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Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:25 am
by abe-ariel@013.net
How do I place two separate images side by side in a Mellel document?
Platform Mac Book Pro; Mellel 5.9.5r5.
Thanks

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:42 pm
by jannuss
Abe

If you are using floating images, it's a non-issue. You simply drag and drop them wherever you like, even on top of one another.

If you are using inline images, you have ti turn off the option "image causes wrap

[note the fact that it is or isn't a Hebrew document makes no difference]

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 3:51 pm
by abe-ariel@013.net
Thank you Janet.
You made my day.

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 5:54 pm
by abe-ariel@013.net
BIG problem, Janet.
Last few days I dragged 50 odd pics onto my 200 pps manuscript, typing captions under each and every pic.
Looked great. Made two backup on disk on keys.
Today I did some minor editing on original, including deleting a 10-12 line duplicated paragraph.
At the end of the day I noticed that all pics moved from their places and located themselves over the written text.
Luckily I have the backups, but am afraid the fact that pics are not permanently locked in their position is endangering the manuscript.
What can I do?
Thanks
Abe

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 10:47 pm
by Amontillado
Janet's probably got better ideas than I have, but here's a couple of quick observations.

If you click on a picture, it will gain little square "handles" you can resize it with, and you can click and drag it to reposition it.

There's also a trash can icon, in case your photos turn out like mine, and there is a pencil to edit image attributes. The manual has complete explanations on page 394.

I think what will fix your images is to set "text wrap" to "inline," check the "image causes wrap," and click the desired wrap method from the five buttons underneath "image causes wrap."

If image causes wrap is not checked, then the text will go under the picture. The "alpha" setting in the image properties sets transparency, so you can have a ghost of an image on top of your text.

As to how to change the settings on every photo in your document at once, I'm not sure.

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:50 am
by abe-ariel@013.net
Thank you Amontillado,
To be honest, I do not quite understand your instructions.
Let's wait for Janet, hoping her solution will be more clear to an old layman like myself.
Best

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 8:32 am
by jannuss
Guys, you've caught me on a very busy day, so I'll do this quickly and add more detail later.

Mellel offers two different ways of handling images: floating and in-line.

Floating is the default and the simplest -- you just drop the image wherever you like and it stays there
BUT
as Abe discovered, the floating image is independent of the text surrounding it. Add or delete lines and the image now moves out of place.

For long documents it is always best to anchor the image to a specific line of text. Double-click on the image or select the pencil symbol underneath it to bring up the image window. Select in-line as the placement option toward the bottom. The image will now lock on to the nearest line of text. That may not be the one you want. You can drag it up or down to fall on the best anchor point.

It's a little bit tricky at first.
I suggest you make a dummy document of one or two pages and then play around with placing images and setting options options. You'll catch on fast.

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:35 pm
by abe-ariel@013.net
Thank you Janet for clear explanation and instructions.
Started as instructed.
So far so good.
I have indication of another problem brewing.
My manuscript should be handed in WORD and the product of conversion leaves much to be desired.
Will cross that bridge after completing current one.
Many tks again.
Abe

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:31 am
by jannuss
OK, I have the time now, so here it goes: Everything you never wanted to know about Mellel images, part one

Image resolution
72-150 dpi is fine for on-line documents
150-300 best for printing.

You can use the sizing option [towards the upper left of the image window] to reduce/increase the image to fit your needs
BUT
mber Mellel stores the original file with your document. For example, if you use a 13MB file reduced to 10% for display, Mellel will keep all 13MB in the document. This can bloat your storage considerably.

The solution is to resize images and/or reset the resolution before inserting them into a document.
I use Lemke Graphic Converter 11 to process my images.
There are plenty of other apps available for this task.

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:51 am
by jannuss
Everything you never wanted to know about Mellel images, part two

Floating images
Easy to use. Best for short/one-off documents.

You have total freedom in placing floating images.
Sometimes, for special effect I'll move an image to the edge of the page, outside the margin limits.
Another trick is to play with the alpha slider [towards the upper right of the image window] and position an image behind the text or layer one image on top the other.
Similarly, you can use the Page Palette and select an image as background for an entire page -- I've used this option to label a document "Draft" which can be very useful.

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:15 am
by jannuss
Everything you never wanted to know about Mellel images, part three

In-line images
Best for long documents. The image is anchored to a line of text.
Usually coupled with the "image causes wrap" option [at the bottom of the image window].

For images with captions, anchor the image to the caption text and set the wrap option to above or below.

If this method for positioning images is too strict, there are ways to get around it
-- use the section option, placing an image in one column, text in another.
-- use the table option, placing an image in one table box with text in the others.
Both these options car a bit "messy," but they offer nearly as much freedom as floating images.

That about covers it.

Enjoy!

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 12:39 pm
by Amontillado
How do you anchor an image to a span of text used as a caption? It's possible to make a one column, two row table to bundle an image and a caption, but I don't see options to anchor or float a table, or wrap text around a table.

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:48 pm
by jannuss
You are speaking of two separate things

1. Anchoring a centered image to its caption (there are several ways to do this, but I'll give you the easiest one)
-- create one or two blank lines and select center alignment
-- insert the image on page, select in-line. image causes wrap, and choose fourth wrapping option from the left
-- drag the image so that it anchors on (above) one of the blank lines
-- add the caption to that line

2. Using a table to "float" an image and its caption
-- create a table with one row and two columns (for a caption next to the image) or two rows and one column (for a caption under the image). You will probably prefer (in the table palette) to set the line type to none.
-- place the image in one box of the table and the caption in the other
-- now you can manipulate the size of the boxes and the position of the table

As I've said, dealing with images is a bit "messy," but with practice it becomes easy.

Janet

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:12 pm
by Amontillado
I don't think the table strategy lets you put the image to the right or left without leaving a gap in the text. If there's a way to wrap text around a table, I've missed it.

I see, however, a couple of workarounds.

First - and ickiest, but not really that bad - open a new one page document using the same style set as your main document. Put your image with caption in the new document. The only thing you care about is to get the size at least approximately what you want.

Export the file to PDF, which will put your image on a full size blank page.

Open the PDF in Preview, choose "rectangular select" under the tools menu, and drag-and-select your image and caption. Use tools->crop, then export the file as a new PDF (you can re-use the same name).

Now, add the PDF to your main document as if it were an image.

Much better, to my thinking, add the image, floating or inline, word wrap style to taste.

Now, add a text box with the same options above, below, or to the side of the image. Put your caption in the text box.

Since they both have the same placement options, they should follow each other as you edit the surrounding text. Adjusting character styles may throw things off, but for the most part I think the image and the caption will fly in close formation as you develop your manuscript.

Re: Handling images in a Hebrew document

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:26 pm
by jannuss
Personally, I think embedding an image with a caption inside text can be awkward and confusing, but if that's the way you want to go there is a much simpler solution.

Start as you describe: place the image (correctly sized) on a blank page and add the caption.

Make a screen shot of the image + caption.

Now, use add this new image to your document and choose to wrap text around it.

Janet