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Scribus
Introduction
Introduction
Scribusisaprogramforprofessionalpagelayout,andforcreatingPDF(PortableDocumentFormat)files.Itisfreeand
distributedundertheGNUGPLlicense.Thislicenseindicatesyoumayobtainitfreely,touse,distribute,copy,aswellasstudy
andevenmodifytheprogram'ssourcecode.ThereareversionsofScribusavailableforWindows,MacOSX,Linux,andless
commonoperatingsystemslikeOS/2.YouwillfindtheinstructionsoninstallationintheAppendixofthisbook.
WhatisScribususedfor?
WithScribusyoumightcreatebrochures,booklets,books,magazines,andanytypeofdocumentwhichyouplantoprintormake
availableelectronically,includingpresentations.Ithasafeaturerichinterfaceandthefunctionalitytoallowyoutocreate
professionalqualityprintoutput.FeaturesincludePostScriptcolorseparations,supportforCMYKandspotcolors,ICCprofiles,
andprintermarks.
Scribusfileshavetheirownnativeformat,withtheextension.sla,easilyeditablesinceitisinplaintext.Generallyspeaking,you
wouldnotbedealingwith.slafiles,butratherexportingyourworkasaPDF(extension.pdf),whichisstandardized,reliable,
widelyusedandrecognized,andisacceptedbycommercialprintersandpublishers.
Note:Scribusisdesignedforthetaskofcreatingpagelayout,andisexcellentinthisarea,butifwhatyouareprimarilylooking
forissomethingforretouchingandeditingphotographs,orperhapsmakingvectordrawings,youareadvisedtoselectother
FreeandOpenSourceprograms,suchasGimp(http://www.gimp.org)fortheformertask,andInkscape
(http://www.inkscape.org)forthelatter.
WhoarethepeoplebehindScribus?
Scribusisbeingdevelopedbyacommunityofdeveloperswhoforthemostpartvolunteertheirtimeandeffort,andwhohave
interestsincommercialprinting,graphicdesign,orinformationtechnology.EventhoughScribuscancertainlyusemorehelp
withprogramming,therearemanywaysthatyoucanbecomeaparticipantinitsdevelopmentandimprovement,byreporting
bugs,submittingfeaturerequestsorsuggestingotherenhancements,orperhapsjuststayingintouchwiththisactive
community.
ThefirststableversionofScribus(1.0),datesbackto2003.Thismanualcoversversionsinthe1.4.xseries,officiallyreleasedin
early2012.Scribusisatthispointamatureandreliableprogramasyouwillseefromtheexamplesofusageinasubsequent
chapter.Overtheyearssinceitsinception,publishersanddesignershavebeenabletoconfidentlytrustitsquality.LikeScribus
itself,thismanualisbothfreelyavailableandFree.YouwillfindthespecificsregardingthisinthechapterAboutthisbook.
WhatcanScribusdo?
Scribushasthreemajorstrengths.Thesearecreation,organization,andproduction,andinthisbookyouwillfindsectionson
eachofthese.AparticulargreatfeatureofScribusisitsflexibiltywithregardtocreation.Fromadesignperspective,thisisclearly
ahugeadvantage,sinceinashortamountoftime,onecanexperimentwithalargevarietyofgraphicalandtypographicoptions.
Fonts,colors,shading,transparency,variousvisualeffects,typographicparameters,positionandrotationoftheelementsallof
theseoptionsinScribusstrivetobebotheasilyaccessibleandpredominantlyintuitive.Onceyourlayoutisgettingcloserto
finalizationandthusbecomesmore"static"orfixed,youarereadytomakeuseoftheorganizationalcapabilitiesoftheprogram.
ThesecondofScribus'sstrengths,organization,offerstheuserapanoplyoftoolsandfunctions,tosavetimeforprogressingto
thenextstep,production.Templates,styles,theScrapbook,MasterPages,andthescriptingpluginallowforautomationof
repetitivetasksduringproduction,orinanycaseoptimizationoftheresults.First,youshouldtakethetimetomakesome
preparations,bysettingupvariousparameterswithinwhichyouwillwork.Whenyouhavetakenthistimetodothis,theprocess
ofcreationisgreatlysimplified,andyouendupwithamorecoherentdocumentbycoherent,wemeanonewithconsistent
stylesandplacementofitemsfrompagetopage.Ratherthanrecreatingeachobjectmanually,youmakebetteruseofyour
computertopreciselydorepetitivetasks,avoidingtheerrorswhichcomefromrepetitive,tiringwork.
Theonlythingthatremainsthenisproduction,thefinalassemblyandarrangementofyourproject,whereyouusethesevarious
toolsandyourmaterialforyourdocument.Quiteeasilyyounowcaninsertpages,focusontextformattingandtextflowfrompage
topage,importyourimages,asyouconcentrateonmakingapleasing,sensiblelayout.ThankstothePropertiespalette,you
haveanarrayofsettingsandtoolsatyourdisposal,whereyoucanpositionlayoutelementsattheprecisionof0.001millimeter,
andjustaspreciselydefinethecontentoftheelements.Lastly,afterexportingyourdocumenttoPDF,yousendyourdocumentto
yourprinter,oralternativelymakeaninteractive(ornoninteractive)PDFforpostingontheweb.
Requirements
Inthisbook,wedonotexpectyoutohavepreviousexperiencewithlayoutorcomputergraphicsingeneral.Tobesure,practical
experienceinvisualarts(photography,drawing,andsoon),orwithcommercialprintingwillundoubtedlyhelpyoutomake
beautifulthingsaswellasunderstandvarioustechnicalissues,butnonethelessallthatisnotnecessaryinordertolearntouse
Scribus.
However,inordertobestmakeuseofthismanualandallowforthegreatesteaseofworking,useamousewithatleasttwo
buttonsandascrollwheel(avoidusingatrackpadsuchasmanylaptopshave),andagood,comfortablekeyboard.Thiswill
allowyoutoworkwithonehandonthemouseandtheotheronthekeyboard.Thiscombinationwillfrequentlyallowforthe
greatestprecisionasyouwork.
Beyondthis,youmaybenefitfromlearningsomekeyboardshortcuts.Thismanualwillonlyrarelyrefertoshortcuts,butprimarily
directyourattentiontovariousmenus.Yet,ifyouwillpaycloseattentiontovariousmenuitemsyouwillseenotationsabout
keyboardshortcutsforvarioustasks,totherightofthecommandname.Usingatleastsomeofthesecaneasilyspeedupyour
work.
Otherwise,youshouldbereasonablycapablewithusageofamoderncomputer,whichincludes,inadditiontoapplying
keyboardshortcuts,knowingsomethingaboutusingfiledialogs("Open","Save","SaveAs",andsoon),usingtheinternet,as
wellasmouseusage.Regardingthislastitem,itisstronglyadvisedtohaveatwobuttonmousewithascrollwheel.Usinga
trackpad,suchasmanylaptopshave,willalmostcertainlyresultinextremefrustration,becauseprecisepositioningand
movementsarebasicrequirementsfortheuseofaDTPprogram.
Handson
InthissectionwearegoingtotakeyouthroughashortguidedtourofScribus.Insevenstepsyoulearnhowtocreateatrifold
brochure.
Makeadraftsketchofyourdocument
Thefirststeptakesplaceawayfromyourcomputerinasense,sincewearegoingtoendupmostoftenwitharesultonpaper,
wewillbeginbyworkingwithpaper.Tosketchyourbrochure,beginwithasheetofwhiteofficepaper(A4orUSLetter),andfoldit
inthirds,sothatitfoldstogetherasshown.Althoughinyouractualbrochureyoumightwishtheinsideflaptobeslightlymore
narrowthantheleftfrontflap,sothatitcompletelycoverstheinsideflapwhenfoldedtogether,forthisdemonstrationwearenot
goingtobotherwiththisprecisedetail.
Sketchsomepictureonthefrontflap,thenchecktheresult.
Somecomments:
Atthisearlystage,feelfreetomakevariousdraftsofyourwork,sothatyoucangettheappearanceofthebrochureasyou
wouldlike.
Workwithapencil,paper,anderaserthisisasketch,notapieceofart.Atthispointyou'remainlyinterestinginworking
quickly.
Ifyoudon'tlikewhatyou'vedoneatall,throwitawayandstartover.
Onceyouaresatisfiedwithhowthebrochureworksasaphysical,foldingobject,youcanbegintoconsiderhowyouwantto
distributethecontentonthevariousspacesontheflaps,frontandback.
Ingeneral,youwillprobablywanttousethethreeinternalspacesforyourprimarycontent,sothatthelayoutofthesewillbea
sequentialsuccession,lefttoright.
Forthethreeotherpages/flaps(thoseontheoutsideofthefoldedbrochure),eachhasitsownconsiderationsregardingits
content:
Thefrontflap(whichwhenunfoldedwillbetherightmostpanelofthepage)willcontainalargeimage,atitle,andvery
briefindicationofthebrochure'scontent.
Themiddlepanelwillbethebackofthefoldedbrochurewewillusethisforcontactinformation.
Theleftpanelistheonewhichisfirstseenasthebrochureisopeneditwillcontainfurtherinformationonthecontent,
perhapssomesortoflistingofthecontents.
Intheimagesherebelowyoucanseehowwehavedemarcatedboxesorframeswithsomeindicationofhowtextandimages
arearrangedinthebrochurepanels:
Youcanseethatwehavesimplydrawnlinestoindicatethetextintheframes.Youmightalternativelywritesomenotes
whichsaysomethingaboutthecontentofvariousframes.
Imageframesarenotedbydrawingacross(sothatweknowthisisanimageframeandnottext),oryoumightplacea
simplesketchtodenoteaparticularcontent.
ForthisguidedtourofScribusweareproposingtocreateabrochureaboutJohannesGutenberg,inrelationshiptohis
inventionsregardingtheprintingpress.WewillbeusingimagesandtextfromtheWikipediawebpageonGutenberg,whichmay
beusedundertheCreativeCommonslicensingoftheirsite.
Createanewdocument
WhenyoustartupScribus,itpresentsyouwithadialogforcreatinganewdocument.Incaseyoumayhaveclosedthisdialog,
youcanbringitupagainwiththemenuFile>New.
Thedocumentyouaregoingtocreatewillhavethefollowingcharacteristics:
ThetypeofdisplayisSinglePage.
ThesizeisA4.
OrientationisLandscape.
Makesuretheunitsaremillimeters,sincethedefaultmaybepoints.
Create2pages,foreachsideofourA4paper.
Choosemarginsof1cm(10mm)tomakesureweremainwithintheboundariesofwhereourprintercanphysicallyprint
onthepaper.
Otherparametersshouldremainatdefaultsettings.
ClickonOKtofinallycreatethisdocument.
Hereyousee,inascaleddownview,howyourdocumentappearsinthemainwindow:
Nowisthetimetosaveyourwork.CreateadirectoryScribus_GutenberginsideyourDocumentsdirectory,thengiveyourfilea
suitablename.
Definesomeguides
Youwillbeusingguidestoassistwiththealignmentofthecontentaccordingtothefoldsofyourbrochure.Inthemenu,select
Page>ManageGuides.
Usingthemiddletab(Column/Row)youcancreatetwoverticalguides,withaspacebetweenthem(Gap)of2cm.Thisvalueis
doublethatofthemargins,sothatthecontentwillbebalancedinthevariousflaps.
Further,youwanttodefinetheseguideswithrespecttothemargins,notthepage.
Finally,clickApplytoAllPagesandclosetheGuideManager.
Ifyoudonotseetheguides,gotothemenuandselectView>ShowGuides.
Writesometext
InScribus,youdon'twritedirectlyonthepagefirstyoucreateframeswhichwillthencontainthetext.Ingeneral,mostgraphical
elementsarecontainedinframes.Withthesewecanfreelymoveallofourvariouselementsaroundthepages.
Gotothefirstpageofyourdocument.Ifnecessary,usetheslideratthebottomtopositionthecoverflapinyourworkspace.You
canalsozoomyourviewbyholdingdownCtrlandrunningthemousewheelupanddownwhilethemousearrowisoverthe
zoomindicatorquiteeasilydonewiththistool!
Youcanalsomoveyourpageupanddown,leftandright,byholdingdownthemiddlebutton(orwheel),thendraggingthe
mouseintheappropriatedirection.
ActivatethetextframetoolbyclickingInsert>InsertTextFramefromthemenu,orfromtheicon(whichistheonejusttotheright
ofthewhitearrowicononthetoolbar,thenmakeyourtextframeonthepagewithaclickdragreleaseaction.
Youcanresizeyourframebyclickdraggingthesmallredsquareatthelowerrightcornerresizeitsothatitcancontaintwo
linesoftext:JohannesGutenberg.
Noticethatafteryouhavecreatedyourframe,ScribusautomaticallyswitchestoItemSelectionmodetheiconwiththewhite
arrowisselectedinthetoolbarwhichallowsyoutoselectandmoveobjects.Ifyouwishtoswitchfromsomeothertoolinthe
toolbar,eitherclicktheItemSelectioniconorpressEsc.
Doubleclickinsidetheframe,andthevariousadjustmentsquaresdisappear,sothatnowyoucantypeinGutenberg'sname
(youarenowinEditContentsmode).
Butyourtextisquitesmallisn'tit?Tochangethesizeselectallthetext(ifyouarestillinEditContentsmode,fromthemenu
selectEdit>SelectAll),openthePropertiespalette(Window>Properties),selecttheTexttab,sothatyoucantryvariousfonts
andfontcharacteristics,includingthesizeofthecharacters(glyphs).
Ifthelinesaretooclosetogether,adjustthelinespacing.Ingeneral,aminimumspacingof20%greaterthanfontsizeis
advisable.
YoucanexitEditContentsmodebyclickingonthecanvasoutsidetheframeorbypressingEsc,andofcourseyoucangoback
toEditContentsbydoubleclickinginsidetheframe.
AddanImage
ThenextstepwillbetoplaceanimageofGutenberg'sstatueonthecover.DownloadthisimagefromWikimediacommons:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_de_Gutenberg__Strasbourg.jpg
MakeadirectoryimagesinsideyourdirectoryScribus_Gutenberganddownloadthelargestimage(fullresolution)intothe
imagesdirectory.
Activatetheimageframetoolfromthemenu(Insert>InsertImageFrame)orclicktheInsertImageFrameiconfromthetoolbar,
andthenwithaclickdragmotioncreateanimageframeonthecoverofourbrochure.
Makesureyouhaveselectedtheimageframe,thenloadthephotoofthestatue(whichyoushouldfindinyourdirectory
Imagesinsideyourworkingdirectoryforthisproject)byusingFile>Import>GetImage.
Mostlikely,yourimageappearsallwhitedon'tpanic,thisisthebackgroundofthisimage,andyou'reonlyseeingasmallpart
ofit!BringupthePropertiespalette(Windows>Properties),selecttheImagetab,andselecttheoptionsScaleToFrameSize
andProportional.
