Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I don't have a problem, just a question that may be as easy as apple pie, but I can't figure it out. I'm sorry if this seems redundant to some of you, I did do a quick search and read some things,,, but like I said I'm old... well not that old, but I got confused, didn't understand most of what I was reading and thought I would just write my question and be done with it. I mean really... it never hurts to ask.
Anyhow... I have starting making signs .. on pallet wood. Most tutorials that I've seen they use those $200.00 machines or something else that you have to pay for. I've been using Open Office for quite some time (which I absolutely love). I found picmonkey, but like some of the features in Open Office better. One of the things I want to be able to do is resize my page from the beginning. Right now I do my words in the font I like GUESS at the size of the font I'll need.. print and never get it right on the first shot. So I waste time and ink. On PicMonkey I can put in the size of the board, do my words and font, export and open it in paint and print out the # of pages I will need. So my question is this... Is there a way for me to input the size of the board and get the lettering right on the first shot?
I know this may be confusing to some and I apologize for that, but like I said... I'm old...er ! Thank you for any help you can give, please don't answer like I'm dumb or something other than old...er. I love OpenOffice and will continue to use it even if I can't find an easier way of doing what I want.
I have OpenOffice 4.1.1 and I am using Windows 8.1

Use the Draw component.

Thank you, but like I said I'm confused and old..er! Could you please tell me how and what to change so I can put in my board dimensions? I've played around with it for a little and I get so confused..if you don't have the time or the patience, it's ok, I understand, BUT if you do have the time and patience... how would I put the dimensions in for a board that is 17.5" long x 6.5" high? Thank you!!

Look under the menu option Format | Page where you can set the size of your page. Then you can use the Text icon (looks like a T) to insert text areas as required.

Attached is a quick and dirty example with three separate text frames and three different font sizes; the fonts I've used may not exist on your system so may appear a little different that I see them. The first two lines are monospace fonts, the third is proportional spacing.

Hope this helps - another senior citizen.

Also, if your system is set up correctly (if the screen, and the electronics responsible for sending the image to be displayed, are correctly identified by the operating system and by OpenOffice), onscreen scaling should be fairly precise. There is a zoom slider with + and - buttons to the right of your status bar. Set zoom to 100%. Compare screen display size with a blank sheet of paper.

Status bar constitutes the lower edge of your window. If the status bar is disabled, you can also find settings at View - Zoom...

Thank you so very very much! You guys rock! I actually figured it out and did a "test page". Thank you!!!! Can't wait to play around a little more with it after work tomorrow
Thank you again!