Scribus --Free DTP application

[Howard White]

For some time, I've been working with Scribus, a page layout application initially developed on Linux. It has some limitations -- especially with respect to typographic fancy-stuff -- but also has some astounding strengths --especially in PDF and PDF/X-3 output.

And it's free.:)

Scribus has been available for a couple of months for Mac Aqua (OSX), and the developers today announced release of a Windows 32 version.

All are considered works in progress, but are quite capable of good work.

Scribus is available at:

http://www.scribus.org.uk/

(As I write, the site interface is rather sparse because of the traffic generated by the Windows announcement, but you can still download. )

I am in constant contact with the development team via IRC and would be happy to pass on questions, etc. (Or you can join yourself at Freenode IRC channel #scribus.)

Join the party.

HW

[ktinkel]

… Scribus, a page layout application initially developed on Linux. It has some limitations -- especially with respect to typographic fancy-stuff -- but also has some astounding strengths --especially in PDF and PDF/X-3 output.We have a couple of members who have been using Scribus in Linux — but we haven’t heard much about it lately.

What do you mean by “typographic fancy-stuff,” exactly? (Yeah, I know I could download it and see for myself, but thought I’d ask anyway! <g>)

Thanks for the update.

[Howard White]

What do you mean by “typographic fancy-stuff,” exactly? (Yeah, I know I could download it and see for myself, but thought I’d ask anyway! <g>)

Thanks for the update.

You liked my felicitous turn of phrase.;)

No auto-kerning, yet. No auto-ligature generation. H&J fairly straightforward; no "paragraph composer" a la InDesign. No hung punctuation (how can one survive without it?) Stuff like that.

Good enuf for the average bear, though, especially at the price.

No real documentation yet (I'm addressing that issue.) On-line documentation is good but has not caught up with the current software version.

For me (trying to write documentation) major pain is weakness in the template structure for docs of more than ~4 pages.

If anyone here tries it and has questions, I'm all ears and some mouth.

HW

[jvecht]

Hi Howard,

I have been using Scribus for quite a while now with much pleasure. As an amateur Indesign or Quark are simply too expensive.

My last step was using OpenOffice formatted text with styles included to be imported in Scribus. Worked well enough to like it.

I do not know whether copying the link works here but let me try that. Here is a link to a earlier post of me on Scribus in this Forum:

http://www.desktoppublishingforum.com/bb/showthread.php?t=532

Just Vecht

[Howard White]

I do not know whether copying the link works here but let me try that. Here is a link to a earlier post of me on Scribus in this Forum:...

Just Vecht

Link works, and I was aware of your earlier post. I'm sitting here surrounded by screens running Scribus under Linux, MacOS and Windows XP. Within limitations imposed by the operating system and "look and feel," they perform essentially identically. As the Linux version can be updated at least daily (and sometimes more frequently), it's the one I use for seeing the latest cutting edge changes. Fun.

HW

[ktinkel]

… earlier post of me on Scribus in this Forum …Ah — Just! Glad you caught this thread. I bet you have some useful insights for Howard since you have actually done work with Scribus.

[jvecht]

Hi Howard,

I use Linux as my OS of choice, but I do not update Scribus that frequently. Not being a DTP professional it takes a lot of effort and trying to get to something that looks just a bit going in the right direction.

It is a lot of fun though and by trying to make something as an amateur my admiration for the real pros just grows.

At the moment I am planning to make a information flyer ( a A4 doublesided and folded to A5) for my club to give to new members or those just interested. The trio Scribus, Gimp and Inkscape will be my tools.

regards,

http://ourworld.cs.com/jvecht/HJ-cs.png
My Blog and more (http://www.justvecht.nl)

[jvecht]

Hi Kathleen,

Gary Maltzen tipped me as I was busy with other things - fun ones :cool:.

It was high time to visit this Forum though, so I was more than happy to have a good look around again.

regards,

Just

[ktinkel]

Gary Maltzen tipped me as I was busy with other things - fun ones :cool:.Hmmm. Intriguing!

[jvecht]

Hmmm. Intriguing!

