eBook Design Part 2: Setting the Page

Let’s dig in using OpenOffice to create your new eBook design. In this tutorial we will be setting up your basic page layout with the Styles feature. We will achieve these goals:

• Flip the layout to be optimized for on-screen reading
• Add columns to make reading easier
• Use a graphical background to add eye appeal
• Insert headers and footers for consistency

Watch the video to see me start from scratch and create a nice looking page layout using OpenOffice Writer. (don’t have the software? See Part 1 to get it for free)

Here’s a quick overview of the process explained on the video…

Working with Page Styles

Using Page Styles (as well as Paragraph Styles, which we’ll get to later) makes the process of designing a great looking eBook much more simple and easy to repeat over and over again. Styles work by defining a set of formatting rules that you can apply to elements in your document in one click. Today we will edit the Default Page Style to make the basic layout for our new eBook.

Use a Landscape orientation to fit on screen better

Simply flipping your document to Landscape mode, so it’s wider than it is tall, makes it fit better on computer screens, allowing readers to see bigger text while viewing the whole page at once without scrolling.

Set page margins to zero

This will let our background image go all the way to the edge of the page. We’ll add margins to our text in just a moment using border spacing.

Insert a page Background graphic

Adding a background image is key to making your eBooks stand out from the crowd. This simple step adds visual appeal to every page instantly.

Selecting the “Link” box will let you update the image file and see changes reflected in your document.

Add a Header

Check the box to add a header to your page. You will have to adjust header spacing depending on the shape of your background image and where you want it positioned.

Add a Footer

Check the box again. Again you may have to fiddle with the amount of spacing later.

Add page border to fix margins

Add a border to the page, which will show right around the very edge of the page, by selecting the four-sides buttons, and setting the colour to white (which is my preference).

Border spacing becomes your page margins. 1.5cm is a good place to start, but it may need adjustment depending on your background image.

Split your content into columns

To make it easier to read in Landscape orientation, you should create two or three columns for your text. Be sure to add a bit of column spacing (about 1cm) between them.

See how it looks

Click apply to see your page style in action. Check to make sure the spacing is correct. If not, make adjustments to your page style settings for border spacing, as well as header and footer spacing.

Add text to your header and footer

Write whatever you like in your header and footer sections. This will appear the same on every page. You can add automatic page numbering under Insert -> Fields.

The page is set for greatness!

With that, you’ve created your Default page style. As you write, and your content flows to the second page, it will automatically use this same style giving your whole document a consistent look. You can save this document as a template to use for all your future eBooks and save time.

But hold on! We’re not finished here. In the next article of this series I’ll look at using Paragraph Styles to make the text of your eBook shine.

Homework

Follow along with the tutorial to create your own page template in OpenOffice, then begin to create a custom page style that is unique to you. Join me for the next tutorial when we will start working with your text.

You can also download the “cheat sheet”, the very same document I created in the tutorial video.

Thanks for reading. I welcome your questions and comments below.

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