Bydefault,Scribuswillimportimagesaccordingtotheirresolutionasnotedinthefile.Sincethereisn'tyetanyinformationabout
theresolutionyouwouldliketouse,Scribussimplyloadstheimageatitsmaximumsize.
AquickerwaytocarryoutthisoperationistorightclickontheimageframeandselectAdjustImagetoFramefromthecontext
menu.
Next,adjusttheimageframebyrightclicking,thenchoosingAdjustFrametoImage,thenmovetheframesothatitlinesupwith
theleftedgeoftheleaf:
Withaclickdragoperationonthesmallredsquareintherightlowercorneroftheframe,youcannowresizetheframesothatit
fillsthecolumncreatedbytheguidetotheleftandmargintotheright.
Importsometext
Asyouwilllearninthismanual,Scribusisoftennotthebesttoolforcomposingtext.Inaddition,muchifnotmostofthetime,you
maybeimportingtextwrittenbyothers,orreusingtextyouhavewrittenforsomeothercontext.
Tosimulatethissituation,wewilluseabrowsertogototheWikipediapageaboutGutenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_GutenbergandcopythesectionEarlyYears,thenopenatexteditor,createanewfile,
andpastethetextfromWikipedia.SavethefileinanewdirectoryTextinsideyourworkingdirectory.
CreateatextframeintheInsideflap,beingsurethefillthespacetothemarginsandtotheguide.Selecttheframe,thenfromthe
menu,File>Import>GetTexttoimportthetextyoujustsavedinyourfile.
UsetheinstructionsintheabovesectionWritesometexttoadjustthesizeofthetitleinthistextframe.
Linkingtextframes
Onthesecondpageofyourdocument,youaregoingtoaddsometextwhichlinksacrossthethreepanels.
Nowlet'sapplyalittletrickafteryouactivatethetextframetool(Insert>InsertTextFrame),holddownShiftwhileyouclick
insidethespaceforContent1whatyouhavedoneistocreateatextframewhichfillsthespacedelimitedbythemarginsand
theguide.Repeatthisfortheothertwopanelsonthesecondpage.Ifyouhavetroublewiththis,youcansimplycreateatext
frameandenlargetothedesiredspaceinthiscase,settingPage>SnaptoGuidescanassistyouinfillingthespacetoits
margins.
Nowyouhavesetupthelayout,butyouhavenotext.ForourexamplewewilluseSampleTextselecttheframeinthefirst
panel,thenInsert>SampleText,andchooseStandardLoremIspum.
Ifyoulookinthelowerrighthandcornerofthetextframeyouseeasmallredboxwithacross,whichindicatesthattheactualtext
isoverflowingtheframe.Makesurethefirstframeisselected,thenclickItem>LinkTextFrames,thenclickthesecondframe.
Nowselectthesecondframe,clickItem>LinkTextFrames,thenclickthethirdframe.
Don'tforgettosaveyourwork!
Theimportanttoolbarelements
Nowthatyou'vefinishedthislittleproject,let'sgooverthemaintoolbariconswhichyouarelikelytouseinthecompositionof
yourdocuments.
1. Selectiontool
2. InsertTextFrame
3. InsertImageFrame
4. InsertRenderFrame
5. InsertTable
6. InsertShape
7. InsertPolygon
8. InsertLine
9. InsertBezierCurve
10. InsertFreehandLine
11. RotateItem
12. Zoom
13. EditContentsMode
14. StoryEditor
15. LinkTextFrames
16. UnlinkTextFrames
17. Measurement
18. CopyProperties
19. ColorPicker
Congratulations!
Youhavecreatedyourfirstlayout.Certainlynotperfect,butagoodstart!
Whenyouhaveactuallyfinishedalayout,youwouldbeexportingtoPDFforprintingordistribution,butatthisstagethisisabit
complex.Asyoucontinuethroughthemanual,youwilllearnthisandothervarioustaskstouseScribustoitsfullcapabilities.
ExamplesusingScribus
ThischapterwillshowyousomeexamplesofworksdonewithScribusinvariousartisticandprofessionalcontexts.
Anindependentgeneralinterestmagazine:LeTigre
LeTigreisanindependentmagazinefreeofadvertising,foundedin2006,distributedonnewsstandsandinbookstores.
Variousjournalists,photographers,designers,writers,andacademicsareinvolvedinLeTigre.
LeTigreisdistinguishedbyitseclecticism,whereyoumightreadlongessays,geopoliticalarticles,cartoons,photograph
portfolios,andcriticism,amongothertopics.
ItwasthefirstnewspaperinFrancedesignedsolelywithfreesoftware.
ANewZealandtravelbook
Fortwomonthsin2009,MarcusHollandMoritztravelledinNewZealand.Withthelargenumberofphotographshetook,he
createdthisbook,includinganarrativeabouthisexperiences.
ThisbookwaspublishedunderCreativeCommonsBYSANDlicense.Formoreinformation,visitthesite:http://zrox.org/nzbook/
.
ADVDjacketforVillesenEauxTroubles
VillesenEauxTroublesisaFrenchdocumentaryfilmbyYvesEntenich.ThecoverofthejacketwasdesignedusingInkscape,
thenimportedintoScribus.Usingmicrotypographicapproaches,thespacingandkerningwerecarefullyadjustedforapleasing
typographicalcolor.Herewealsoseethecutmarksatthecorners.
Conception:ThibautHoferCreativeCommonsBYSA
AtextbookonPhysicsandChemistry
Atextbookfora6thlevelPhysicsandChemistryclass,laidoutbyDanBourgamiMagaouata,andpublishedbyEditionsduSahel
inNiger.
AcalculusbookinAfricanlanguages
AnintroductorycalculusbookforbilingualschoolsinDioulalanguageusedinBurkinaFaso,formattedandpublishedby
BoureimaKindaOSEOPublisher/SolidarSwitzerland.Byusingasinglefilewithmultiplelayers,multipleversionshavebeen
possibleinnineAfricanlanguages,includingMossi,Dyula,Fulfulde,Lyl,Gourmanchma,Nuni,Dagara,Baraka,andLebiri.
AbrochurefortheWikipediabookshelf
TheWikipediaBookshelfcollectsandcreatesinformativematerialaboutWikipediaandprojects,thatservestointroducenew
contributorstoWikipediaandotherprojects.
WikimediaencouragestheuseofScribusforcreatingthismaterialandthemostrecenteditionswereindeedcreatedthisway.
ExperimentsbyOpenSourcePublishing(OSP)
OSPisacollectiveofdesignersusingonlyfreesoftware.CloselylinkedtothefoundingofMediaArtsBrusselsConstant,they
testthepossibilitiesandrealitiesofthepracticeofdesign,illustration,cartographyandtypographyusingarangeoffreetools,
includingScribus.
AsalesbrochureforActivDesign
AbrochuretodescribetrainingfromActivDesignassociation,theFormationLibrenetworkoftrainers.
4pagesinfullcolor,printedonheavycoatedpaper.DesignandlayoutbyCdricGmy.
Introductoryguidetobeekeeping
ThisintroductoryguidetobeekeepingispublishedbytheassociationITSAPInstitudel'abeille,whichprovideallnecessary
legal,economic,andpracticalinformationforthosewishingtobecomebeekeepers.GraphicanddesignbyCdricGmy,2011.
ACDcoverforMy.playlist
My.monkeycomesfromtheMyMonkeyArtandGraphicDesignGalleryinNancy,France.Onthediskisacombinationofartwork
andmusic.Thecoverisbasedonthetemplateofanactualdisk.ThetextwasplacedwithAttachTexttoPathonaspiralwhich
wascreatedinInkscape,thenimportedtoScribus.
Design:my.monkey,CreativeCommonsBYSA
TheSentinelGuide
SentinelGuideispublishedbyl'associationdesEauxetRiviresdeBretagne,toraiseawarenessoftheireffortsinpromoting
respectfortheaquaticenvironmentandprovideinformationoncorrectionsincaseofproblems.Booklet,52pages,twocolor
printing,andaPDFformontheweb.DesignandgraphicdesignbyCdricGmy,2011.
Posterforthe2011MakarantaPrize
AposterproducedbythefoundationfortheMakarantaPrizeforbilingualschools,"EncouragingreadinginFrenchandthe
nationallanguage",Niger.
AbrochurefortheForumdesAlternatives
Aleafletinthreeparts,foldedtolettersize,containingdescriptions,datesandlocationsproposedforthiseventinGap,Francein
2009.Scribuswasusedforthelayoutoftheflyer,withassistancefromGimpforthecoverillustration.
UnderthedirectionofCamilleBissuel(yagraph),CCBYSAhttp://www.yagraph.org/yagraph/content/plaquettepourforum
alternatives
Abookonbuildingyurts
Asofearly2012,thisbookofonehundredpagesonbuildingyurtswasstillinprogress.Theprojectwasbegunin2008byAnne
Goldenberg,amotivatednovice,whowantedtotakeinformationfromawebsite(underafreelicence)andpublishabookon
constructionofayurt.Ithasbeenaslowproject,perhapsinpartrelatedtonothavingabookaboutScribus.
Shehadhopedforpublicationin2012,underCCBYSA.
Aboutthisbook
ThisbookconcernsthesoftwareprogramScribus.Therewereanumberofobjectiveswhichtheauthorssetforthemselves:
Toallowaquickoverviewoftheprogramforbothnovicesandthoseexperiencedwithlayoutwhoprofessionallymake
useofPDF(PortableDocumentFormat).
TopresentasensibleapproachtothevariousfeaturesofaPDF,sothataproperworkflowisutilized,witharapid,flexible
creativity,andyetwhichassuresaprofessionalfinalresult.Thismanualapproachesthetaskinaprogressiveway,so
thereaderisencouragedtofollowthesequenceofthesections.
TopermitFrenchspeakingusers(seebelow)tohaveaccesstoamanualintheirnativelanguage.Thisfacilitates
comprehensionofprofessionalconceptswhichattimesarecomplex,aspartofthedevelopmentofacommunityof
FrenchspeakingusersofScribus.
Toofferadocumentationwhichisnotonlyimmediatelyavailable,butduetoitslocationinawikienvironment,allowsfor
itsownprogressivedevelopmentasneeded.
Thebulkofthisworkof200pageswasaccomplishedinaBooksprintlasting5days,whichoccurredduringameetingin
StrasbourgonJuly610,2011,thankstothesponsorshipofl'OrganisationinternationaledelaFrancophonie
(www.francophonie.org).
ThiscomesaboutfromthepopularizedexperimentsoftheFlossManualsFoundationaspartofaframeworkofcreating
multilingualmanualsonfreesoftwareandotherfreematerials,wherethemethodologyoftheBooksprintresultsinthecreation
ofhighqualitybooksinaveryshorttime.FlossManualsFrancophoneisanorganizationstemmingfromthe1901Act,whose
objectiveistheorganizationandfacilitationofwritinginortranslationofdocumentationtotheFrenchlanguage.
Agroupofsixcoauthors(trainers,designers,developers,andprinters),comingfromNorthAmerica,Europe,andAfricaworked
togetherinordertorepresentthevariouskindsofFrenchspeakingusers.
ThecoauthorsattheBooksprintwere:
CamilleBissuel(France)
MagaouataDanBourgami(Niger)
LouisDesjardins(Quebec,Canada)
CdricGmy(France)
ThibautHofer(France)
AlessandroRimoldi(Switzerland)
Inaddition,thereweretwofacilitators:
ElisadeCastroGuerra(France)
AnneGoldenberg(Quebec,Canada/France)
Collaborativelywritten,thisbookonbeginningtouseScribusderivesitsinspirationfromthevaluesoffreedom.Itisavailableon
theFlossManualssiteinavarietyofformats:printedbook,webpages,PDFandePub,thislastonepermittingtheeasyreview
onaneReaderorotherportableelectronicdisplay.PublishedundertheduallicensingofGPLv2andCreativeCommons
ShareAlike(CCBYSA3.0),thismanualmaybereadandcopiedfreely.Otherwise,thecontentoftheelectronicversionis
expectedtoevolveasthesoftwareadvances.Toviewthemostrecentversion,youareencouragedtoregularlyvisitthe
FrancophonesectionofFlossManuals(http://www.fr.flossmanuals.net/scribus).
PleasedonothesitatetohelpimprovethismanualbymakingyourcommentstousinthefrancophonelistatFlossManuals.If
youhavedecentwriting/editingskillsandareknowledgeableaboutScribus,weencourageyoutoregisteronthesitesothatyou
mightsuggestnewchaptersoreditexistingmaterial.Youwillfindattheendofthisworkalistofthosewhohavecontributedto
thisworkuptoitscurrentversion.
YouarereadingtheversionrevisedandenhancedasofDecember1,2011.
Aboutthistranslation
ThemaingoalofthisEnglishtranslationwastotrytocapturetheflavorandspiritoftheoriginalbutatthesametimetrytowrite
asifitmighthavebeenoriginallywritteninEnglish.
It'salsounderstoodthatthistranslationfromtheoriginalFrenchmaycontainsomealterations,corrections,orenhancementsto
trytoimprovethecomprehensionandaccuracyofthematerial.
GregoryPittman(US),2013
Create
Beginattheend
Youmaybetemptedatthispointtosimplybeginbystartingyourlayoutyouhaveyourphotosandtext,andaboveall,youhave
Scribusformakingyourlayout.Whynotjustdiveinandbegin?Thereasonisthatinordertogetthebestresults(andwasteless
timeinthelongrun)youwanttoconsidertheentireproject,itsworkflowleadingtothePDFcreation,andeventheprinting.
Thereareanumberoftechnicalsettingsanddecisionsatthebeginningwhichwillgreatlyaffectthesuccessofyourproject.
Havingtoundoandthenredoiswastefulofyourtimeandeffort,andinsomecasesdifficult.Forexample,ifyouplanonprinting
thefinalproductonyourlocalprinter(theoneconnectedtoyourcomputer),thispresentslimitationsonpapersize,and
secondarilysuchissuesasbleed,bindingwidths,andthesortofpaperyoumightchoose.
Incaseyouseesometermsinthissectionwhichyoudon'tunderstand,thesewillbeexplainedlater,andthereisaglossaryat
theend.
Talktoyourprinter
Ofcourse,we'renottalkingaboutthatpieceofmachineryattachedtoyourcomputer,butherewemeanthepersonattheprint
shopwhereyoumayhaveyourPDFprinted.Althoughmanywillthinkaboutthisonlyaftertheyhavecompletedtheirprojectand
createdthePDF,beforewarnedthatyoumayonlyfindatthattimethatsomeimportantchoicesaboutcolor,theformat,orthe
choiceofpapercouldcauseyoutogobackandmakesomeessentialalterations.Consideryourprinteraresourceonthe
physicalcreationofyourwork.
Foldsomepaper
JustaswedidinthechapterHandson,makeasimplephysicalmodelofyourproject.Byfoldingthepaperasinyourfinal
brochureyoucaneasilydeterminethespacesyouhavetoworkwithandhowtheyinteractwitheachother.Noticehowweused
theguidestohelpusdefinethespacesavailable.
