Linked Text Boxes For FP2003, Just Like In Publisher?

[JMorris]

Hi,

I'd like to be able to have text flowing smoothly between different
text boxes -- just like in Publisher.

Then I could set up a multi-column type of standard page, and have
articles displayed and self-formated for multi-column. And you could
just click to go to the next page, which would always be dynamically
calculated based on how much text was left over from not being
displayed on the first page.

FYI, my columns are always dynamically sized, so if someone has a
monitor with a different size, or resizes their browser, then the web
page is not "cut off" , but adjusts its size.

Of course MS Publisher has "linked text boxes". But not "dynamically
resizable linked text boxes" for web publishing. And FrontPage seems
to have "dynamically reszied text boxes", but without "text flow
linking". Does anything do both? Is there an addin?

I'm trying to make our site look as much like a newspaper as possible.

Any advice? Can FP 2003 be used to do this? Does it require
programming? Or an addin? Does Macromedia whatever do things like
this?

How even should the question be asked?

Many thanks,

John

 

[JMorris]

For anyone reading this, looks like no one has done this; paper
publishing software capabilities have not yet been widely transfered
to web publishing. The International Herald Tribune seems to be the
single web site in millions that has dynamically resized columnar text
(see www.iht.com). This was done by San Francisco-based designer John
Weir. There are lots of technical problems in implementing this type
of design target -- although the end result I think would be very
worthwhile.

Apparently CSS3 will have multi-column support -- does this imply a
flow between the columns of a single super text object?

FWIW,

J.

 

[Tom J]

Personally, if I have a choice of getting the same information on a single
wide column as opposed to this 3 narrow side by side columns on a computer
screen, I'll opt for the single column every time. Something else I noticed
was you have to click to turn the page just like in a newspaper, when it's
just as easy to click the page down button on the single column all in one
articles 99.9% of websites are currently using. I've been to other sites that
try this, but leave and don't go back, and have made my last trip to the link
you furnished.
Tom J
who can read side to side more than 2 inches

 

[JMorris]

Tom,

I appreciate your comments, I think a lot of people feel as you do.
However, I think as well that the single large column is to some
extent an "artifact" of naive design -- the web world started from the
tech world not the design world and the single large column became a
de facto standard.

If you look at usability studies, the answers aren't quite as clear.
I think the problem in a lot of single column sites is that one loses
the context when one scrolls down. This can be solved somewhat by the
use of side and header frames of course.

John