Wonder what you think of it though:

play with my new iPod Nano (got my contacts in through vcards),
restoring a little Yamaha motorcycle for my seven year old son to use,
supporting a handicapped nephew playing around with a new PC,
sysop-ing somewhere
and much more..
regards,

Just

[ktinkel]

Wonder what you think of it though:



play with my new iPod Nano (got my contacts in through vcards),
restoring a little Yamaha motorcycle for my seven year old son to use,
supporting a handicapped nephew playing around with a new PC,
sysop-ing somewhere
and much more..Sounds like a good life. (But a motorcycle for a 7-year-old? Maybe you figure it will take 10 years to finish the project?)

[jvecht]

Sounds like a good life. (But a motorcycle for a 7-year-old? Maybe you figure it will take 10 years to finish the project?)
[/list]

No, he will have a first ride this Sunday :D. It is a 25+ year old Yamaha TY 80 model. The engine is OK, cycle parts need a lot of work but everthing is functioning well now. It is one big scratch, this bike.

We are talking Motorcycle Trials here. He has to ride a tape restricted observed section and foots put down decide results in this sport. No risky racing here..He has to learn use a clutch now. Current bike has an automatic clutch.

W'll see ... .

regards,

Just

[ktinkel]

We are talking Motorcycle Trials here. He has to ride a tape restricted observed section and foots put down decide results in this sport. No risky racing here.Interesting. I wonder if a 7-year-old has the physical strength to protect himself if anything happened while on the bike.

But I must assume you know best.

[jvecht]

Interesting. I wonder if a 7-year-old has the physical strength to protect himself if anything happened while on the bike.

But I must assume you know best.

Oh, there is a risk! Less than in soccer competion for one thing, but it is there. I will be close, very close all the time ;) and he will be dressed properly.

Anyhow - back to the topic, I just downloaded Scribus for Windows (it seems I did that as the first one - counter was still zero) and installed it. It fired up allright - Dutch locale too. It sure looks good. Now find something to try doing with it. I always need something with a goal to get myself to try things out. Perhaps that flyer for my club .... .

[later] I made that flyer - mean and dirty this time. This beta version of Scribus did behave quite well. Well enough to use it in case the Windows platform is to be used for whatever reason. I guess it will not stay in the beta phase for long, it is quite good already - for me amateur of course ..

Regards,

Just

PS: My company's January promotional magazine has an article on me and my job. When I saw the "raw" draft text of the editor after he interviewed me I thought it was rather disappointing. When I saw the actual result in print I was impressed :)! The difference: just the added value of some DTP-ing I guess. Nice to see how much that does ... .

regards,

Just

[plugsnpixels]

I am in constant contact with the development team via IRC and would be happy to pass on questions, etc.

Howard, I've downloaded the last couple of releases of Scribus for Mac OS-X and have yet to get it to run properly. If I recall correctly (it's been a few weeks), I installed the extras as suggested, but although I see a file menu, I can't get the interface to appear properly--there is a window, but it is off-screen (and is only revealed when using the Expose (F9) trick. However, it can't be clicked on to bring it forward.

I've yet to see a proper document ready to be worked with.

When I'm back in the office I can do some screenshots for you if you'd like.

[Howard White]

Howard, I've downloaded the last couple of releases of Scribus for Mac OS-X and have yet to get it to run properly. If I recall correctly (it's been a few weeks), I installed the extras as suggested, but although I see a file menu, I can't get the interface to appear properly--there is a window, but it is off-screen (and is only revealed when using the Expose (F9) trick. However, it can't be clicked on to bring it forward.

I've yet to see a proper document ready to be worked with.

When I'm back in the office I can do some screenshots for you if you'd like.

Some people have seen this: I did once but fixed it in some way I now forget. One trick is to delete (or better, rename) the "invisible" scribus13.rc file in your user root directory. This file holds all your preferences, including, I think, window size and location.

If you have access and inclination to IRC, I suggest tuning into #scribus on IRC freenode.net. Andreas Vox ("avox"), who did the Mac port, is there all the time and can deal with more specificity.

It's worth the effort.

HW