Ifyouaremakingsomesortofbook,thetypeofbindingisdeterminedbythenumberofpages.Alargebookwillhavetohave
sometypeofsquarebackedbinding.
Makeatimetable
Evenifyouaresolelyresponsibleforcontentandlayout,factorintheprintingprocesstimeasyoulookaheadtoyourdeadline.
Forashortrun(smallnumberofcopies),adigitalprintingprocessisprobablyagoodchoice,butforalargerun,youmightbe
moreinterestedinoffsetprinting.Inthatcase,thereismoreworkinvolvedintheprepresswork,aswellassettingupthe
machineandschedulingwhenitwillbeprinted.
Finally,someotherissuesareimportantaswell,suchasthetypeandavailabilityofthepaperyouwishtouse,howthisaffects
thefinallookoftheproject,andeventheweightofyourbook,pluspackagingifitmustbeshippedessentialtoknowifyouwill
bedistributingbymail.
Sonowyoucanseemanyvariablesoutsideofthedesignwhichimpactconsiderationsfortheprojectasawhole.Especially
whenyouconsidersomedeadlineyoumayhave,backtrackingcanbeeitherveryexpensiveorimpossible.
Editorialandgraphicalworkflows
Thankstothepreviouschapter,Beginattheend,younowshouldhaveanideaofsomeofthequestionsyoushouldaskand
answerasyoustartyourproject.
Wedon'twishtofrustrateyourcreativeenergies,butunderstandthatScribusisnotlikelytheonlytoolyouwillneedtocomplete
yourdesign.
Inthischapter,wewilldiscusstheprocessesandpracticeofeditingtohelpyouunderstandnotonlythebigpictureoflayout
butmanyofitsdetails.
Separatecontentfromform
Inthebroadworldofpublishing,therearemanydifferentkindsofdocuments,longorshortmonographsorperiodicals,withor
withoutillustrations,andwrittenbyvarioustypesofprofessionals(writersorjournalists)orevennonprofessionals.Allofthese
factorsaffectyourworkingmethodandhowyouwillapplyyourlayoutandothersoftware.
Regardless,atimeprovenmethodinpublishingistoseparatethecontentproducingprocessesfromthelayoutproducing
processes.Thiswouldbeuseful,forexample,ifyoumightreprintaseriesofbooksusingadifferenttypefaceorgraphicalstyle.
Althoughitmightbeupdatedorcorrected,thetextlargelyremainsthesame.Theauthorofthetextisnotthinkingaboutits
presentationandstyle,onlyitsverbalcontent.
Thismightseemexcessivelyrigidoraconstraint,butinrealityitisliberating,andallowsvariouskindsofprofessionalstofocus
ontheiraspectoftheproject,makingtheirowndecisionsastheyseefit.Theauthorneedonlymakesomeindicationofwhatisa
title,whatisachapterheadingoraparagraph,leavingthedecisionsaboutstylestothegraphicdesignerforthemostpleasing
endresult.Similarly,thedesignerisnotconcernedaboutsyntaxandsemantics.
Scribusconsidersthisdistinctionbetweencontentandlayout,soyouarewelladvisedtokeeptheseseparateasyousetupyour
workflow.
Editorialworkflow
Imaginethatyouworkforalargenewspaperoperation,whichpublishesitsnewsinadailyprintedpaper,butalsoinawebsite.
Youareresponsiblefortheoveralllayoutofthenewspaper.Yourcolleaguesarejournalists,photographers,editors,librarians,
andeventhepressmenandentryoperators,sincethisisalongstandingorganizationthatprintsitsownpapers.
Thenewspaperhasestablishedaworkflowwhichdefinesthepathfromtextcreationtodeliveryofthefinishednewspapers,with
thefollowingcomponentswriting(byanumberofauthors),proofreading,editing,layout,proofingcorrections,printing,
finishing,packaginganddelivery.Thesametextwillenteraseparateprocess,withitsownlayoutandeditingprocessforthe
website.
Inordertoworkefficiently,thesetwoprocessesmusthavetheirownsetofrules,havedifferentconstraintsonspaceavailable,
aswellastwoseparatetechnologicalprocessesforeachfinishedproduct.
Graphicalworkflow
Thisisofcoursepartoftheoveralleditorialprocess,butisthedistinctpartofitthatrelatestothedesigner,whomusthavea
senseoftheoveralldesign,whileincorporatingtextandgraphicswithcertainformatsorstyles,andmakingsurethereisa
cohesiveandpleasingappearancetotheelementsasseencollectively.
Wemightdividethisworkflowintothreesteps:
Creationconceptdevelopment,sketches,layoutofthemodel(mockup),considerationofmethods,andhowtheyare
applied.
Prepressproductionphase,inwhichtheactualprojectisassembled,problemsidentifiedandresolvedbeforeactual
printingoccurs.
Printingasampleprintingisdoneinordertocheckthefinalresult.
Inyourprojectyoumayormaynothaveapartinallofthesesteps,butprepressiswhereScribuscomesintotheprocess.Of
course,ifyouareinvolvedwithsomethinglikeadailynewspaper,youhaveanumberofaspectsoflayoutwhichremainthe
sameforlongperiodsoftime,sothemaindailyjobmaybeginattheprepressstage.
Regardlessofwhetheryourprojectisyourentireresponsibilityorwhetheryouareworkingwithateam,youwillfindthatutilizing
aworkflowsuchasthiswillnotonlymakethetaskeasierbutsavemuchtime,especiallywheneveryoudecidetomakesome
alterationinthelayoutorstyle.
PlanningyourScribusproject
Youwillfindthatyourworkwillincludeanumberofstepswhichconsumeavariableamountoftime.Plantoallowforseveral
daysforcompletingaproject,especiallyifyouareabeginner.Twoimportantfactorsaretheamountoftextandthenumberof
highqualityimagesyouareincorporating.Evenafteryouhavemadethebasiclayout,finishingtouchescanthemselvestake
time.
Usinganexampleofaneightpagebooklet,whereyoucreateandproofreadthetext,thenusepreexistingimages,a
professionalmightallow3to4workingdaysforcreationofthematerial,and2forthelayout.Asabeginner,alwaysallow2days
forthelayout,evenforasimpleproject.
Timeallowancesaspercentages
Step Timeestimate
Create
1.Preparationandverificationofsources 5%
2.Choosingthedocumentformat,creatingcolors,andchoosingfonts 5%
3.Creationofmasterpages,guides,andscrapbook(s) 15%
4.Preparationandcreationoftextstyles 30%
Produce
5.Importtextandimages,applyingstyles 15%
6.Manualpositioning,andtypographicaladjustments 10%
7.Correctionandverificationoflayout 15%
8.PDFexportandfinaladjustmentsforprinting
Thesepercentagesareofcourseestimates,andwillvaryfromprojecttoproject.Ifyouaremakingsomesortofperiodical,steps
2,3,and4willofcoursetakenotimeatallforsubsequentissues.
1.Preparationandverificationofsources
Thisisthetimeittakesnotonlyforcollectingthetextandimages,butalsologos,credits,databases,oranyothersourcesof
yourcontent,andinaddition,organizingtheseintodirectories,andmakingsureyouhaveformatswhichmeetthequality
standardsforyourproject.
Thismightincludethingssuchasresearchandselectionofimages,orcheckingalistofphonenumbers.Weareassumingyou
alreadyhaveyourcontentcollectedtogether,haveproofreadthetext,andatthispointarejustverifyingyouhaveeverythingyou
needtobeginthelayout.Whileweacknowledgethatintherealworldthisoftenisn'tthecase,thisstillremainsastrong
recommendation.
2.Choosethedocumentformat,creatingcolorsandchoosingfonts
WhenyoustartScribus,thefirstthingyoumustdoistochoosethedocumentsize,itsorientation,anditsfolds.Thisisan
importantstep,soifyouwantyourreaderstoenjoyhavingitintheirhands,putyourselfintheirplace.Takeasheetofthe
appropriatesize,foldasneeded,andaskyourselfwhetherthisisthefeelyourarelookingfor.
Agoodworkingmethodwouldbetochoose2or3fonts(onefortitles,oneforthebodytext,forexample),and2or3reference
colorsthatwillbeinyourcolorpalette.Withthesefirstelementsyoucanbegintosetthetoneforthelayoutasawhole.Ifyou're
makinganewissueofapreexistingperiodical,thesechoiceshavelikelyalreadybeenmade.
3.CreationofMasterPages,guides,andscrapbook(s)
Thenextstepistocreatewhatwemightcallapageplan(alsocalledflatplan),whereyoubegintodecidewherevariousobjects
willbeonthepage.Ifyouaremakingabookletthenthenumberofpagesisinmultiplesof4otherwiseyouhaveblankpages
somewhere.It'salwaysgoodtotalktoyourprinteraboutsuchissues.
Nowthatyouhavethesebasicsplanned,youcanbegintocreateMasterPages,whichforabookorbookletwillhaverightand
leftversions,withappropriateplacementofheaders,pagenumbers,andsoon.Alsouseguidesoragridtohelpcreatethe
virtualspacesforyourcontent,andatthispointyoumightalsobegintocreateobjectswhichwillberepetitivelyusedandsave
themtoyourscrapbookforfutureusewhereverneeded.Thereisnoneedheretocreatesketchesofyourlayoutaswasdonein
thechapterHandson.
4.Preparationandcreationoftextstyles
Textandtypographyarethemostimportantdesignaspectsforanyprojectcontainingwritteninformationtheyarereallythelife
ofyourdocument.
Thebulkofyourworkherewillinvolvecreatingandadaptingparagraphandcharacterstyles.Thisisfundamentallyhowthe
qualityofyourdocumentwillbejudged,andthereforeworthwhatevereffortittakestogetitright.Onceyoucreatestyles,withone
clickyoucanapplythemtolargebodiesoftext,thenifyoulatermodifyyourstyle,itwillautomaticallybeupdatedwhereverithas
beenused.Creatingstylesisagoodhabittodevelop,evenifatthemomentyou'rejustworkingonasinglelineoftext.
5.Importtextandimages,applyingstyles
Atthispoint,younowimportyourcontent,thenapplythestylesyouhavemadeforyourtext.Ifnecessary,adjustyourstyles.
Next,importyourimages,adjustingsizeandpositioninrelationshiptothetext.
Thiscanbeagratifyingpoint,whenyoubegintoseeyourlayouttakeshape.Youshouldnowbeabletoappreciatethevalueof
havingmadeallofthepreviouspreparations,sothatyoucanfocusonthelayout,itsoverallappearance,andtherelationships
betweenvariousobjects.UsingMasterPagesandstylesmagnifiesthepoweryouhavetoeasilymakedocumentwidechanges.
6.Manualpositioning,andtypographicaladjustments
Forthemostpart,yourjobisnearingcompletion.Butnowyoumustbeginlookingatsmalldetails,suchastherelationship
betweenimagesandanyexplanatorytext,anytextthatneedssomesortofhighlighting,managinghyphenation,fixingwidowand
orphanlines,usingnonbreakingspacestopreventcertainlinebreaks,avoiding"rivers"inyourcolumnsoftext,inessence,
everythingtomakeyourprojectnotonlyaworkofart,butalsoaseasytoreadandunderstandaspossible.
Dependingonthecomplexityofthelayout,thisstepcanhaveaveryvariabletimeframe.Partofwhatyoushouldbedoingis
learninghowtomakethisstepeasierbymodifyingsomedesignchoicesatthebeginning.
7.Correctionandverificationoflayout
Eventhoughyoumightbelieveyouarenearingperfectionatthispoint,nowisthetimetoread,reread,andagainrereadyour
document.Hereyouwillappreciategoodqualitysourcesforyourtextisitwellwritten?Doesitmakesenseeverywhere?
Itmightseemimplausiblethatatthispointyoumightfindsimpletyposatthisstage,butithappenstoeveryone.Itmayhelpto
makeaquickprintofthepagestofacilitatefindingerrors,andallowyoutomarkcorrectionsinthemargins.Notonlyareyou
lookingfortypographicalerrors,butalsoerrorsinthemeaningofwhatiswritten.Haveothersgooveryourcontentandlayoutas
well.
8.PDFexportandfinaladjustmentsforprinting
Nowthatyourerrorshavebeencorrected,yourlayoutisbeautifulandcomplete!Eventhoughyouthoughtabouttheeventual
printingofyourdocumentasyoubegan,nowyoumustmakeanumberoftechnicalsettingsfortheactualcreationofthePDF
whichthengoestoyourprinterforthefinaloutputthisisthefinalstageoftheprepressworkwhichbeganwiththecollectingof
yourcontentmaterials.
NowyoutakeyourPDFtoyourprinter,hetestsittomakesureitwillcomeoutasdesigned,andfinallyyourdocumentwillbein
yourhands!
Preparingyoursources
Agooddesignerwillwanttohaveallthenecessarycontentavailableinordertobeginadocument.Apreliminaryyetfundamental
stepispreparingyoursources.Thischapterwillexplainthevariousthingsinvolvedinthispreparation,beforeyoubeginyour
layout.
Itmakessensethat,asyoubeginanewdocument,youhavealreadydecidedonthedocumentlength,inparticularhowitrelates
totheeventualprintingplan.Youshouldalsohaveanycontentwhichyouyourselfhavecreated,andthatwhichyouhavegotten
fromothersources,includingcoworkers.Youshouldalwaysstrivetogatherasmuchofthematerialtogetheraspossible,for
thefollowingreasons:
attheadministrativelevel,youmustknowabouttheamountofmaterialinordertodefinethevariouscharacteristicsofthe
finisheddocument,inparticularinregardtoitsize(length)andthecost.
fromthecreativepointofview,havingalltheimagesandgraphicshelpsyouenvisionthedocument'soverallaesthetics,
andalsoknowwhichelementsyoumightbeabletouseandreuse.
duringproduction,youdon'twanttohaveunansweredquestionsaboutthecontent,whichcontributestoreducedanxiety,
andconsequentlymuchgreatereasewhileworking.
Whatarethesources?
Allthevisualelements(photos,illustrations,andothergraphics)plusthetextusedinyourlayout.Herewewilldistinguish
between"graphical"sourcesand"text"sources.
Graphicalsources
Graphicalsourcesofaphotographictypewillcomeinoneoftwoformspaperordigital,andeachneedsaseparatehandling:
Iftheyareinpaper(printed)format,theyshouldbescannedathighresolution,thensavedinasuitableformat,suchas
PNG.
Ifyouhappentohavenegatives,therearescannerswhichcanhandlethis.
Iftheyaredigital,theymightbeinitiallyreceivedorsavedonCD/DVD,onanexternaldrive,orevenonalocalorinternet
server.However,ifpossible,putallyourimagesinafolderinyourlocalcomputer,whichcanalwaysbedeletedoncethe
projectisfinished.
Iftheyareonacamera,thendownloadthembytheappropriatemethod.TypicallytheywillbeJPEGformat,though
possiblyRAW(moreflexible,butlargerfiles).
Theremaybesomesortofprocessingneededforyourimages,whichwillbecoveredbelow.
