I have a layout I'll probably follow at david.dlit.co.nz/post1 - basically a blog site with the text split into 4 pieces, two columns at the top followed by a line of images followed by two columns at the bottom. Thanks to RLM they become one column on smaller screens.

However, the placeholder paragraphs on RLM are a fixed size whereas in normal text paragraphs can vary greatly in size - some of mine are one line, some can put lawyers to shame.

Planning a layout can be a problem in this sort of case, as there's nothing that I can see that would make the paragraphs "balance" between the two sides - ie half the length of the text go into column 1 and half into column 2. One entry might contain 11 short paragraphs for one of those points, another may have 3 short and 5 medium-long ones. The placeholders unfortunately won't work very well here.

I can hand-edit the layout to make it work - it's not difficult for someone who's done most work by hand in the past , but I would love to know if there is a way where I could create a template and have the software do much of the rest for me automatically.

Thanks for help,
David

I bet you could place an element in there to act as a blocker for you and use display none when not needed.

I'm afraid I am too much of a newbie to this sort of thing to understand that I'll see if I can figure it out in the coming days, but I would love it if you could shed a little more light on this.

Thanks for the advice though, it does give me somewhere to start to look.

Take care,
David

I'm actually not to sure what kind of look your after. If you place each paragraph in it's own element then you should be able to control where it goes at each break point.

The issue is that, unless I am missing something, the placeholder paragraphs are a fixed size. Normal text isn't a fixed size per paragraph.

I've love to know if there's a way to make it a bit easier to plan out (or an update with a way to enter our own text into a paragraph at layout-time?) taking into account that...

Ok scratch that.. I just noticed the "amount" for the words setting on the element properties. Maybe that wasn't there on the trial version (but somehow I expect it was and I didn't notice it), but it at least helps plan out the spacing while using paragraphs.

But it would be nice to be able to edit the paragraphs directly I think (Although I am building a nice template where the placeholders do as well )

Thanks for your help,
David

Ok I think I know what your trying to do.
Click on your paragraph then click on the properties tab. At the top you can enter the amount of words to mimic what you will actually have. Word is that RLM will have a live text editor added soon so you won't have to enter the text after export.

I, also, am trying to do a text-based site. I (an old newbie) just want to replace my Substack site with one not requiring subscriptions, just some (occasionally) paid downloads*. (Any helpful hints appreciated.)
My question is, are there any (free, cheap) text-based themes or templates available? Blog not desired, just email exchanges.

* (relying one SEO Goggle hits for the few interested in my subjects.)