Re: [libreoffice-users] Frames vs text frames vs text boxes [Was: Writer: rotating a text frame ...]

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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