OpenOffice.org OpenOffice - 3.0 User's Guide download pdf (Page 128)

Introduction

This chapter describes how to format the graphic objects created with

the drawing tools described in Chapter 5.

The formatting of each graphic object, in addition to its size, rotation

and position on the slide, is determined by a number of attributes that

define the line, text and area fill of each object. These attributes

(among others) also contribute to form a

graphics style

, so although

this chapter discusses the formatting when applied manually to an

object, you can use the same methods to build a collection of graphics

styles.

Using graphics styles to format graphics

In many situations where a presentation contains only a few graphic

objects, manual formatting can be an efficient way to change their

appearance. However, when you want to achieve consistency in the

style across the slides of your presentation (or your presentations

portfolio), or simply when you want to apply the same formatting to a

large number of objects, the best approach is to use graphics styles.

Graphics styles are the equivalent for graphic objects to the

presentation styles for text. A graphics style groups all the formatting

attributes that a graphic object could have and associates this set to a

name, making them quickly reusable. If a style is modified (for

example, by changing the area transparency), the changes are

automatically applied to all the graphics with that style.

Using the inheritance properties of styles also achieves professional

results in a short time. For example, if multiple lines change in color

but are otherwise identically formatted, the best way to proceed is to

define a generic style for the line and a number of hierarchically

dependent styles which only differ in the line color attribute. If later

you need to change the arrowhead style or the thickness of the lines, it

is sufficient to change the parent style and all the other styles will

change accordingly.

When creating several presentations, a library of well-defined graphics

styles is an invaluable tool for speeding up the process of formatting a

new presentation while achieving the desired appearance.

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OpenOffice.org OpenOffice - 3.0 User's Guide Page 128