Creator includes a powerful option to let you reduce the amount of work required in building your publication by using Master Pages..
The Master Page can be edited just like any other but in this case whatever is on the Master Page will be automatically included on any other page in your publication.
When creating a publication from a template a Master Page is set up when you choose your publication style in the Startup Wizard. If you want to change it subsequently you can do so by selecting that page and editing as you would any other. Click with the right mouse button and select Change Style from the menu that appears. This will take you through part of the New Publication Wizard to choose the style and display mode of your publication.
Note:
Some of the page templates (cover pages, intro pages and dividers) are designed with in-built background images to hide the master page style. Double-clicking on the page will allow you to edit this background image but note that this Iis not the page background itself. To edit the page background you will need to select the page in the Organiser and select Properties from the Edit menu or the right mouse menu, or edit the underlying master page.
The Master Page is displayed at the top of the list of pages in the Organiser. The background area of the Page View will contain numerous "Master Page" captions to remind you that you are working with the Master Page.
This is ideal for setting a fixed background for your page or other consistent design elements, including lines, panels, company logos, publication titles etc. It is also useful for ensuring that each page has particularly actions if that is appropriate. In an interactive publication, for example, you may want a Next Page, Previous Page and Exit button on every page.
Note:
When developing your project you can preview the Master Page by pressing the function key F5. However, the Master Page itself does not appear in the published version of your publication.
Master pages can also be set to display objects over the top of any page they are used on. This is ideal for navigation buttons and anything else which you do not want covered by objects you might add on a child page.
Note:
Any background colour or image on that Master Page will be ignored. Thus, tere’s no need to switch off the background for such a master page (indeed this will cause problems displaying the publication at all).
You can use multiple Master Pages in a publication and you can even use a Master Page on another Master Page. So you can have one mater page which creates the background graphic with company logo image on and another which puts navigation buttons on – set to Appear On Top.
In the Creator Editor, the objects on a master page are accessible from any page which uses them. So you can have actions to Show/Hide/Enable/Disbale them. This allows you to show and hide buttons not used on every page for example – perhaps hide the Previous button on your first page or the Next button on your last.