Font Sizes

Hello

Can anybody help with a query about font sizes for paragraph styles?

Heading 1 in LO 4.0 and 3.6, the font size comes out as percentage which
makes it difficult to set the font size accurately.
Heading 2 and 3, the font size comes in points, which is what I expect to
see.
Heading 4, the font size comes comes out as a percentage.

At the moment I have not found out how to switch off the percentage font
size and go back to point sizes.

This use of percentages does not look right when you are trying build
paragraph styles. To me and with my publishing experience, point sizes are
used for fonts and not percentages.

Regards

PeterS

Try typing a point size into the box where the percentage is now, like 16pt, then click in any other field on the dialog. If you've tried that and it didn't work, I'll need to do some testing.

Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
I think it is the default way.  I thought it was odd or possibly something weird i had done by mistake.  If you select text and then
Format - Character
it uses points rather than percentages.  Then you can drag and drop the text onto the style and it changes the style to suit the settings of the text.  I just read that in the guide.  I haven't tried it.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hello

Problem solved.

Jean came up with the solution.

If you have a percentage figure in the font size for a style, just highlight
the percentage figure and, for example, type 16pt. This turns all the
percentage figures into point sizes.

Maybe this should be in the Writer Guide.

Regards

PeterS

HI :slight_smile:
Trust Jean :)  Yes, i guess it would be nice to have that neat trick on the Styles chapter :slight_smile: lol
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

You've got the how-to answer in msgs from Jean and Tom.

For the percentage vs point value, here's the point: a percentage value allows to change the parent style font size and all children styles fonts are updated with the same proportion. A point value is just a fixed value which makes much more difficult to adjust the children fonts sizes. This is why I'd encourage anyone using paragraph styles to keep the percentage thingies :slight_smile:

Just my 2 (euro-)cents,

This can be done either way. If the font size is in points, you can enter a percentage size.

--Dan

Hello Jean-Francois

Being someone who is versed in publishing and printing, point sizes are much more dominant and maybe old fashioned. It was points and picas when I started publishing which comes from when type was set by hand or using a mechanical Lino type machine.

Percentages are a modern interpretation of points and picas and I can see why they could be good to use. However,there are still a good few of us old fogies around who still work in points and picas. Also, the first good publishing software worked in picas and points as default and that was Ventura back in the 1980s. Ventura was the first publishing program I used.

At least we have solution, which I hope gets into the Writer guide as a tip.

Regards

PeterS

In html the percentage font size is usually based on some defined base, such as 100% = 12 point or 100% = 16 point. Often the 100% setting is determined by settings on the users computer.

Hi Peter
I'll make sure to add it into the Styles chapter

JohnS

Or one can enter any of the other font-size measurements in the text box, along with the appropriate unit or percentage (dimensionless). The default (selected by the user via the Options) unit need not be present--just a number will work without that unit in that case.

BTW, the US point is exactly 1/72 (1959 compromise) inch, or stated differently--there are 72 points per Anglo-Saxon inch. The French or German points are not the same size as the US DTP point used in US publishing, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(typography)

Gary

It's on page 12 of Chapter 7, Working with Styles, in the Writer Guide v3.6. :slight_smile:

Jean

Hi Jean
Thanks for the heads-up.
The information here is comprehensive and explicit, and so does not require any further additional explanatory text. The point made by Jean-Francois is also covered here too.
The information supplied by Gary is somewhere in the guide too. If I don't come across it as I work through the chapters I'll add it in. It's detailed in the bundled Help too, search on /Measurement Units/, and select /converting/. Other routes are available.

Thanks
JohnS