master page for each item with a different layout, but it's adding up quickly! I have:

• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication/About the Author
• Chapter Title Page
• Body text (spread)
• Body text, single page (to slot in next to chapter title pages)
• soon to add a few more masters for the various addendums, as they're image-heavy but fairly structured.

I have struggled to add the images to the main book; they keep wanting to indent like they're following the 'new paragraph' rules. I can't add a box to place the image in while it's linked to the master page, but I can unlink that specific page to add one, right? 

 

Many thanks!

[MikeTO]

I wouldn't create master pages for the title, copyright, and dedication pages. You normally create master pages for layouts, not for specific pages. A basic book might need master pages only for regular pages and front matter pages. A more complex book might need chapter title pages and multiple layouts for regular pages. You should be able to create your title, copyright, and dedication pages based on a single front matter master page, if not just the master for regular pages.

[Old Bruce]

18 hours ago, Spellscribe said:

I'm formatting for press/facing pages. So far I've been creating a master page for each item with a different layout, but it's adding up quickly! I have:

• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication/About the Author
• Chapter Title Page
• Body text (spread)
• Body text, single page (to slot in next to chapter title pages)
• soon to add a few more masters for the various addendums, as they're image-heavy but fairly structured.

I have struggled to add the images to the main book; they keep wanting to indent like they're following the 'new paragraph' rules. I can't add a box to place the image in while it's linked to the master page, but I can unlink that specific page to add one, right? 

Body Text (spread). Yes. In fact I would make all the Master Pages spreads, not single pages.

Chapter Title page, yes, (If you use Paragraph Text Styles you may not need this). I make one that is based on the Body Text (spread). I assume you are having the Chapters start on the Right hand pages. If yes then definitely do this, if no.... Make a pair one for Start on Right and another for Start on Left. If you are doing something else then just use the Body Text page and craft the Chapter Title Paragraph Text style to take care of spacing and what not.

Body Text (single page) No.

Finally for the love of all that is good and decent Name absolutely everything on your Master Pages with appropriate names, Left Text, Left Header, Left Footer, Right Text, etc. This will save you from problems that occur when adding or deleting pages. Problems like text not flowing properly.

[thomaso]

In addition to the hints above: You can assign a master page to another master page. And you also can apply several masters to document pages. I use this feature to create a basic master that contains only those elements which appear on all pages, for instance page numbers or margins.

22 hours ago, Spellscribe said:

• soon to add a few more masters for the various addendums, as they're image-heavy but fairly structured.

I have struggled to add the images to the main book; they keep wanting to indent like they're following the 'new paragraph' rules. I can't add a box to place the image in while it's linked to the master page, but I can unlink that specific page to add one, right? 

To "unlink" a page or object temporarily ("Edit detached") can be cumbersome if it's required frequently. Thus I prefer to avoid masters for objects that will require editing of their attributes (e.g. size, shape, boarder or position) on the document pages. Alternatively you can use the Asset panel to store frequently used objects and just drag them to the pages where needed.

Right, you can't create a Picture Frame inside a text frame which is a child layer of a master. But to add an image or Picture Frame you don't need to detach ('unlink') the master, instead you can place, cut + paste the image into the text frame.

Yes, if you paste an image into a text frame it gets pinned and flows with the text. There are two ways of pinning: Either linked with an anchor to a certain position ("Float") + applied Text Wrap, or as kind of a text character ("Inline"). Each of them has advantages and requires different handling.

It can help to use Picture Frames to place images as child layers if you need to crop or scale them or if you want a certain style attribute (e.g. a boarder). On the other hand placing an image directly has the advantage that its file name is directly visible in the Layers panel (whereas a Picture Frame needs to get unfolded in the Layers panel to show its nested layer + layer name). A placed image can be cropped by the Vector Crop Tool which creates a rectangle object nested as child in the Image layer.