Rainbow_stamps_and_coins: Making your own album 22

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Making your own album 22

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5.2 Working with columns

5.2.1 Structure

To split a page in two columns, we need a command with a ‘START’ and an ‘END’. Just like we did when we made paragraphs.

· PAGE_COLUMN_START ( [distance to the middle of the page] )

· PAGE_COLUMN_NEXT

· PAGE_COLUMN_STOP

The first command starts the left column, the second command jumps tot he right column, and the last command closes the two columns.
Technically speaking the last command isn’t needed, as this command automatically stops at the end of a page. You will need the ‘STOP’ command if you plan text or boxes over the full widht of the page, after you worked in two columns.
This command creates so to say, two smaller pages on the main page. Which means you can create paragraphs in both columns separately if you want.
Before we start adding text, we take a look at the structure of the commands:

PAGE_COLUMN_START ( [distance to the middle of the page])
PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(HB 10 CENTRE)
PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END

PAGE_COLUMN_NEXT
PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(HB 10 CENTRE)
PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END

PAGE_COLUMN_STOP

Reopen Test Design 9, save as Test Design 10 and erase all that comes after ‘PAGE_START’.

Then copy the 7 commands above and paste them to the program.

Change the album settings : make the default font : (DJ “DejaVu Sans”)

ALBUM_DEFINE_FONT (DJ "DejaVu Sans")
Underneath the PAGE_START-command, you can add a comment line, as well as a title, in the new font:
Don't forget the [distance to the middle of the page] : make it (2.0)

So far it should look like this :

PAGE_START
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Columns
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (DJ 14 "\nUsing columns in texts")

PAGE_RULE_H (0.1 0 8)

PAGE_COLUMN_START (2.0)

PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(HB 10 CENTRE)

PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END
PAGE_COLUMN_NEXT

                       PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(HB 10 CENTRE)
                      PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_END
           PAGE_COLUMN_STOP

Now we need to add the text below 3 times in each column, (between paragraph_start and paragraph_end):

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.\n

5.2.2 Fine tuning

We could already generate the PDF and have a look now, but we can make it a bit more exciting, by fine tuning the columns :

Since we work in two small pages (Left and right column), we can work on both pages/sides in different ways.

Add following command after “Page_Column_Start”:
COLOUR_PAGE_TEXT (red)
Now do the same after “Page_Column_Next” :
COLOUR_PAGE_TEXT (green)
and finally once more, after “Page_Column_Stop”
COLOUR_PAGE_TEXT (black)
this last command is to put the text back to black

Finally we change one parameter in each column :

In column 1 (left) : PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(DJ 10 Centre)
In column 2 (right): PAGE_TEXT_PARAGRAPH_START(DJ 10 Justified)

Click now Generate and PDF :

Now we see in the first column, the word “UT” in a lonely positioin. This can be solved by adding an \n command before that word.
Once done, you can change the colour of the first column to (blue) and the second column to (gold).
Make sure the PDF is closed before generating it again.