Self-formatting document for left/right pages

Pages does have "Different left and right pages" but they are principally for different headers and footers.

Pages also has Layout mode where the pages are completely individual, and can be dragged from one location to another. The pages can be linked from textboxes on one page to another,.

In Layout mode you can have a master page which has the necessary layout and appearance that you require for left or right pages, but once created they will not intelligently change form one to the other, according to whether they are left or right.

Peter

Not really.

Indesign has a full on master pages implementation, which works retrospectively on any layouts built with them.

Pages' Layout mode is really just a crippled version of the Word Processing mode for those who found its linkages confusing. Each page in Layout mode is created from an internal single page template, that is not retrospective. ie if you change the page template, known as a Section, it has no effect on the already used pages in the document.

Pages can be simpler to use for neophytes to DTP and WP if they largely restrict themselves to the supplied excellent templates. When they attempt to go beyond that, Pages can be quite clumsy and arcane in its operation, particularly in its schizophrenic Word Processing/Layout modes and the way the Layout/Sections are created and applied.

I've been using Pages for years and I still have to consult notes, and really concentrate to use these, not always successfully.

Peter

You can check Facing pages in the Document Inspector

fruhulda

That does nothing except position the headers and footers.

If you have a Layout mode Page in your document with a left or right design, it is not adjusted at all for the leftness or rightness of its actual location in the document.

Something that every DTP application I know has been capable of doing for decades.

Peter

It does if you change the margins to be different on left and right.

Hi,

I am new to Pages but this worked. Start with a new blank document (Word Processing > Blank). Enter some text. Then:

Align odd and even Headers to left and right, to get:

It looks fine to me in normal (word processing) view, in View Page Thumbnails and in Print Preview.

Unless I have missed something...

Ian.

Try it with a Layout mode document.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Thank you for directing me towards trying Facing Pages in a Layout mode document. It reminded me of what I used to do...

Once Upon a Time (Long, Long Ago, in the Olden Days) I used Word for Mac and MacDraw. Those apps had two different approaches to creating a document.

Word (it had only word processor mode) worked as a roll of paper. You typed, and the roll of paper unwound. As the length of the text grew, a new page appeared automatically.

MacDraw worked with Layout mode: drawing objects and text boxes that you could type into, resize, and move around the drawing canvas. If you needed a new page, you inserted a new page (by increasing the document size).

It seems that Pages has combined these two approaches. Therefore we must decide at the start which approach (word processing or layout) best suits our aim, and also which approach best suits our way of thinking.

Ian.

Ah the dreaded MacDraw!

I used to have to fix MacDraw files for print output. Government departments used to create forms in them because nobody sat down to think things through and use something that actually worked, instead of what they knew, in some limited fashion.

I hope that wasn't you. 🙂

Peter