Theothermaingraphicsourceswillbedrawings,diagrams,maps,logos,andotherelementscreatedfromscratchbyyouor
someotherdesigner.Ideally,theseshouldbeinsomekindofvectorformatforthehighestqualityregardlessofresizing.
ThechapterOrganizewillgivemoredetailsaboutorganizingyoursources.
Ingeneral,makesurethat:
youareabletoloadyourgraphicsintoeditingsoftwarewhichyouhaveatyourdisposal,suchasGimp(OpenSourceand
Free),Photoshop(Proprietary),Inkscape(OpenSourceandFree),orIllustrator(Proprietary).
theyareofsufficientsizeandqualityforyourusemoredetailsonthislater.
Textsources
Textisofcoursefundamentalinbooks.Textmaycomefromawidevarietyofsourcestexteditors,wordprocessors,emails,
webpages,ordatabases.CommonlyusedwordprocessorsareLibreOffice,OpenOffice,orWord.It'simportanttoknowthe
sourceyourtextfiles.
Ifyouaregettingtextfromseveralauthorsandmaybealsomadewithseveralkindsofsoftware,itwillbegoodtosay
whichformat(s)youwillaccept,andperhapsmergethemintoasingleformat.
VerifythatyoucanimportthetexttoScribusorloadonsoftwareyouhavetoconvertittoausableformat.
Makesureyouhavethefinalversionofthetexttoavoidtheneedforcorrectingoreditingafteryouhavestartedthelayout.
Evenafewwordsaddedordeletedmaymakeabigchangeinthelayoutsomewhere.Makesurethetextfilecontainsno
images,orthatiftheydo,youhavetheimagesseparatelyintheirownfiles,andthatyoucanloadtheseintoScribus.
Makesureyouhavethenecessarycreditsandpermissionstousethetextandgraphics.
Preparingsources
Youmayhavequiteavarietyofformatsforyourtextandgraphics,yetthereisvariablesuitabilityforusewithScribus.Beprepared
forsomemodificationstosomethingyoucanmoreeasilyworkwith.Threeimportantconsiderations:
MakesuretheformatiscompatiblewithScribus.
Makesurethequality(e.g.,resolution)issufficienttotheneedsinyourdocument.
Usingformatsyouarefamiliarwithwillmakethelayoutprocessmucheasierandavoidunfortunatesurprises.
FileFormats
Animportantconsiderationinfileformatsiswhethertheyareastandard,madetobesharedfromonepieceofsoftwareto
another,whethertheyincludeinformationabouttheywerecreated,andinwhichkindsofsoftwaretheycanbeexpectedto
behavenormally.Inmanyproprietaryformats,designedforuseinproprietarysoftware,somedetailsoftheformatmaybesecret
andcannotbeusedbyothersoftware.
AlltheformatslistedherecanbeimportedintoScribus.Werestrictthelisttothosewhichareofadequatequalityandtherefore
recommended.
Type Benefits Downsides
Pic JPEG Standard Small,widelyused Variablequality
PNG W3Cstandard Quality,canusetransparency
TIFF Standard Quality,canuseclippingpaths Sizeoffile
PDF Standard Qualityaccordingtooriginaldoc
PSD NativePhotoshop,Proprietary Quality,verycomprehensive Size,proprietary
Vector AI NativeIllustrator,Proprietary Proprietary
EPS Standard Historicalstandard,widelyused Somewhatlimited
SVG W3Cstandard Compatiblewillallsoftware,web Mayneedcolorsadjusted
Text DOC NativeWord,Proprietary Antiwordrequired,limited
ODT ISOstandard,OpenOffice Light,powerful,fullydocumented
HTML W3Cstandard Widelyused
TXT Standard Widelyused,simple
Nativeformatsarenotdesignedtobeimportedbyothersoftware,andproprietaryformatsbelongtothecompaniesthatcreated
them.Especiallysinceweseetheseproprietaryformatschangeovertime,usingvariousopenformatsmayincreasethe
longevityoftheirusabilityforwhateverpurposeyoumayhave.
Moreinformationonthebenefitsofusingopenformatscanbefoundatwww.openformats.org/en
Preparingimages
Whethercreatedbyyourselforsuppliedtoyoufromsomeoneelse,yourimagesmayneedsomeprocessing.Thegoalisthat
theyhavethesequalities:
Theformatisimportableandofsufficientquality.
Theyhaveanappropriateresolution,sothatattheend(thePDF)theyareatleast200to300dpi(dotsperinch).
Theyalreadyhavetheappropriatedimensions,oncethefinalplaceoftheiruseisknown.
ThefirsttwoofthesecanbeeasilydonewithsoftwaresuchasPhotoshoporGimp.Ifyoudon'thavemuchexperienceusing
these,andespeciallyusingtheminanautomatedway,youmightconsultPhatchphotobatch.stani.be.
Whileit'scustomaryinmanyprofessionalworkflowstoconvertimagestoCMYKcolorbeforeusingthem,Scribuswillmakethis
conversionforyou.ReadthechapteronColorManagementforfurtherinformationoncustomizingthisprocess.
Afterprocessing,youshouldsavetheimagesusingnameswhichinformyouastotheircontentasanaidtoidentifyingthem
whentheyareneeded.Makesureyoukeeptrackoftheinformationoncreditsorsourcestoincludethisinyourlayoutasneeded.
Preparingtext
Textposesproblemsofadifferentkind.Wordprocessorsincommonusetypicallyfocusoneasyandrapidtextentry,butvarious
aspectsofstylearetypicallyordinaryandinvolvelittlethought.Incontrast,layoutsoftwareisverymuchconcernedwithprecise
ideasaboutthestyleandappearanceofthetextacustomizedlookisdesired.Muchoftheinformationcontainedinaword
processortextfilecannotbeusedbyScribus,sinceit'speculiartothewordprocessorsoftwarefunctions.
Forthisandotherreasons,someprefertoonlyimportplaintextintoScribus.Allwordprocessorshaveanoptiontosavethetext
invariousformatsincludingplaintext(fileextension.txt).Incasethewriterhasappliedvariousspecificfeatureshereandthere,
suchasheaders,boldoritalicizedtypefaces,besuretokeeptrackoftheseforadjustmentstoyourlayout,sincethesewillnotbe
includedinaplaintextfile.Aneasywaymightbetoprintoutthetextfromthewordprocessor.
IfyouareimportingODTfiles,fontinformationandstylesmaybeimportedalongwiththetext,butmayrequiresometimefor
adjustmentsafterimportation.DOCfileswillonlybeimportedasplaintext.
Regardless,youwillneedtocarefullycheckforunexpectedindentationsorblanklines,orothersortsoferrorsinthetext.
CheckingandcorrectingthefileoutsideofScribuswillbeeasierthanfromwithinScribus.
Documentformat
Whenyoucreateadocument,itspagedimensionsareofparamountimportance.Thisshouldbechosenaccordingtothe
document'scontentnotjusttheamount,butitsmeaning,itsstructureandorganization,anditstarget.Fromthemenu,File>
Newbringsupadialogwithvariousoptions,confusingforthebeginner,yetstillessentialtothedocument'sdesign.Notonly
doesthisneedtoanticipatethelayout,butalsotheeventualoutputfromtheprintingequipment.
Size
Forconvenience,aswellasefficiency,itiscommontouseprovenstandardsofsizebasedonISOspecifications.Worldwide,the
mostcommonstandardisbasedontheAformats,especiallythewidelyusedA4commonlyusedinyourcomputer'slocal
printerUSLetterissimilarinsize.
PrinciplesofImposition
Dependingonthespecificsofthecommercialprintingequipment,theprintermaydoanimposition,withassemblyand
arrangementofthepagestobeprintedonapapersizemuchlargerthanthefinisheddocument'spages,sincethispaperwillbe
foldedinordertocreatethefinalsize.Thisnotonlysavestheamountofpaperhandlinginvolved,iteasilyallowsprintingtothe
edgesofthepage.
Belowweseeaschemeofimpositiondepictingthedistributionofa16pagedocumenton2sidesofasheetofpaper.When
properlyfoldedandthencut,thepageswillbeinthecorrectorderon4smallersheetsofpaper.
Impositionisfacilitatedbyhavingpapersizeswherethereisaconstantratioofwidthtoheight,regardlessofsize.Throughout
theAformatseriesofpapers,thereisarelationshipofwidth:heightof1:2.Thus,onecansubdivide1sheetofA0paperinto16
sheetsofA4.
HerewecanappreciatetheflexibilityoftheAformatseriestheA1widthishalftheheightofA0,A2widthhalftheheightofA1,
andsoon,andthusthis1:2ratioismaintainedthroughouttheseries.
WhenyoulookattheSizechoicesfortheNewDocumentdialog,youseethatScribushasaverylargenumberofchoicesfor
you.
Orientation
Therearetwochoicesfororientation:
Portrait,themostcommon,sinceweareaccustomedtousingpapertallerthanitiswide.
Landscape,utilizedforspecialsituations,whenwidthofobjectsorlinesneedstobelarge.Manybrochureswillhavea
landscapeorientation.
Units
Theunitsofmeasurementareimportant,andareusedthroughoutScribus,forpositionandsizingofvariouselementsof
content,plusguidesandmargins,aswellasthedimensionsofthedocumentitself.
Thedefaultunitsarepoints,aworldwidestandardfortypographicalandprintingmeasurements,Atypicalfontwhichis12points
inheightisonesixthofaninch.
Amoregenerallyusedunitisthemetricsystem,specificallymillimetersforDTP.SinceScribuswillautomaticallyconvertfrom
oneunitsystemtoanother,youcanusewhicheversuitsyourpurpose.Whateverpageunityouuse,youwillseethatyourfonts,
andfontrelationships,suchaslinespacing,willalwaysbemeasuredinpoints.Itisrecommendedthatyouuseorbecome
familiarwithasmallerunit,suchpointsormillimeters,sincetheseallowforgreaterprecisionwhenpositioningandsizing
objects.
IntheNewDocumentdialog,underOptions,notetheDefaultUnitwhichisset.Evenifyouforgettochangethissetting,youcan
changeyourunitsatanytime.Forconvenience,gotoFile>Preferences>Documenttochangeyourdefaultsetting.
DocumentLayout
IntheupperleftcorneroftheNewDocumentdialog,thereisasettingforthepagedisplayonthecanvas.
SinglePageiscommonlyusedingeneral,andforsinglesheetdocumentssuchasflyersoradvertisements.Thiscould
alsobeusedforaPDFavailableontheinternet.
DoubleSidedisanothercommonlyuseddisplay,sinceitconvenientlydisplaystherightandleftpagesofabookor
periodicalwiththeirrelativerelationshipswhilereading.Rememberthatimpositionofthepagesforprintingisaseparate
step.
3foldand4folddisplayswouldbeanalogoustothedoublesidedwhere3or4pageswillbeseensidebyside.Note
thatScribuswillsave,export,andprinttheseasindividualpages.
AswasshowninthechapterHandson,ifyouwouldbeplanningtomakeafoldingbrochurefromanA4orsimilarpaper,start
withSinglePageA4orientedinlandscape,thenuseguidestohelppositionyourcontent.
Ifyouhavesomeideaofthenumberofpagesyourdocumentwillhave,youcancreateasmanyasyouneedunderOptions.If
not,youcaneasilyaddorinsertmorepageslater.
AsdesiredyoumayalsocreateAutomaticTextFrames,whichwillfillthepagetothemarginsaseachpageiscreated,eitherat
thisstageorasyouaddpageslater.Suchframeswillbeautomaticallylinkedfromonepagetothenext,andfurthermore,you
mayspecifythenumberofcolumnsandgapbetweenthem.
Marginsandbleeds
Theuseofmarginsisapersonalpreference,andmainlyservesasaguideforplacingyourobjectsinthelayout,maintaininga
certainwhitespaceattheedges.ForaDoubleSideddisplay,youhavethechoiceofsomestandardmargins,suchas
Gutenberg,Fibonacci,GoldenMean,orNineParts,whichwillofcoursebeappropriatelyadjustedforrightorleftpages.Ifyouare
printingonyourownprinterattachedtoyourcomputer,besurenottoexceedtheprintingareaofyourprinter,andclickingPrinter
Margins...setsthemarginsforthatpurpose.
Highlightyourinformation
Atfirstglance,creatingmarginsseemssimple,yetconsiderthatyouarehighlightingyourtextbythebalanceofwhitespace
aroundit.Theremayindeedbesomeelementswhichgotothepaper'sedge,likesomebackgroundimageoraswatchofcolor,
butthesearenottheitemsyouwishthereadertofocuson.Thefocusshouldbeplacedonthetextandanyinformational
imagesyoumayhave.
Createmargins
Althoughyoumaybetemptedtohaveidenticalmarginsaroundthepage,andcertainlythereisawaytolinkthemarginssothat
theyareallthesame,youwouldlikelyonlywantthisforsomethinglikeanewsletterormagazine.
Mostbookswillprobablyhavesomeschemeinwhichthetopmarginisnarrowerthanthebottom,andtheoutermargin
largerthantheinner(nearthebinding).
Makesurethatyouhaveaminimumof5mm(14.2points)ofinnermargin,toallowforpagearealosttothebinding.
IfyouareusingaDoubleSideddisplay,youwillhaveachoiceofsometraditionalproportionedmarginsunderPreset
LayoutsGutenberg,Fibonacci,GoldenMean,andNineParts.
Bleed
Bleedisanareaatthemarginsofyourpagewhichwillbetrimmedawayafterprinting.Wheneveryouwishanimage,acolor,or
graphictoprinttoabsoluteedgeofthepaper,thiswillguaranteethatinyourfinishedproduct,sinceyouwillmakesuretheobject
extendsslightlyintothatbleedarea.It'salsoworthnotingthatthebleedwidthisaddedtothepagedimensionsyouspecified
underSize,sothatforexample,anA4withbleedwillbetrimmedtoA4size.
Hereweseearightpageofadoublesideddisplay,withGutenbergmargins.Theareaoutsidetheredrectangleisthebleed
area.
Editingadocument'sproperties
Aswassaidabout"thebestlaidschemeso'Micean'Men",itdoeshappenthatafterwehavebegunworkonalayout,wethen
needtochangeitsformat.
Fortunately,youarenotstuckandneedtostartover.IfyouchoosefromthemenuFile>DocumentSetup>Document,youhave
theopportunitytomakeadjustmentsinthesettingsmentionedinthischapter.Alternatively,tochangethecurrentpage,select
fromthemenuPage>PagePropertiestomakewhateverchangesyouwish.
Ifyoudochangeanycurrentpageswithcontent,thismayresultinaneedtoadjustyourlayoutandpositionofcontent.
NotethatwithDocumentSetup>Document,youhavethechoiceofapplyingyourchangestoallpages,andthereisaseparate
checkboxtoapplynewmarginsettingstoallpages.Youshouldlearnquicklywhatsortsofchangesandamountofchangesare
relativelysimpleandwhichrequiresomesubstantialadjustments.
Choosingcolors
Ifyouweregoingtomakealayoutforabookonlyconsistingoftext,youmaynotconsidercolor,butformostpagelayoutscoloris
animportantfeature.Manytextlayoutsattheleastusecolortohighlightthetext,orevenappliedtothefontsinsomeareas.
