Which master page in use?

[Jeremy Bohn]

Sorry, couldn't see if this had been discussed already, but how do you tell which master page is currently the one in use on a page? The thing is, in InDesign a master page not only had a name but also a letter. That letter would then be superimposed on your page thumbnail. I see nothing of the sort in Publisher.

[dominik]

49 minutes ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

Sorry, couldn't see if this had been discussed already, but how do you tell which master page is currently the one in use on a page? The thing is, in InDesign a master page not only had a name but also a letter. That letter would then be superimposed on your page thumbnail. I see nothing of the sort in Publisher.

Hi @Jeremy Bohn,

you can hover the mouse over a page in the pages panel. This then displays a little box with all the master pages assigned to that particular page.

There was an interesting thread on this topic a while ago: 

 

d.

[Jeremy Bohn]

Thanks, I guess I never would have known that except for asking here or stumbling upon it by accident. Seems like many little features are like this. I would prefer there was a quick at-a-glance overlay of the Master but whatever.

[dominik]

28 minutes ago, Jeremy Bohn said:

I would prefer there was a quick at-a-glance overlay of the Master but whatever.

I think this is a valid wish that we perhaps will see once the user interface gets more polished and refined.

d.

[mac_heibu]

This is not THAT easy in this case, because you can apply more than one master page to a layout page. A simple subtitle like in InDesign or QXP wouldn’t be enough …

[ivbera]

28 minutes ago, mac_heibu said:

you can apply more than one master page to a layout page

Why not list them all? I would also like to see which masters are applied in the pages panel, instead of hovering over each one of the pages.
The question is how to display them if there are infinite numbers of masters applied. I think there was already a topic in where colors where discussed. There may be a appropriate solution. Maybe just just show an indication, when more masters are applied or when just one master just the color/name/etc.

[mac_heibu]

I think, the tool tip is for the time being(!) a viable solution. Colour coding is nice, but not comprehensible at one glance, because you have to compare the colour attached to the layout page with its reference colour on the master page itself. Listing the masters with their names needs to much space below(?) the page icons.

[Old Bruce]

This information is visible on the Layers Studio which is not a solution but perhaps we could have a series of coloured dots on each side of the pages (spread) to indicate what is applied. Just have to memorize the colours then.

And how would the display work if Master A is applied to Master B and the page has Master B and Master D (which has Master C applied to it) applied. More thinking is required on my part here.

[Wosven]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

And how would the display work if Master A is applied to Master B and the page has Master B and Master D (which has Master C applied to it) applied. More thinking is required on my part here.

Following your example, if Master A is applied to Master B, in my workflow Master A would only provide page numbers (usually PageNumber + PublicationTitle + # + PublicationDate). This information would appear on the Master Page B panel, perhaps an indication "+A" in the middle.

Master B applied to pages would show as a indication "+B" in the center of those pages.

Same with Master D on which is applied Master C: on the master page D, a mention "+C".
Master D applied to pages: mention "+D".

Usually, letter are ordered, we can't say the same for colours, it would be more difficult to use colours instead of simple and ordered letters or numbers when you need to search one of them in the Master pages.

 

Applying a Master page to another one procede of some logical intend that's mostly usefull in the Master Page panel (sub Master pages — as A or C — would contain generic datas or decorations, usefull to know when we modify Master pages, perhaps not so when modifying pages).

Main Master pages with usefull names would be used for different parts of a document. That's what we usually need to check when looking at pages, or when needing to find each pages using a specific main Master page (and that's why it would be usefull to read this while scrolling the pages panels instead of hovering above each page waiting for an tip to pop up).

 

PS. And, if there're not any main Master pages, or/but different ones applied to pages, the indications would be "+A+B+C+D"… It would be a mess at some point but usually layout are made or repetitive stuff, and sub Master pages is a way to manage them.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Wosven
Added PS

[dominik]

52 minutes ago, Wosven said:

the indications would be "+A+B+C+D"… It would be a mess at some point

On top of that master pages can be renamed to anything you want. That makes this mess even bigger.

I personally do not need to see the assigned master pages all the time, only occasionally to check what is going on. If there was something similar to bleed and margins that can be turned on as an overlay to the actual pages (in pages panel and on the spreads itself) this would suffice for me. And this would provide enough space for even complex master page relations, too 

d.

[Wosven]

18 minutes ago, dominik said:

On top of that master pages can be renamed to anything you want.

Oops! I played with a new document and the Master page was named "Planche type A", forgetting there's no prefix or number to order or distinguish them. It would be usefull, and being able to re-order them too (usefull when you realize you've forgotten to create one and want it to be in the order of use depending of your layout, usefull when you'll reopen the document monthes later and won't remember specifics, or usefull if someone else use it and expect things to be orderly).

[dominik]

3 minutes ago, Wosven said:

It would be usefull, and being able to re-order them too

I support this request. It would be fine for me if this were part of further refinements after the initial release 

d.

[Jeremy Bohn]

Wow, I really opened up a deep discussion here. I didn't realize you could do multiple masters and I can't think of a time where I'd ever needed that. Mind you, maybe if I knew I could do it, I would find a reason to use it. However, there are times when you add in more functionality it makes things more complicated and you actually lose a little functionality in the process. Hopefully they can figure out a nice balance.

I'm still using InDesign at work for design and pre-press, and Publisher obviously can't replace it, so I use Publisher at home for personal projects. Every time I start a new project I encounter many things that I simply can't find and have to search in these forums.

[000]

 

On 6/1/2019 at 5:56 PM, mac_heibu said:

you can apply more than one master page to a layout page.

I do a lot of catalogue work and find this incredibly exciting (won't be able to sleep tonight-exciting!) ... thanks for pointing that out!