The Art of Precision: How to Use a Ruler

The Art of Precision: How to Use a Ruler

To be precise, is to know exactly how close two objects can be in a given space. Optimal use of such precision is what makes for good design aesthetics. That's why we believe setting margins in your document, is an art in itself.

Ruler in Writer has taken a major leap forward recently. Let's see how it can help you better format your documents.


First things first. What is a ruler?

Rulers are part of a word processor's UI. They distinguish the editable area, using boundaries and measurements. They're used to align text, columns, and tables within a page.

In Writer, the ruler will be visible while in the Compose mode, after clicking the More Options icon on the top-left. To make the ruler visible all the time, click the gear icon  and choose Settings. Select UI Preferences and enable Show Ruler in all modes.


Horizontal ruler in Writer


Left and right margins on the ruler are for setting page boundaries. The grey part on the horizontal ruler on the top shows the uneditable area, while on the vertical ruler on the left, it denotes header and footer areas.


I. Aligning Paragraphs

Notice the downward facing icon on the ruler? That's an indentation control button that lets you align text anywhere inside the editable area.

First line indentation

Mark the start of a paragraph by aligning the first line slightly away from the left margin. Click on the first line indent icon  and drag to reposition it.




Hanging indentation

Position the remaining lines in the paragraph by clicking on the downward facing indent icon  and moving it.




II. Working with tables

Compare values, and present large amounts of data in compact spaces. Use tables anywhere in your document and position them accurately using rulers.

Changing column width

This one's easy. Place your cursor anywhere inside the table. Look for the  icon. Click and drag to resize.

Align text inside tables

The indent controls icon  (similar to the one discussed above) can be used to align text within cells of a table.


Table_width_demo


III. Multi-column layouts

If you've seen our multi-column announcement, you'll know how much we love to talk about this feature. And when our engineers set out to work on redesigning Writer's ruler, we made sure it works with multi-column layouts too.

   Column controls - to resize columns, as well as increase or decrease gaps between columns.

   Indent controls - to adjust the position of text inside these columns. 





IV. Tab stops

Getting into deeper precision control, tab stop is a location where cursor movement is halted when the tab key is pressed. Most importantly, it lets you have multiple types of alignment on a single line.


Tab_stop_demo


To add a tab stop, simply-right click on the horizontal ruler and choose one of the options from the Insert Tab Stop menu.



To summarize, here are different parts of a ruler in Writer


As always, we'll be more than happy to listen to your feedback and help you if you run into any trouble. Write to us at support@zohowriter.com


Happy writing!


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