ThereareanumberofcolorpalettesincludedwithScribus,butinadditionyoumayedit,remix,oraddcolorstocreateyourown
setsofcolorpalettes.
Colormodels
Thesetofcolorsyoumayusedependsonbywhatmethodthecolorsarecreated,andhowtheywillbeviewedbythereaderof
yourwork.
Gamut
Althoughyoumightconsiderdefiningcolorsasonlythosewhichthehumaneyecansee,youfirstmustrealizethattheeyedoes
notperceiveallpossiblecolors.
Thisgraphisadepictionoftheboundariesofhumaneyeperception,anRGBcomputermonitor,andCMYK.Inparticular,
considerthelimitationsimposedbygeneratingalayoutinRGB,thenprintingthisinCMYK.
RGB
Nowadayswearehighlyfamiliarwiththiscolormodel,sinceitistheoneusedincomputermonitordisplays.Fromthe
elementalcolorsRed,Green,andBlue,weuseanadditiveprocesstocreateabalanced(gray)color,whichatitshighest
brightnesswillapproachwhite.
TheRGBmodeloffersaverywidegamutofcolor,sometheoreticallybeyondhumanperception.Ascomputermonitorsimprove,
thereisanincreasingabilitytodisplaymoreofthisspectrum.Atthesametime,adesignerworkinginDTPforprintmustremain
awareoflimitationsofprint,andavoidextremesofhues.
CMYK
TheCMYK(Cyan,Magenta,Yellow,andblacK)colormodelisofcoursethebasisofprinting,wherethesecolorsofinkareoften
used.Inkcolorissubtractive,sinceforexample,amagentainkisabsorbinglight,butreflectingthatwhichisperceivedasa
magentacolor.Ifyouaddcyan,youalsoabsorbthelightwhichcyaninkabsorbs,soevenlessisreflected.Thecorrectbalance
ofcyan,magenta,andyellowapproachesblack.Atrulyblackcolor,aswellasshadesofneutralgraycanbeproducedwithblack
ink.
Asshowninthegraphabove,theCMYKgamutissmallerthanRGB,butalsonotethatthereareinkswhichcannotbeaccurately
displayedonacomputermonitor.Inaddition,therearespecialtyinkslikesilvermetallicthatwouldhavenorepresentationinan
RGBscheme.
Grayscale
AlthoughintheoryonecanfindRGBvaluesorCMYcombinationswhicharemoreorlessgray,asacolormodelgrayscale
containsnocolorinformation,onlyarepresentationofthedegreeofblackness.
Onyourcomputerscreen,grayscalemustofcourseberepresentedbymixingtheRGBcolorsituses.Inprint,however,thisis
notnecessarilythecase,althoughsomeparticularlyintenseblackscanbecreatedusingalltheC,M,Y,andKinks.Aminor
issuehereiscost,butalsothatusingmoredifferentinksistimeconsumingandrequirespainstakingalignmentforeach
reprintingwithanewcolor.Thus,ifpossible,onemightwishtouseoneortwocolorsonly.
Duotone
Inthesesituationswethenmightconsiderduotone,monotone,ortrichrome,whereoneintentionallyprocessesthecolor
informationtomakeuseofarestrictednumberofinks.Inthiscase,onemightuseuniquecolorsofveryparticularhues,known
asspotcolors,toachievethisend.
Composingyourpalette
Whetheritmightcomefromsomealreadycreatedpaletteoroneyoucreateyourself,choosingapaletteisanessentialstepin
thecreationofyourdocument.Itsimportancerelatestoitsabilitytosetamoodforyourprojectandalsoaffectslegibility.
Sortingcolors
ScribushasadialogdedicatedtoColors,broughtupwiththemenuselectionEdit>Colors.Youwillhaveadefaultselectionof
colors,eachofwhichhasaname,butalsohasanindicatorwhichshowsthecolormodelused:
CMYKthisisacolordefinedinthiscolorspace.Whatyouseeonscreenislikelyaninaccuraterepresentationofhow
thiswilllookinprint.
RGBthisisofcoursethenativecolormodelforyourmonitor,andwhileyoucanexpectScribustoconverttoCMYKifyour
intendedoutputisforaprinter,youmayeasilylosesomeofthevibrancyyouseeonscreen.Ontheotherhand,ifyouare
makingaPDFprimarilyforwebuse,nosuchlimitationwilloccur.
Grayscaleifyouwishtoworkingrayscale,clickingDeleteUnusedColorswillreduceyourpalettetoWhiteandBlack,
andRegistration.
Duotonehereagain,DeleteUnusedColorsmaybehelpfulasastartingpoint,afterwhichyoucanchoosecolorstobe
usedinyourlimitedpalette.
Notethatremovingcolorsdoesn'tabsolutelyeliminatetheiruseinyourdocument.Ifyouimportanimageorgraphicwithcolor,
thesewillstillbeintheoutput.Therefore,youmustpreprocessyourimagestograyscaleifthatiswhatyouwishtheoutputtoin
factbe.
Createcolors
Onceyouhavereducedyourlistofcolorstoitsessentials,youarereadytocompleteyourpalette.
Toaddacolor,clicktheNewbutton.Tochangeanexistingcolor,clickEdit.Thedialogwhichappearsnextgivesyouanumberof
parameterstochooseoredit.Ifyouaremakinganewcolor,youmaywanttoimmediatelychooseanameforyourcolor,andits
colorspace,CMYKorRGB.
AtthetopandrightofthedialogyouseeyourdefaultHSVColorMap,whichgivesyoutheentirerangeofcolorwithinyourcolor
space.OtherchoiceswillgiveyouthecolorsfromthevariouspalettesincludedwithScribus,andinadditionanypaletteyoumay
havecreatedandsaved.Youcaneitherusethesecolorsastheyare,ormodifythemaccordingtoyourneeds,inwhichcaseyou
shouldchangethenametoavoidconfusion.
Theslidersunderneathyourneworchosencolorallowyoutomodifythehueandsaturationasyouwish.
SpotColor
Spotcolorsareaspecialink,frequentlyproprietary,withapremixedformula,usedtopreciselydefineacolorforrepetitiveuse,
andmayallowforlimitingthenumberofinksusedinprinting.Acommercialbusinessmaychooseoneormorespotcolorsfor
itslogo.
Becausethesearepremixed,youcannotmodifythehueorotherparametersandstillusethisspotcolorink,eventhough
Scribuswillcertainlyallowtheseedits.Ifyouincludesuchacolorwithoutchangingitsname,yourprinterwillusetheoriginal
spotcolor.
Wherepossible,Scribushasmadeanattempttoincludeanumberofspotcolorpalettesfromvariousvendors,andsomeother
palettesasdescribedbyvariousgovernmentagencies.
Choosingcolors
Thisechoesthetitleofthischapter,butnowwebegintodiscussthechoiceofspecificcolorsforyourdocument.Thisisa
dauntingprospectforbeginners,towhichsomemayreactbyexcessivelyreducingtheircolorset,andothersbyusingalarge
paletteinsomesortofunbridledway.Soherewewilltrytoexplainarationalapproach.Beginbyconsideringhowthecolorsyou
useaffectthemoodofyourdocumentandhowyourcolorsinteractwitheachother.
ThereisfortunatelywithinScribusatoolwhichcanhelpwithchoices,theColorWheel,broughtupbyclickingExtras>Color
Wheel.
ThereisafairlydetaileddescriptionoftheColorWheelintheEnglishversionoftheonlinemanual.Herewewilltrytogoover
someoverallconcepts.Forwhichevercolorschemeyouchoose,youbeginwithabasecolor.Thisisacoloryouwilldefinitely
wishtouse,andwillusetheColorWheeltohelpyouchoosewhatotherstousewithit.
NowweseethevariousschemesMonochromatic,Analogous,Complementary,SplitComplementary,Triadic,and
Tetradic.Monochromaticisperhapsthesimplest,withtwovariationsonyourbasecolorhavingmorebrightnessordarkness,
butthesamehue.Therestoftheschemesallowforchoosingpaletteswithcolorswhicharerelated(analogous),orthosewhich
offerthegreatestcontrast(complementary).
Replacingcolors
Itisverymuchworthmentioningthat,shouldyouusesomecolorinyourdocument,thenchangeyourmindyetnotactuallywant
toedittheoriginal,youhavetheoptionbyusingEdit>ReplaceColors...tochangeacolorwhereveritisusedtoadifferentone.
Thiswillnoteliminatetheoriginalfromyourpalette.
Patterns
Admittedly,itisfarfromobvious,butyoualsohavethecapabilityofsavingandusingpatternsforuseasabackgroundfillfor
variousobjects.Onceyoubecomefamiliarwiththem,youmaycreateorimportsomepatterns,justasyouprepareyourcolor
palette.
Gettingpatterns
JustasclickingEdit>Colorswillbringupadialogforcolors,youcanclickEdit>Patternstobringupadialogtomanage
patterns.Thefirsttimeyoudothis,youwillnodoubtbedisappointedtoseethattherearenodefaultpatterns.Youcaneasilyfind
anumberoffreepatternsontheweb,typicallyinazippedfile.Afteryouunzip,lookforbitmapfilesyouwillnotbeabletouse
filesendingwith.patincaseyourunacrossthese.Makesureyouunderstandthelicensingtermsofanypatternsyoumight
download,sinceforexample,theymayallowforfreepersonaluse,butnotinanycommercialproject.
LoadindividualpatternswithLoadFile,orloadanentiredirectoryofpatternswithLoadSet.
Makingyourownpatterns
Frommostobjectsyoucancreateapatternbyrightclickingforthecontextmenu,thenchoosingSendtoPatterns.
Usingpatterns
Usepatternsasyouwouldafillcolor.IntheColortabofProperties,clickingthebuttonjustbelowtheselectorforfillopensa
dropdownlist,whichincludesPatterns,andwillshowwhatpatternsyouhaveavailable.Notethatifyouhavenopatterns,this
choicewillnotappear.
Nowchooseyourpattern,afterwhichyoumayadjusttheposition,scale,rotation,andopacityofyourpattern.Alimitationwith
settingalowopacity(moretransparent)atthispointisthatcontentofatextorimageframewillalsobeaffected.Youcanwork
aroundthisbyadjustingtheopacityofyourobjectbeforeyouSendtoPatterns.
Selectingfonts
Intypography,thereareanumberoftermsonerunsacross,andit'seasytoconfuseonewithanother.Youmayhaveheardof
nameslikeTimes,Garamond,Helvetica,Futura,DejaVu,andDroid.Wecanconsidertheseas"fontfamilies".Forexample,in
theDejaVufontfamilyortypeface,wehaveSans,Serif,SansCondensed,andundereachofthesewemayhaveabold,or
italics,orregular(oftentermed"Book")style.Theninagivendocumentwemayhave12pointorsomeothersizeoftypeface.
Strictlyspeaking,whenwespecifyafont,itmightbeDejaVuSans,Bold,and10pt.
It'salsogoodnottoconfusecharactersandglyphs.Acharacteristheletter,number,orsymboloneistryingtocreate."A"and
"B"aretwodifferentcharacters.Aglyphistherepresentationofthatcharacterinsomeparticulartypeface,sothatan"A"in
Garamondisadifferentglyphthanan"A"inDejaVuSans,eventhoughtheyarethesamecharacter.
Historically,ofcourse,printershadandwereabletomakefontsets,castfromlead,whichtheyuseduntiltheybecamesoworn
theyhadtoberecast.Withmodernprintingmethods,thesehavedisappearedandhavebeenreplacedwithcomputerized
methodsforcreatingfontsofanysizeandstyle.
Fontstoday
Eventhoughtypefacecreationnolongerinvolvespouringleadintoacast,westillusetheterm"fontfoundry"toapplytothe
companieswhomakeittheirbusinesstocreatecomputerizedversionsoftypefaces.
Fontcharacteristics
Mostofthetypefacesyouwillseewillbeeitherseriforsansserif(oftenabbreviatedassans).Serifsaresmallappendagesat
thevarioustailsofletters,designedtomakelettersmoredistinctive.Onechallengeanytypefaceencountersisitslegibility,orin
otherwords,theabilitytodiscernonecharacterfromanother.Anotherisreadability,whichreferstotheeaseofreadingabody
oftext.Eachofthesecontributestosomeextenttothefatigueonefeelsinreadinglargeamountsoftext,sincepoorlegibilityand
readabilityleadtoslowreadingaswellasrereading.
HereweseeontopaSeriffont,withtheserifshighlighted.Below,aSansSeriffont.
Althoughtherearesomewhofeelthatseriffontshavebetterreadability,thishasnotbeenconclusivelyproven.Theremaybe
sometendencytofavorSanstypefacesontheweb,andSerifforprint,buteventhishasnoclearcutdivision,especiallyaswe
haveincreasinglyhighresolutionscreenstoworkwith.
Letterspacing
Letterspacinginourcontextherereferstothespacebetweenindividualletters,forwhichtherearetwogeneralschemes,
ProportionalandMonospaced.
Hereisshownthechiefdifferencebetweenthesetwotypes,withvariablespacingbetweenlettersintheproportionaltypeface.
Monospacedtypefacesaresimilartowhatmaycomefromatypewriter,andcanbeusefulwhenverticalalignmentofcharacters
isneeded.
Themainfontfamilies
Withwhatwehavesaidasastartingpoint,itisworthlistingthemaintypesoffontfamiliesincommonusage:
Serif
Sansserif,orSans
Monospaced,orMono
CursiveorScript,meanttoresemblehandwrittencharacters
Ornamentalordecorative,sometimeswithveryexoticdistortionsofglyphs
Symbols,typicallynotalphanumericcharacters.Dingbatsisanexample.
Weight
YoushouldbefamiliarwithBoldversusRegular(orBook),butthereisawiderangeofthicknessesoftheglyphs,suchasin
additionThin,Light,DemiBold,Heavy,andBlack.
Italicsandoblique
Italicsaresmallersizeglyphswhicharegenerallyalsomorecompactlyprinted,oneofthereasonsforwhichbeingtoallowfora
greateramountoftextperprintedpage,somethingofconcernwhenpaperandotherprintingmediaweremoreexpensivethan
now.Currently,italicsisoftenusedforemphasis,asanalternativeorcombinedwithaheaviertypeface.
Anobliquetypefacewillalsobeslanted,butwilllikelyhaveaspacingsimilartotheregularversion.
Someprograms,suchaswordprocessors,mayartificiallycreateitalicsandobliquefontsfromregulartypeface,butfor
professionallayoutyoushoulduseitalicsspecificallycreatedasaseparatetypeface,andScribuswillonlyuseanitalics
typefacespecificallycreatedasanitalicstypeface.
