5 )Settings that are used by Auto Publish
5.1) Page Layouts
Page layouts are used to set the page size, margins, footers etc… With the exception of page size they contain the same settings as those described in section 2.2.
Go to Settings by clicking the gear icon – top right of screen > Under the Publications & Bookings heading select ‘Page Layouts’ > Select the ‘Layouts’ tab.
To make it easier to use, MagManager has created default page layouts, we have created four A5 templates, these are:
10 Grid
12 & 18 Grid
16 Grid – This is the most common grid size for an A5 magazine
6 Grid
How on earth did we come up with those names? They are based on the grids that appear when you are flat planning. Try it yourself. Go to the flat plan and start to drag a new item of any size onto the flat plan. Depending on which advert you choose, the grid on the blank pages will change to match one of the grids below:
Each of these grids divides the page into a different number of chunks, 18, 16, 12, 10 and 6.
Almost all magazines are based on 16 as this is used for ½, ¼ etc… You should choose the layout that matches the grid you are using on each page of your publication.
If none of the standard layouts are suitable for your publication, please get in touch with the MagManager Helpdesk.
Note – You don’t have to use the same layout for all of your magazines or pages.
TIP - If you have multiple publications and use the same footer message across all publications, you can simply use the same Page Layout across all publications. If on the other hand you have a different footer message on each publication, then it’s recommended that you set up a new page layout for each publication, which will allow you to personalise the footer for each publication.
5.2) Customising the page layouts
We would recommend using the MagManager Page Layouts template and sizes and only change the default footer details. You can change the names of the layouts without affecting anything else in the system, for example you could rename the one you use to ‘Our Magazine Layout’.
To do this Click on the grid you will use in the ‘Name’ column – this opens the ‘Edit Layout’ screen > Edit the text in the ‘Name’ text box > Save.
TIP: Be careful amending the margin sizes as there is a mathematical calculation based on the size of the magazines and the spacing between adverts and the top, bottom and side margins. If you are unsure, please get in touch.
The 16 page layout template is set for a A5 sized magazine, with the option to set 32 adverts on each page.
16 Grid Page Layout template example:
Page Width – 148 mm (A5 Magazine)
Page Height – 210 mm (A5 Magazine)
Top and bottom margins are set to 10mm
Inside and outside margins are set 8mm
Horizontal and vertical spacing are set to 4mm, this is the spacing between each of the adverts set on the page.
5.2.1) Footer
Show Footer – Switched on by default
From here you can customise the font, font size, position, margins, left and right text and text colour.
5.3) Setting Default Page Layouts for your publications
Go to Settings by clicking the gear icon – top right of screen > Under the Publications & Bookings heading click ‘Publications’ > Click on your publication name > Click on the ‘Defaults’ tab.
You will see an option ‘Master Layout’, this is where you choose the Page Layout for your publication. Click on the Update button at the bottom of the screen to save this setting.
In this example we have selected the 16 - Grid.
5.4) Set up your advert Sizes
The Page Layouts define the size of the page and the gaps between artwork, but they work in combination with the size of the adverts to ensure they fit on the page. They may not match the artwork sizes that you ask your customers to supply, but the software will automatically resize artwork to fit the content on the page.
Go to Settings by clicking the gear icon – top right of screen > Under Publications & Bookings > Select Publications > Select each publication in turn > Select Defaults Tab > Scroll down to Content Defaults.
This is where you set up your advert sizes. See screenshot of adverts set up for an A5 publication. Please let us know if your publication is not A5.
If your publication is A5, do not change the custom sizes here. If you are using A5 and these sizes do not match your current artwork sizes, don’t worry, as MagManager will automatically adjust them.
5.5) Worked example of how page layouts and advert sizes combine
Using the page layout in section 5.1, 5.2 together with the advert sizes setup in 5.4. The following illustrates how they interact together (Blue figures are setup in page layouts, Red figures are set in Advert sizes) this example is based on the default 16-grid layout provided:
When considering modifying either advert sizes or layouts, you need to consider that no matter what combination of adverts you use on a page, they need to add up to the same width and height including the horizontal/vertical spacing.
TIP: In the example above the adverts together with the gaps and margins always add up to the width and height of the page.
If we look at the top of the page, the inside and outside margins are 8mm and the half page advert is 132mm wide. The total page width is 8+132+8 = 148mm the exact width of A5.
Looking at the bottom of the page where we have a combination of advert sizes, the margins are still the same, but there are horizontal gaps and different advert sizes. The total width is 8mm (margin), 64mm (1/4page), 4mm (gap), 30mm (1/16page), 4mm (gap), 30mm (1/32nd page), 8mm (margin). OR 8+64+4+30+4+30+8 = 148mm the exact width of A5.
If we had incorrectly sized any of the adverts, we would have ended up with staggered gaps and a really untidy page.
The same applies Vertically on a page, and if you perform the same exercise vertically on the above example you will find that the combination of margins, gaps and adverts will always add up to 210mm.
It is possible to create page layouts that deal with specific circumstances, for example if you have a particular part of your publication where you always have 4 quarter pages, you could choose to have tighter margins, but slightly larger gaps between them and call that layout ‘Tight Margins Quarters’. This could then be applied to those pages in your publication that require that layout.
