The Layout tab in the Publication Properties dialog allows you to create a publication with multiple panels open at one time. A panel is simply another name for a window. Each panel is active and can display different pages, each of which can contain any type of object, such as images, buttons, text, slideshows and more.
Many websites you see today have a banner heading at the top of the page, a contents list on the left-hand side of the screen and a main window showing the content of a page. Normally, this is created using framesets in a HTML editor. Now you can do exactly the same thing in Opus using the Layout tab.
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By default when you open a new publication the layout is set to Normal, which means the only available panel is the Main Publication Window. However, you can select an alternative to the Normal layout by selecting one of the icons from the Layout Type list in the left-hand column of the Layout tab. Unless you want to create a different layout from a standard publication, you do not need to change the options in this tab.
Click on the icon in the Layout Type list that you want to use as the new layout for this publication. The Panel box will display the names of the panels to be used in this publication.
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For example, if you click the T-Split Top icon the Panel box will list three panels: Main Publication Window, Panel 1 and Panel 2.
Click on a panel listed in the Panel box to set the properties for the panel – see next section below. The Panel Properties section contains the settings for the selected panel, you can then decide on the width and height for this panel.
Select each panel and then set its Panel Properties.
For each panel you can set the width and height to an Absolute, Percentage or Relative value.
An Absolute value is set to a number of pixels; for example, the panel could be set to 100 pixels wide and 100 pixels high.
A Percentage value is set as a Percentage of the screen size, where 100% is the full vertical width or height of the screen. If the panel is using a window and not the full screen, then 100% is the full size of the window.
A Relative value is a little more complicated to explain. A relative value divides up the space left after the absolute and percentage amounts are taken out. The relative value number is a proportion of the screen or window that the selected panel gets. For example, consider a three-panel layout with a screen that is 100 pixels wide. If the widths of the panels were set so that the first panel was set as a percentage of 30% and the second and third panels were set to a Relative value of 1, then the panel width in pixels would be 30 for the first panel, 35 for the second panel and 35 for the third panel. In other words, the first panel is 30 pixels of the total width of 100 and the other two panels get an equal share of the remaining 70 pixels.
Now if the widths of the same three panels were set to an Absolute value of 25 pixels for the first panel and a Relative value of 2 for the second panel and a Relative value of 1 for the third panel, then the panel width in pixels would be 25 for the first panel, 50 for the second panel and 25 for the third panel. The first panel gets its 25 pixels and the other two panels share the remaining 75 pixels, but with the second panel getting twice as much as the third.
Click on the down arrow by the Width box to select the Absolute, Percentage or Relative type from the list. Use the spin buttons beside the Width value box to set the value.
Tick the Vertical Divider box if you want a line to appear between the different panels when the publication is run.
Tick the Vertical Resize option if you want to the user to be able to resize the panel to their own size when the publication is run.
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If this option is not ticked, the size is fixed. This option is only available when the Vertical Divider option is selected.
Click on the down arrow by the Height box to select the Absolute, Percentage or Relative type from the list. Use the spin buttons beside the Height value box to set the value.
Tick the Horizontal Divider box if you want a line to appear between the different panels when the publication is run.
Tick the Horizontal Resize option if you want to the user to be able to resize the panel to their own size when the publication is run.
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If this option is not ticked, the size is fixed. This option is only available when the Horizontal Divider option is selected.
Repeat points 2 to 7 above for each panel listed in the Panel box.
Click on the Apply button to save your changes.
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Only one Panel type can be used within each Chapter, that means all the pages within the same Chapter will always use the same Panel.