Fontfiles
Thefontswhichyourcomputerisabletousearecontainedinanumberoffiles,whichconsistofthemetricsforthefont,inother
words,theinstructionsforyourcomputertocreatethemonscreenandforexportasaPDFforprinting.Incaseitisn'tapparent
fromtheabove,Scribuswillneedasetofmetricsforeachversionofatypefaceinordertouseit.Therefore,forexample,youwill
needaseparatesetofmetricsforeachofthefollowingDejaVuSansBook,DejaVuSansBold,DejaVuSansBoldItalic,
DejaVuSansCondensed,DejaVuSansCondensedBold,andsoon.
Thereare3maincategoriesoffontfilesyouwillsee:TrueType(extension.ttf),OpenType(extension.otf),andPostScript
(extension.pfmor.pfb).
Installingnewfonts
Youshouldalreadyhaveanumberoffontsonyoursystem,buttoinstalladditionalfontstherearedifferentprocedures
dependingonyouroperatingsystem:
Windows7/Vistarightclickonthefile,chooseInstallI.
WindowsXPputthefilesintoC:\Windows\Fonts
MacOSXdoubleclickonthefile,thenclickbuttonInstallfont.
Linuxcopythefoldercontainingthefontfamilyto/usr/share/fonts.Youmayalsohaveapackageforthefontwhichcan
beautomaticallyinstalled,dependingonwhichversionofLinuxyouareusing.
IfScribusisrunningwhileyouareinstallinganewfont,youwillneedtorestartit,sincestartupiswhenScribussearchesfor
fontsonyoursystem.
Usingacustomfolder
Youcaninstallfontsinalmostanylocationonyourcomputer,butyouwillthenneedtotellScribusaboutthem.Afterstarting
Scribus,clickFile>Preferences>Fonts.Youmustdothiswithnodocumentopen,thenselecttheAdditionalPathstabtohelp
Scribuslocateyourfonts.
Whichfontsshouldyouuse?
Aguidingprincipleinyourlayoutistoavoidusingalargenumberofdifferentfonts,eventhoughyoumaybetemptedtotryoutany
numberofthosefontssittinginyourcomputer.Useoftoomanyfontsisfirstofalldistracting,butasyoubecomemore
experienced,youwillalsoseethatitisunattractiveandtakesawayfromthepleasingandcoherentvisualappearanceyouare
tryingtocreate.
Itshouldrarelybenecessaryordesirabletousemorethan2or3fontsformostdocuments.Furthermore,it'sagoodideato
choosetheseaheadoftime,sincethetypeoffontmayplayaroleinthedesignprocessofothervisualelements.Atypicalsetof
choicesmightbeonefontforheadlines,anotherforsubheadings,andathirdforthetextbody.
Herearesomeadditionalessentialcharacteristicsyoumustconsider:
DoesthefontcontainallofthecharactersIneed?Differenttypefaceswillhaveavariableextentofcoverageforvarious
languagesorevenforspecialcharacterslikefractionsorthecopyrightsymbol.
Istheencodingcorrect?Hereyouwanttomakesurethatwhenyouenteraparticularcharacterfromyourkeyboardthe
correctglyphisshown.
Aretheglyphsappropriateformyuse?Youshouldrunatesttoseethat,afterexporttoPDF,thelegibilityisadequatefor
yourneeds.Forexample,somefontsdesignedforthewebarenotofsufficientqualityforuseinprintedmaterial.
Isthisareliable,goodfont?Somefontsaresimplybetterdesignedthanothers.Abetterdesignedfonthasletterspacing
carefullycreatedtoallowcharacterstohaveanice,evendisplayinvariouscombinationsofglyphs.Again,lookingat
somesampletextinanexportedPDFisyourbesttest.
Scribusrunssometestingonfontstoensuretheymeetsomebasicqualitychecks,butthisisnoreplacementforsomemanual
checksonyourown.Youcertainlywanttofindoutaboutproblemswithafontassoonaspossibleinthedesignandlayout
process,andnotwaituntilyouhavegottentothefinishedproduct.
Tosomeextent,thereisprobablyagreaterlikelihoodofsomeissueswithfontshavingahugenumberofglyphs,duetothework
ittakestocarefullydesignsomany.
Atthepresenttime,ScribusdoesnotadequatelysupportnonLatinlanguagesotherthanCyrillic,butthisisunderactive
development.
Gethelpfromafontmanager
Evenabasicsystemmayhavedozensoffontsincluded,andwithtimeyoumayfindyouhavehundreds,sousingafont
managercanhelpyousiftthroughthisforthe2or3thatyouwilluseinyourdocument.
Whattheseallowforisaneasyabilitytoscanthevariousglyphs,alongwithaclassificationofthefonttype,andtoread
metadata,includinglicensingforthefont.Justbecauseafontisfreedoesn'tnecessarilymeanitallowsunrestricteduse.In
addition,youcanusethemanagertoinactivatefontsyoudonotwanttouse,whichshortensthelistofpossiblechoices.
OnesuchfontmanagereasilyavailableandrecommendedisFontmatrix,foundathttp://fontmatrix.net/,andwhichhasversions
forLinux,Windows,andMacOSX.
Analternative,abitmoresimple,isFontmanagerhttp://code.google.com/fontmanager/
WhathappenswhenIopenaScribusdocumentwhichusesfontsnotonmy
computer?
Thismightcomeaboutwhenyouuseadifferentcomputerfromthetheoneyoucreatedthedocumentonoriginally,orwhenyou
receiveadocumentfromsomeoneelse.
Assoonasadocumentisloaded,Scribuscheckstoseethatallofitsfontsarepresentonyoursystem.Foreachthatis
missing,youwillseeadialogappear,suggestingasubstitution,orwithwhichyoucanchoosesomeotherfontwhichyoudo
haveonyoursystem.
Somereliablefontstobeginwith
Aswehavenotedabove,notallfontsyoumayfindareadequateforDTPpurposes.Herewegiveashortlistoffreefontswith
openlicensingwhichyoucanexpecttogiveyouqualityresultsinyourPDFs.
LiberationisafontfamilydevelopedbyRedHatasanalternativetotheproprietaryArial,ArialNarrow,TimesNew
Roman,andCourierNew.Sincetheyweredevelopedtogethertheyshowagoodconsistencyofstylebetweenthem.This
familyincludesLiberationSans,LiberationSansNarrow,LiberationSerif,andLiberationMono.
Todownload:https://fedorahosted.org/liberationfonts/
License:GPLv2,withexceptionforfonts
DroidisafontfamilydevelopedfortheAndroidoperatingsystem,consistingofDroidSans,DroidSerif,andDroidMono.
AswiththeLiberationfamily,thefacttheyweredevelopedtogethercontributestoconsistency.
Todownload:http://www.droidfonts.com/
License:ApacheLicensev2
GentiumaveryattractivefontfamilydevelopedbyVictorGaultney,andwhichhassomesimilaritiestotheclassic
Garamondfont.ThefamilyincludesAlternativeGentium,GentiumBasic,GentiumBookBasic,GentiumPlus,and
GentiumPlusCompact.
Todownload:http://scripts.sil.org/gentium/
License:SILOpenFontLicense(OFL)
DejaVuisafontfamilybasedonBitstreamVera,whichhasagoodtrackrecordusedonscreen.Oneofitshighlightsisa
hugeselectionofglyphsifyouneedsomethingunusual,checkDejaVu.ItincludesDejaVuSans,DejaVuSans
Condensed,DejaVuSerif,andDejaVuMono.
Todownload:http://dejavufonts.org/wiki/Main_Page/
License:specificpermissivelicense,availableathttp://dejavufonts.org/wiki/License
CantarellisamodernandcompletefontdesignedbyDaveCrossland,withvariationsandBoldOblique.
Todownload:http://abattis.org/cantarell/
License:SILOpenFontLicense(OFL)
Findingfreefonts
Herearethreereliablesourcesofgoodqualityfonts:
OpenFontLibrary:http://openfontlibrary.org/
GoogleWebFonts:http://www.google.com/webfonts/
FontSquirrel:http://www.fontsquirrel.com
Areminder:alwayscheckthelicenseofyourfontbeforeyouuseit,tobesurethatitmeetsyourneeds.
Organize
Organizingyourfiles
Asyoucontinueworkingonyourlayout,youwillaccumulateanincreasingnumberoffiles.Itbeginswithyoursourcefilesfortext
andimages.Nextcomesyourdocumentfileitself,variousPDFproofs,productionnotesandcommunications,messagesand
correctionsfromyourproofreaders,andperhapssomeadditionalrequestsforenhancements.
Onapracticallevel,itwillmakesensetocollectsimilarfilestogether,andhavesomeorganizationforsuccessiveissuesofa
periodicalforexample,whenyouwanttoeasilyreferbacktopriorissues.Allofthisbeginsonasmallscale,yetsoonyouhave
somanythat,withoutsomeorganizationyourisksuddenlyfranticallytryingtofindsomethingthatyouseemtohavelost.
Organizationbeginsfromthetopdown,sostartwithamainfolderfortheproject,withasensiblenamesoyoucanlocateit
quickly.Thinkaboutwhetheryouarecreatingsomethingaspartofaseries,sothatyoucannameyourdirectoriesaccordingly,
perhapswithanissuenumberincludedinitsname.Youmight,forexample,concatenatedateprojectnameissuedimensions
colorspaceresolution.extension.Morespecificallyonecouldhavesomethinglike20110712_leafletA4
flossmanuals_150x125mm_CMYK_300dpi.tif.Thismightseemridiculouslylong,butsuchatitlecanmakesubsequent
searchingmucheasier,andavoidthetimeittakestoactuallylookatthefilesinside.
InsidethisdirectorywillfirstofallbetheScribus.slafile,thensubdirectoriesforeachtypeofcontent.Textandimageswouldof
coursebeappropriate,andyoumayhaveseparatefoldersforprocessedimagestokeeptheoriginalssafeandunaltered.After
this,foldersforPDFproofs,andaseparateoneforthefinalPDF.Youcancertainlyaddfurtherfoldersforyourspecificneedsas
youcontinueworkingonyourproject,withahierarchythatmeetsyourneeds.
ImagesinScribusfiles
Scribusdoesnothavetheactualimagedatainits.slafiles,onlyalink(pathname)tothefileforeachimage.Theonlyexception
wouldbeanimportedvectorimage,inwhichcasethevectordataisincludedinthedocumentfile.Thusonecanseehow
imperativeitistohaveanorganizedsystemforkeepingyourimagefilestogether.
Proofs
Aseparatefolderfortheseisadvisable,andonceagain,namingthefilesinsomenumericalfashionwillbeusefulforfuture
reference.
Createadirectorytemplate
Onewaytoeasilyreproducesuchastructureistohaveatemplateofsorts,amaindirectorywithitsvarioussubdirectories,
whichhasallthebasicstructuralelements.Thuswhenyoubeginanewproject,yousimplycopythisfolderandsubfolders,
renamingthemainfolder,andvoil!Youarereadytobeginyourproject.
MasterPages,Guides,andScrapbook
ThischapterpresentssomefeaturesofScribuswhichwillhelpyoucreatealogicalandcoherentstructureofyourdocument,
andintheprocessdemonstratewaystokeepyourdocumentorganizedbyitsstructuralcomponents.
Herewewillshowthreefeatures:
MasterPagesareappliedasabackgroundforyourpages,andcontainobjectswhichwillbeseenrepetitivelyonvarious
pages.
Guidesarehorizontalandverticallineswithsomemagneticproperties,tohelpalignvariouselementsinyourlayout
structure.
Thescrapbookisaplacetostoreindividualobjectssotheycanbereusedonvariouspagesatvariouslocations.
MasterPages
Asindicatedabove,MasterPagescontainobjectswhichareseenagainandagainasabackgroundofsortsfortherestofyour
content.TypicalobjectsonaMasterPagemightbetitleswithassociatedgraphics,andapagenumber.
TheOutline
Youcanbringupadialogshowinganoutlineofyourdocument(s)withWindows>Outline.Thisbringupatreedisplayofyour
currentlyopendocuments,andunderneath,thelistofMasterPages,andeachdocumentpage.Youcanusethistonavigateto
eachtotheseitemsforediting.ClickingonaMasterPagebringsuptheEditMasterPagesdialog,inadditiontodisplayingthe
MasterPageforediting.
ArrangePages
ByclickingWindows>ArrangePagesyoubringupanotherdialog,whichalsolistsyourMasterPagesanddocumentpages,but
inadditioncanbeusedfornavigationaswell,butalsoassigningorreassigningMasterPagestovariousdocumentpages.
DoubleclickingonaMasterPagewillbringuptheEditMasterPagesdialog.
CreatingMasterPages
InadditiontotheabovetwomethodsforeditingMasterPages,youcanchooseEdit>MasterPagesfromthemainmenu.Note
thatwhenevertheEditMasterPagesdialogisopen,youseeonthecanvasandareeditingMasterPages,notthedocument
page.ClosetheEditMasterPagesdialogtoreverttodisplayingandeditingdocumentpages.
ItispossibletomakeaMasterPagefromaregulardocumentpage,byselectingfromthemenuPage>ConverttoMasterPage.
Next,selectanameforthisnewMasterPage,andalsonotethatyoucanselecttocopytheitemsfromwhateverMasterPage
mayhavebeenappliedtothedocumentpage.
YoucanassignMasterPagesinthreeways:
byassigningtheMasterPagewhenanewpageisinserted.(Page>Insert).
byapplyingaMasterPagetoanindividualpage.
byapplyingaMasterPagetoaseriesofpages.
WiththecurrentstableversionsofScribus,MasterPagesarealwaysoperatingasabackgroundtoanyothercontentonthe
page,thusitwillalwaysshowunderneaththelowestlayerofyourdocumentpage.
ReusingMasterPages
YoucanalsocanimportMasterPagesfromanotherdocument.ClickthethirdbuttonfromtheleftintheEditMasterPages
dialog,afterwhichyouselectthedocumentandtheparticularitemsyouwishtoimport.Besurethatyouhaveaccesstoany
neededimagesorfonts.
Guides
Guidesareafundamentalelementofyourdocumentlayout,andmightmostappropriatelybeusedinyourMasterPages
consideringtheirplacementasabackgroundforthedocument.Thesehorizontalandverticallines,whicharenotseenafter
exporttoPDF,helpdefinespacesforvisualbalance,andassistinthealignmentandorganizationofthecontentofyour
documentpages.
Gridorcolumns
Therearetwocommonlyusedpatternsofguideusage:
Amodulargrid,consistingofrectangularareasofsimilarorthesamesize,sothatonemightuseoneormoreofthese
spacestoplacetextandgraphics.
Layoutcolumns,wherethesamenumberofcolumnsisusedthroughoutthedocument.Notethatimagesorillustrations
mayspantwoormorecolumns.
Above:agridtypeoflayout.
Above:pagelayoutin2columns.
Thegridistypicallymoredemanding,sinceitoftenrequirespagebypagedecisionsaboutsizingandplacingofvarious
elements.
Addingguides
Thesimplestmethodtoaddguidesistoclickanddragfromtherulerareas.Clickdraggingfromtherulerwillcreatevertical
guides,andfromthetopruler,horizontalguides.Ifyoudon'tseeanything,makesureyouhaveView>ShowGuidescheckedin
themenu.
