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Inches versus points in style sheet spacing


gingerh

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Posted

I probably made a huge mistake, but I recently updated to Sierra and then updated into the latest Storyist version. All my projects were transformed into Storyist 3 from 2. It doesn't appear that my style sheets converted correctly so I have multiple formatting errors to fix.

 

The main issue involves the Chapter Title style sheet, although it is also appearing in section separator. Under spacing, all the indents are in inches. Then the "before and after" paragraphs switch to points. This is in the side window. If I open "edit style drop down menu" those slots are calibrated in inches.

 

I had everything in inches in the earlier version so I can't figure out where point came from.

 

Also, I can't figure out why I can't edit this information on the style sheet either in edit mode (when the sheet drops from the top of the window), or in the sidebar. When I try and change the spacing from pt to inches, it just reverts back to points.

 

I do have line spacing set on "at least" 24.0 points but my older manuscripts were set like this for publishing as ePubs and it didn't seem to interfere with any other spacing info.

 

My questions are: How did this mixture of inches and points happen and how do I get all the spacing info to match? Either all inches or all points (although I have no idea how to measure points!)

 

And which of these menus has precedence? I thought if I edited in the drop down window, that information would be the template for whatever style I had entered there. Right now, everything on Chapter Title matches except the two spacing windows. They refuse to change!

 

Help would be greatly appreciated!

 

ginger

 

 

 

 

Posted

Hi Ginger,

 

Happy to help. A couple of points (pun intended :) )

 

1. The file format didn't change between version 2 and 3. You can, for example, open a file edited in Storyist 3 in Storyist 2. The only difference you'll see is that session word count history edited in v3 isn't displayed in v2. If you're seeing different formatting in v3, check the page size in Print Info and make sure it is what you expect. If that's not it, send a short excerpt to the support address and we'll investigate. The formatting should be the same.

 

2. You can type in your desired units, regardless of the units used for display. Storyist will do the conversion for you. For example, place the cursor in the Before Paragraph field in the inspector and type ".25 in" That field displays units in points, so the value you type is automatically converted to "18 pt"

 

It does look like the inspector displays Before and After measurements in points and the style editor in inches. The values aren't any different, they're just displayed in different units. I'll fix that.

 

-Steve

Posted

If it's helpful, Ginger, there are 12 points to a pica and 6 picas to an inch: so 1 in = 72 points. The system allows for very precise measurements during typesetting, so folks like me use picas and points by preference.

 

Looks like Steve's on the technical issues, as usual! :)

Best,

M

 

P.S. These posts are making me glad I didn't upgrade to Sierra, which seems to have a number of problematic behaviors.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Thank you both for your responses. And the info about points and pica. Brings back the days of typewriters and the choice between pica and elite!

 

Sorry to be slow in replying, I managed to trip over some uneven pavement and crack my knee cap. Been dealing with an immobilizer brace and then rehab! Not fun!

 

ginger

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