NewLeaf is a frame-based publishing tool. Frames are rectangular areas on the paper where you want your text to be printed. You will always need at least one frame, so if you start a new printing job with a completely empty page definition, NewLeaf assumes that you want 1-inch margins all round, and a page number centred at the bottom. In the thumbnail, you can see the paper (in grey) with an outer rectangle showing the printable area (which will vary depending on your printer driver) and an inner rectangle (the frame) where some text has been printed. All measurements are in Points (one point = 1/72 of an inch), in an (x,y) co-ordinate system based on an origin at the bottom left corner of the paper.

Note that in NewLeaf, measurements are always from the edge of the paper, so your reports will come out exactly the same, even if you change printers.

You can have as many frames on the page as you need – by default the text simply flows to the next available frame when it fills the first one, but you can give names to your frames and control the way text flows using these names.

As well as frames, a page-definition may have other elements such as a company logo, a page number, vertical and horizontal rules, the date and time of printing, and so on. These will repeat on every subsequent page, with the page number incrementing automatically.

Finally, it is possible to define a sequence of page definitions, which could be used to alternate left/right layouts for double-sided printing.