Next,makesureyouhavecheckedPage>SnaptoGuides.Toseehowthisworks,makeanarbitraryframe,thendragitneara
guide.ComparethedifferencebetweenhavingSnaptoGuidescheckedorunchecked.
Tomoveyourguides,hoverthemouseovertheguideuntilyouseethecursorchangetoadoublearrowshape,atwhichtime
youcanclickdragtoadjustitsposition.Todeleteaguide,clickdragoffthepage,thenreleasethemousebutton.
Managingguides
Whenthelayoutmustconformtosomepatternaccordingtothedimensionsofyourpagesizeorthespaceinsidethemargins,
youmayfindusingPage>ManageGuidesuseful,inwhichcasesingleordoubleguidescanbeplacedwithhighprecision.An
examplewasthebrochureguidescreatedinthechapterHandson.Hereyoumayalsolockguidestopreventaccidental
changes.
Predefinedsettingsforguidesandgrid
ByselectingFile>DocumentSettings>Guides(forthecurrentdocument)orFile>Preferences>Preferences(forfuture
documents),youhavetheabilitytochangesomesettingsforguides,suchastheplacementaboveorbelowcontent,activityof
thesnapping,andthecoloroftheguides,Inaddition,youmightchoosetoshowagridasanautomaticsubstituteforamodular
patternofguides.Thegridhastwokindsoflines,major(thicker)andminor(thinner),withthespacingofeachadjustable.
Whileyouarecreatingyourguides,makesureyouconsidertheneedforspacesorguttersbetweenguides,whichwillbefreeof
content,orwhitespace.Incertainmodulargridlayoutsthismaynotbeaconsiderationifthedesignhaslargeareasofwhite
spacealready.Certainlyifyouarecreatingtextcolumnswithyourgrid,agutterwillbeneeded.
Ininstanceslikethis,youmayfindthatmanualplacementoftheguidesismoresuitable.
Scrapbook
Thescrapbookisalibraryorcollectionofobjectswhichyoufindyouuserepeatedlywithinadocument,andespeciallyinmany
differentdocuments.YourscrapbookisopenedeverytimeyoustartScribus,andcontainsallobjectsyouhavesavedtoit,soit
avoidstheneedtoimportfromsomedocument,thenameandlocationofwhichyouwouldhavetoremember.
ItisaccessedfromWindows>Scrapbook.Bydefault,youhaveaMainpageofscrapbookobjects,butyoucancreatemore
pagesinthedialog.
Scrapbookoperation
UntilyousavesomethingtotheScrapbookitisempty.Tosavesomeobject,rightclicktobringupthecontextmenu,thenselect
SendtoScrapbook>Main(orsomeotherpageyoumayhavecreatedthere).Youwillbepromptedtogiveitaname,afterwhich
itwillbesavedwithvariousproperties,suchasfillandoutline,andevenstyles.AllScribusobjectscanbesavedinthismanner,
includingGroupsofobjects.
Asimplewaytoplaceanscrapbookobjectistoclickdragittoyourdocument,whereyoumaythenmodifyitasyouwishwithout
affectingthecopysavedinyourScrapbook.IfyourightclickontheobjectintheScrapbook,thenclickPastetoPage,youwill
placetheobjectatthesamecoordinatesofthecurrentpagethatithadontheoriginalpageitwassavedfrom.
ManagingtheScrapbook
Asnotedabove,theScrapbookobjectswillbeaccessibleeverytimeyoustartScribus.CreatingnewpagesintheScrapbookcan
helpyourorganizationofobjectsforspecificpurposes.AlthoughScribusreferstotheseaspages,youwillcreateanewdirectory
forstoringmoreobjects.
YoucanalsoexportaScrapbooktoanexternaldirectorybyclickingtheSavetheselectedscrapbookbutton,whichmaybeofuse
tosharetheseobjectswithsomeoneelseorperhapstoanothercomputeryoumayhave.Thatotherpersonwouldthenclickthe
LoadanexistingscrapbookbuttontobringthoseobjectsintohisScrapbook.
Inaddition,thereisaseparatebuttonforimportingaScrapbookfromaversionofScribuswhichis1.3.2orolder.
Composing
Nowthatyou'vecreatedyourMasterPage,andhaveyourguidesinplace,it'stimetobegintheworkofaddingyourtextand
graphiccontent.
Frames
AsyoudiscoveredinthechapterHandson,yourcontentwillbeplacedinframes,whichmightbecalledboxesinother
programs.Thenameframecomesfromthedeviceofthatnameusedinthedaysoftypesettingwithleadtype,whichwasa
physicalwoodenframetoholdthetypetogether.
Framesserveascontainersforwhateveryouwishtohaveonyourpage,andforthemostpartonekindofframecanbe
convertedtoanother,butnotethataframecanonlyhaveonekindofcontent.Ifyouconvertatextframetoanimageframe,the
textdisappears.Ifyourightclickonaframetobringupthecontextmenu,fromwhichyouwillseeConvertto,withsomechoices.
Onewayofbeginningyourlayoutistocreateanumberofemptyframesofvarioustypes,sizedandpositionedforapleasing
appearance.UsetheSnaptofeaturetoalignthemwithyourguidesasneeded.Remember,thisissetwithPage>Snapto
Guides.
Colors,gradients,andpatternsinframes
GivingabackgroundcolortoaframeisasimplematterofgoingtothePropertiespalette(openedupwithWindows>Properties,
orpressingF2),thenfromtheColortabchoosingacolorfromyourcolorpalette,makingsuretheFillbuttonisselected(theicon
lookslikeaspillingbucket).
Theframeitselfisavectorobject,butfortextandimageframesthedefaultisforitsbackgroundandbordertohavenocolor.The
paintbrushicondenotestheborder,alsoknownasstroke.
Asidefromusingasolidcolor,youalsohavetheoptionofcreatingagradientforthefillcolor.Justbelowthefillandstroke
buttonsisadropdownlist,whereNormaldenotesasolidcolor,thenbelowthatyouhavealistofvariousgradients.Ifyou
chooseoneofthese,thefirstthingyouwillseewhenacolorbarappearsbelowthegradientchoiceisthatyoustillonlyhavea
solidcolor,sinceyoumustchoosethecolorsforthegradientyouwishtouse.
Notethattherearetwotrianglemarkersbelowthecolorbar,andthatoneofthemisred.Thisistheselectedpointforthecolor
whichishighlightedinyourcolorlist.Chooseadifferentcolorandyoushouldnowseeagradient.Clickontheothertriangleto
selectittochangeitscolor.Youcanalsoslidethesetrianglesnearertoeachother.
Inaddition,youmayaddmoretrianglesbybringingthemousecursorupbelowthecolorbarandclicking(once)youshould
seethecursorchangetoa+whenyouareabletomakeanewtriangle.Ifyouwanttodeleteoneofthese,clickdragitvertically
fromthecolorbar.Theminimumnumberofthesetrianglesistwo.
AswasindicatedinthechapterChoosingcolors,youmayeitherdownloadorcreatepatternsfromvariousScribusobjects.Ifyou
haveanypatterns,thenthiswillbeanadditionalchoiceinthedropdownlistwhereyoufindgradients,afterwhichyoucan
chooseapatternasabackgroundforyourframe.
Basicdesignconsiderations
Anytimeyouareworking,andasofyethavenoactualcontent,youmayfindthisagoodtimetomanipulateacollectionofframes
forapleasingresult.Forexample,ina4columntextlayout,youmighthaveanimagesomewherespanning3columns.
Whiletherecertainlyarenohardandfastrulestodesigninglayout,andsometimesofcoursebreakingrulescanbean
intentionalaspect,herearesomethingstoconsider:
Beginwith2or3elements,whetherthesemightbesomeinitialcolorchoices,orobjectsonthepage,thengradually
buildfromthere,tryingtoavoidwhatwemightcalla"layoutpizza",withwaytoomuchofeverythingonit.
Prioritizetheinformationonthepagesometimesliterallysquintingasyoulookatthepagewillshowyouwhat
immediatelystandsoutvisually,andthereshouldbesomehierarchyofattractingyourattention,buthopefullynomore
than3levelsofhierarchy.
SinceinmostWesternlanguageswereadfromlefttoright,toptobottom,thisisalsohowwescanapage,soconsider
thisasyouarrangevariousobjects.Atthesametime,contradictingthiscanheightentheinterestandenergyinyour
layout.
Typographyisthecentralconcerninatextualdocument,legibilityandreadabilityareparamount.
Considerwhitespaceasmorethantheabsenceofcontent,butanactiveelementinshowcasingyourtextandimages.If
youwishtostronglyseparatetwoareasvisually,uselinesasseparators,butkeepinmindthatlinescanbeabarrierto
naturaleyetracking.
Usecontraststoheightenvisualinterestlightanddarkercolors,largeandsmallsizes,SerifandSansserif,fulland
empty,proximityversusdistance,balanceandimbalance,shadesofgrayversuscolors.Havingalargerwhitespace
aroundsometextdrawstheeyetothattext.
Keepthingssimple,andfocusonthereadabilityofyourdocument.Usethingslikepatternsandgradientssparingly(ifat
all),sincetheymayattractmorevisualattentionthantheydeserve.
Linkingtext
Nowthatyouhaveabasiccollectionofobjects,arrangedcarefully,surelyyouwillcontinuetorefineyourlayoutbyaddingwhatis
neededandsubtractingwhatisnot.Thereisyetanotherimportanttaskyoumustknowasyoubuildtheoveralldocument:
linkingtext,whichdetermineshowtextconnectsfromonepartofapagetoanotheroronepagetoanother.
Scribuswillnotautomaticallycreateanewframeornewpageoncethecurrentoneisoverflowing.Soyoumustmanuallycreate
thosepagesandframes,thenusethelinkingtool.Ifyouhoveryourmouseoverthetoolbaryouwilleventuallygettothelinking
icon.Fromthemainmenu,thereisalsoItem>LinkTextFrames.
Onceyouseethatyouhaveoverflowingtext(indicatedbyasmallboxwithanXinthelowerrightcorneroftheframe),youshould
ensureyouhaveanotherframetolinkto.
1. Selecttheframewhichisoverflowing.
2. ClicktheLinkTextFramesicon.
3. Clicktheframetowhichtowanttexttoflow.
4. Ifyouwishtolinktoathird(ormore)frame,youmustclicktheiconagain,thenthenextframeinthelinkage.
5. Ifyouneedtounlinkaframe,thereisanUnlinkTextFramesiconnexttotheoneforlinking.Itwillonlybeselectablewhen
youhaveanalreadylinkedframeselected.Selectthelastframewhichyouwishtoremaininthelinkage,clicktheunlink
icon,thenthennextframe,andlinkagewillbebrokenatthatpoint.
Notethatyoucancreatelinkagesbetweenframesevenbeforethereistextcontent.Also,ifyouhaveselectedAutomaticText
Frameswhenyoucreatedyourdocument,wheneveryouaddanewpage,itwillcontainaframewhichisalreadylinkedtothe
previouspage.
Incaseyouwishtoviewallofyourtextframelinkages,selectView>ShowTextChainfromthemenu.
Sampletext
Therearetimeswhenyouwishtocaptureinsomeroughwaythevisualimpactofthecombinationoftextandotherelements,or
perhapshelptochooseanappropriatefontwithitssettings.Thisiswheresampletext,sometimescalledloremipsum,canbe
used.
Loremipsumreferstothemostfamous,perhapsoriginalversionofthis,andgoessomethinglikethis:Loremipsumdolorsit
amet,consectetueradipiscingelit.Utasapien.Aliquamaliquetpurusmolestiedolor.Integerquiseros...,whichdoesn'ttranslate
fromLatintoanythingsinceit'sajumbledupmixtureofwords.Nonetheless,ithasasentencelikestructure,isdividedinto
paragraphs,andcontainsamixtureofvariouswords,bothsmallandlarge.
Tousesampletext,selectaframe,thenfromthemenu,Insert>SampleText(alsoobtainablefromthecontextmenu).Fromthe
dialogthatappearsyoucanchoosethelanguageyouwish,andthenumberofparagraphsoftext.
Typographiccolor
Typographiccolor,alsoperhapsreferredtoastypographicalgray,istheperceptiononehasofthedegreeofdarknessoroverall
colorimpressionofablockoftext,whichcomesnotonlyfromthetypefaceanditsweight,butalsothewhitespacebetween
letters,words,andlines.Thisisalsoaffectedbythewhitenessorthecolorofthepaperonwhichthetextisprinted.
Thisisaveryimportantconsiderationinyourlayout,sinceitisimmediatelyseenbythereaderbeforetheactualtextcontentis
understood.
Factorswhichinfluencethetonalvaluearethespecificfont,itssubset,weight,thelinespacing(orleading),linebreaks,kerning,
andjustification.Itmaybeeasiertoappreciatethetonalvaluebysquintingtomakethetextindistinctsothatyouareleftwiththe
overallgraysenseofablockoftext.Youmayalsonoticeanonhomogeneity,ifsomeareasaredarker,somelighter.
TypographywillbediscussedfurtherinitsownchapterinthesectionProduce.
Theimagebelowshowsthesametextin11ptLiberationSanswithprogressivelinespacingof3,6,9,12,and15pts.
Immediatelyyouseethechangefromaveryoverallblackappearancetolightgray.Thisexampleshowsonlyoneofthe
parameterswhichcaninfluencethetonalvalue,yetinaquiteobviousway.
Stackingobjects(levelsandlayers)
Afinalandimportantthingtodiscusshereisthearrangementofyourvariousobjects,notjustinanX,Yspacereferringtothere
placementonthetwodimensionalpage,butalsoinathirdZaxis,regardingwhichobjectsareontoporunderneathother
objects.Thisisespeciallyimportantwhentwoobjectsmightbeoverlappingonemustbeontopoftheother.
InScribusthisiscalledtheLevel,andcanbeadjustedbyrightclickingforthecontextmenu,thenunderLevel,choosingtoraise
orlowertheobject.Hereyouonlyknowtherelativemovementyouhaveselected,butintheX,Y,ZtabofProperties,whereyou
canalsomakethesechanges,youwillalsoseewhatleveltheobjectison,1beingthelowest.Notethateachobjecthasitsown
uniquelevel.
Anytimeyouaddanewobject,itwillbeplacedaboveallothercontent,creatinganewlevel.
FormorecomplexdocumentsyoumaywishtogofurtherandcreateanewLayer,whichwillbeanothersetoflevels,separate
fromyouroriginal.Withinalayer,youwillhavethetypicalarrangmentoflevels,oneonanother,buttheentirelayerwilleitherbe
aboveorbelowsomeotherlayer.
Yourdefaultdocumentwillonlyhaveonelayer,calledBackground.BringupthelayersdialogwithWindows>Layers(keyboard
shortcut:F6).Atthebottomofthedialog,seethe'+',toclicktocreateanewlayer,whichyoushouldgiveameaningfulnameto.
BydefaultitwillbecreatedabovetheBackground,butcanbemovedbelowitifyouwish,byclickingthedownarrowicon.
