The bottom line for this issue:
[Insert > Frame] produces a "frame" (="text frame" in the Writer Guide).
Navigator classifies this object as a "Frame".
This tool is important for controlling document/page layout, and can
include any content that a page can include.
BUT it cannot be rotated -- a frame and its contents are limited to the
superordinate text orientation.
[Insert > Text Box] produces a "text box" (in the Writer Guide).
Navigator classifies this object as a "Text Frame" (as opposed to what the Writer
Guide calls a "text frame").
It CAN be rotated, but its contents are limited to simple text -- no
tables, no columns.
Thus I was, unfortunately, not able to complete a booklet with a long table
(rotated 90° counterclockwise) spanning the centerfold.
This fan of LibreOffice has something else to work on, ;-)
John
On 2024-07-31 01:19, John Kaufmann wrote:
...
... the Drawing toolbar can insert a Text Box, not a Text Frame. Unfortunately,
the Writer Guide and online Help are silent on this topic, so some testing is
needed to work out the differences, which are subtle:
- A Text Frame is conceptually a block of text, very much aware of the paradigm
of putting text on paper. It understands page sizes and positions and mutual
interference with other text (inside or outside of frames) on the page. But it
/can't/ be rotated.
- A Text Box is a drawing object and, like any other drawing object, not really
aware of page size or other text on the page, though it does have Wrap
properties to force other text or drawing objects to respect its boundaries.
Importantly for my current purpose, a Text Box /can/ be rotated.
From a design standpoint, it would probably be beneficial to understand the
motivations that prompted development of each of these tools ...
All of that was and is true, but ... In the course of drafting a guidebook that required
"rotating a text frame", I have learned at least one important reason why
people confuse these two entities: LO-world is ambiguous about terminology:
- A "Frame" or "Text Frame" (Writer Guides 6.0/7.2/7.3 use those terms
interchangeably in Chapters 6 and 9) is designed to control page layout -- if you will, controlling
the superordinate text flow.
- Drawing objects like a "Text Box" (a drawing object containing text) know
nothing about page size and can be manipulated without affecting the superordinate text
flow.
They simply are designed for different purposes. But when we come to the Navigator tool, we find that it calls a
"Frame" (="Text Frame") a "Frame" object, while it classifies the drawing object "Text
Box" as a "Text Frame" object! It's no wonder that users confuse the terms, because the implementations confuse
the terms. It's possible that some of that ambiguity slips into different translations where the translators are unclear about
the functional significance of terms, but then I would need to ask, What is the language of origin? Isn't it English?
-John
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