Someadditionalimportantfeatures:
Youmayonlyeditononelayeratatime,theonewhichishighlighted.Thisisaveryusefulfeature,tokeepfrom
accidentallychangingormovingobjects.Furthermore,youcanlockanentirelayer,sothatitcannotbeeditedevenif
selected.
YoucandeleteanylayerexceptfortheBackground.
Youcanrenameanylayer,includingtheBackgroundlayer.
Youcanmakeacopyofalayer(withallitsobjects).
Youcanchoosetomakeanentirelayerinvisible,andindependentlynotprint(orexporttoPDF).
Youmaychoosetohavealltextonalayerflowaroundanyobjectsonlayersaboveit.
Finally,youcanrepresentallobjectsonalayerinasimple"wireframe"appearanceforfasterscreenupdatesthisonly
affectsdisplay.
Youcaneasilymoveanobjectfromonelayertoanother,bywayofthecontextmenu.
Thereisalsoadropdownlistfortheblendingmode,Normalbeingaseparaterepresentationofeachobjectonalayer.
Experimentationwillshowhowthesevarioussettingaffecttheappearance.
IntheupperrightcornerofthedialogyoucansettheOpacityortransparencyofobjectsonthatparticularlayer.
Asyoumayimagine,usinglayersisaverypowerfultoolincreatingandmanipulatingyourlayout.
Styles
Dependingonthetypeofdocumentyouareworkingon,theprocessofdesigncanbeoptimizedbyautomatingcommontasks.
Whentheamountoftextisgreat,andithasaconsistentstructure,asfarasheader,titles,blockquotes,captions,andsoon,
thenstylesarebyfarthebesttoolforeasilyapplyingthesefeatures.Withasingleclick,youcanapplythevariousfont
parametersyouhavebeenusingthroughoutyourdocument.
Thereareseveraladvantagestousingstyles:
Theyimproveproductivity
Theygreatlysimplifymakinglastminutechangestoatextappearancedocumentwide
Theyallowforaconsistentappearancefromonepartofadocumenttoanotherandfromoneissueoreditiontothenext
Theyallowforcoordinatingcaptionswiththegraphicstowhichtheyrefer
Theyallowforamorepleasingexperienceonthereader'spart
Theyeasilyallowforcoordinationofworkbyateamworkingonthesamedocument
Abouttheonlydisadvantageisthetimeittakestoplanandcreatethesevariousstyles,butevenherethereisaneasyallowance
toadjustyourstylelater,solesspressuretogetthestyle"exactlyright"thefirsttime.
Creatingstyles
Makingasimplestyleisactuallyaveryquickprocess.Ittakesnomoretimethansettingvariousfontandtypography
characteristicswiththePropertiespalette,andyouendupwithsomethingyoucanimmediatelyreusesomewhereelse.
Tip:It'sgoodpracticetobeginmakingstylesasyoubeginadocument.Thinkaboutsomebasicelementssuchasthetextbody,
headings,captions,andmakesomereasonableattemptatthese.Remember,youcaneasilyaltertheselateronceyour
documentbeginstotakeshape.
TheStyleManagerconsistsoftwomainparts.WhenyouinitiallyopenitwithEdit>Stylesfromthemenu,youseethissmaller
partshownabove,whereyoumayselectastyleandactuponit(Edit),orcreateanewone(New).
Tocreateastyleofwhatevertyperequiresafewsteps:
1. BringuptheStyleManagerwithEditStyles.
2. ClicktheNewbutton,thenfromthedropdownlistchoosethetypeofstyleyouwishtocreate.
3. ThedialognowexpandsasshownbelowforcreatingaCharacterStyle.
4. Changethenametosomethingmeaningfulforitsuse.It'sprobablybestnottoincorporatethefontnameinthestyle
name,sinceatsomelaterpointyoumightswitchtoanotherfontforyourheadings,forexample.
CharacterStyles
CharacterStylesandParagraphStylesarerelated,butnotexactlythesame.ACharacterStylehastodowiththeparticular
attributeswehavesetforthefont,suchasthetypeface,itsweight,size,kerning,whetheritmightbeunderlined,struckthrough,
andtheotherfeaturesyouseeabove.
OnefeatureofaParagraphStyleisthatitalsoimpliesanassociatedCharacterStyle,butthereverseisnottrue.Thuswecan
useaCharacterStyletomodifytheappearanceofafontinmidsentencewithoutaffectingthestructureofitsparagraphorthe
fontelsewhereinthatsentence.
Consider,forexample,asituationwhereyoumayhavesometextwhichcontainsnumbersreferringtosomestatistics.Sinceyou
wantthesetostandoutfromthesurroundingtext,youchangethetypeface,orweight.UsingthePropertiespalette,youcould
highlighttheseonebyone,thenmodifysettingsasneeded.Ifyouusestyles,however,youmakethesettingsonce,thensimply
applytheCharacterStyle,andiflateryoumodifythestyle,itisimmediatelyappliedeverywhereitwasused.
Sotobemorespecific:
1. BringuptheStyleManagerwithEdit>Styles.
2. ClickNew,thenchoosefromthedropdownlistCharacterStyle.
3. ReplacethedefaultnameNewStylewithStatisticalNumerals.
4. Selectyourfont,itsweight,thenfartherdownitscolor.Yourlistofcolorshereisthesamecolorpaletteyouuse
elsewhere.
5. Changeanyotherpropertiesasyouseefit,thenclickDone.Iflateryouedityourstyle,youcanclickApplytoapplythe
changeswhereveritisused.
ParagraphStyles
Aswasstatedabove,thesettingsforaParagraphStyleincludethoseforitsassociatedCharacterStyle.
Asitsnamesuggests,ParagraphStyleisappliedtoanentireparagraphoftext.Whatmaybelessobviousisthat,inadditionto
thefeaturesofacharacterstyle,youalsomaysetlinespacing,indentation,presenceofdropcaps,opticalmargins,spaceabove
orbelowaparagraph,justification,andtabs.
1. OpentheStyleManagerwithEdit>Styles.
2. ClickNew,thenchoosefromthedropdownlistParagraphStyle.
3. ReplacethedefaultnameNewStylewith,forexample,Title.
4. InthePropertiestab,choosethevariousparameterstoyourliking.
5. YoumayalsoselecttheCharacterStyletabforallthevariousadjustmentsinthefont,etc.
LineStyles
Althoughlesscommonlyused,LineStylescanalsobeusefulformaintainingaconsistentappearancetoframeborders,orany
lineswhichyoumayuseinyourdocument.
2. ClickNew,thenchoosefromthedropdownlistLineStyle.
3. ReplacethedefaultnameNewStylewith,forexample,FramedQuote.
4. InthePropertiestab,choosethevariousparameterstoyourliking.
ApplyingStyles
Onceyouhavecreatedyourstyles,theyareavailableinselectedlocationsfortheirapplication.
ParagraphandCharacterStyles
ThesearebothavailableinthePropertiespalette,underText>StyleSettings.Usesomecaution,sothatyouunderstandhowto
applyeachstylefromitsdropdownlist.Thereisalsosomeimportanceoftheorderinwhichtoapplystyles.
1. First,applyyourParagraphStyle.
2. Next,selecttheappropriatetextandapplyaCharacterStyle.
3. Atthispoint,youmightstillwishtomakesomeminoradjustmentsbyadjustingvariousparametersintheTexttab
elsewhere.
Ifyounoticetroublerevertingincaseyouhavemadeamistake,youshouldtrytheRemoveDirectParagraph/Character
Formattingbuttons(withthebroomicon),toattempttoundosomeapplicationofastyle.Goingbacktodefaultstylesmayalso
help.
TheotherplacetoapplyParagraphStyles(butnotCharacterStyles)isintheStoryEditor,whereyoucan,paragraphby
paragraph,applystyles.
LineStyles
ThereisonlyoneplacetoapplyaLineStyle,intheLinetabofPropertiespalette.Simplyselectyourobject,andchoosethestyle
fromthelist.Ifit'saframe,thestyleisappliedtotheborder.
EditingStyles
Chancesare,youhavealreadyseentheEditbuttonintheStyleManagerdialog.
2. Clickonthestyleyouwishtoedit,thenclicktheEditbutton.
3. Makeyourchanges,thenclicktheApplybutton,andyoureditsareappliedwhereverthatstyleisused.Thisshowsthe
dramaticbenefitfrommakinguseofstylesinyourworkflow.
IncaseyoumightimporttextfromODTorHTMLformats,youwilllikelyseethatsomenewstylesappearinyourlist.Youmay
wanttocheckthesestylesandadjustasneeded,oryoumayfindyoucansubstitutesomestyleyouhavecreated,thendelete
them.
DeletingStyles
1. OpentheStyleManager.
2. Selectastyle,thenclicktheDeletebutton.Alternatively,rightclickthestyleyouwishtodeleteandchooseDeletefromthe
listthatappears.
3. Youwillhaveachoiceheretosubstitutesomeotherstylefortheoneyouaredeleting.
ImportingStylesfromotherdocuments
Incaseyouhaven'talreadyseenthebenefitsgainedfromusingstyles,youcanalsoreusestylesyouhavecreatedinsome
otherdocument.
1. OpentheStyleManager.
2. SelectImport.
3. Afiledialogappears,andyounextchoosethedocumentfilefromwhichyouwishtoimportoneormorestyles.
4. Scribuspresumesyouwillimportallofthem(notlikely),butsimplyunchecktheonesyouwishtoimporttothecurrent
document.
5. Incaseyouareimportingastylewithanamematchingonealreadyinuse,thedefaultbehaviorwillbetorenamethe
importedfont,butyoumaychoosetoreplacetheexistingfontofthatname.
Notethatiftheimportedstyleusesacolornotinyourpalette,thatcolorwillbeimportedaswell.
Scripterandscripts
Thischapterconcernsinformationnotneededbyanewuser,sinceitiswhatwewouldconsideradvancedusage.Nonetheless,
itisworthreadingthroughthischapterjustsothatyouareawareofthecapabilitiesofScripter.
AscriptinoursensehereisasmallprogramwhichallowsyoutoperformaseriesofoperationsinScribus.Thescriptisatext
filewhichconsistsofaseriesofinstructions,eitherinsomehighlyautomatedway,orperhapsdependentonuserinputasthe
scriptruns.Scriptsareespeciallyusefulforcomplex,repetitivetasks,especiallywhenanumberofobjectsneedtobecreated
andmanipulatedinapredictablepattern.Youmightcreateabasiclayoutandevenaddcontent.Scriptsmightalsotakeexisting
contentandperformaseriesoftediousactionsonthatcontent.
Whileyoumightsimplyuseascriptthatsomeoneelsehaswritten,youcanalsoadaptanexistingscripttoyourspecificneeds.
Infact,thiscanbeagoodwaytointroduceyourselftoscripting,bymodifyinganexistingscriptbitbybit.OntheScribuswikiyou
canfindanumberofScriptsforperformingavarietyoftasksyoumighthavesomeinterestin.Allyouneedtodoiscreateafile
andcopythescriptintothatfileandsaveonyourcomputer.RunthescriptbychoosingfromthemenuScripts>ExecuteScript...,
thenselectingyourscriptfile.
InScribus,scriptsarewritteninthePythonprogramminglanguage,andthescriptfilesshouldendintheextension.py,soyour
scriptfilemightbemyscript.py.YouwillnotdamageScribusevenwithapoorlywrittenscript,eventhoughthescriptmayfailto
workornotworkproperly.
Likeanyprogramminglanguage,Pythonhasavocabularyandsyntax,andthistakessometimetolearn.Belowyouwillsee
someresourcestohelpyouaboutPython.
Runascript
YoushouldhaveanumberofscriptsincludedwithyourScribusprogram,andyouwillseetheselistedunderScripts>Scribus
Scripts.
Autoquoteconvertstypewriterquotationmarkstotypographicalquotationmarks,andadaptstoyourchosenlanguage.
CalendarWizardcreatesacalendar.
color2csvsavetoacsvfilealistofthecolorsusedinyourdocument.
ColorChartcreatesaswatchfromthecolorsinyourdocument.
csv2colorimportsalistofcolorssavedinacsvfile.
DirectImageImportcreatesanimageframeandloadsanimage.
FontSamplecreatesadocumentlistingthefontsonyoursystemwithsampletext.
importcsv2tableimportsthecolorsfromacsvfiletoacreatedtable.
InfoBoxcreatesatextorimageframefillingthewidthofoneormorecolumnsinatextframe.Loadsanimageifyou
wish.
Youcanmodifythesescriptsaccordingtoyourneeds,thebestmethodbeingtomakeacopywhichyouthenedit.Youcanfind
theabovescriptsin:
Linux:/usr/share/scribus/scripts
MacOSX:/Users/username/scribus/trunk/Scribus/scribus/plugins/scriptplugin/scripts/
Windows7:C:\ProgramFiles\Scribus1.4\share\scripts\
Createafolder,perhapsnamedScripts,thenwhenyouclickScripts>ExecuteScript...youwillknowwheretofindthem.
Addscripts
Asstatedabove,thequickestandbestwaytofindavarietyofscriptsinontheScribuswiki(http://wiki.scribus.net),underthe
categoryScripts.Notonlyshouldyoufindthescriptsthemselves,buttypicallyinstructionsonusingthescript,suchaswhether
youshouldhaveadocumentopenandperhapssomeobjectselected,orwhetherthescriptcreatesadocument.Thereoftenare
hintstotheparticularcommandsinascriptandespeciallyvaluableisseeingthecorrectsequenceofcommandstomakesome
objectwithparticularproperties.
Forexample,ifyouwantedtousethescriptfromthewikiarticleAdding'DRAFT'toaDocument,
First,openaplaintexteditor.AnexampleisGedit(whichyoucangetandinstallfromhttp://www.gedit.org).
Gotothewikiarticlementionedabove.
Highlighttheactualscriptfromthatarticle,copy,thenpastetoGedit.
Savethefilewiththenamedraft.py
ThescriptisnowreadytouseinScribus.
Makesureyouhaveadocumentopen.
Scripts>ExecuteScript...,findthescriptonyoursystem.
OnceyouclickOKthewordDRAFTappearsonthepage.
Makeyourownscripts
Ifyoucan'tfindascriptthatmeetsyourneeds,youcanwriteyourown,orperhapsgetsomeonewhoknowssomePython
programmingtomakeitforyou.
Ontheotherhand,youmightbeabletosimplymodifyanexistingscript,orcombinefeaturesfromtwoormorescriptsalreadyon
thewiki,onceyouunderstandwhichcommandsproducewhichresults.
Forexample,let'ssaythatinsteadoftheword'DRAFT'youwanttheFrench'BROUILLON'.
Atline25ofyourdraft.pyscriptisthecommanddraft="DRAFT".
Infrontoftheworddrafttypea#,whichcausesthatlinetobeignoredbyPython.
Nowatthebeginningofline27,removethe#sothatnowdraft='BROUILLON'willbeexecutedwhenthescriptruns.
Savefileandrunitagain.
Gettinghelpandmoreinformation
Allwehaveshowninthissectionisabriefoverviewofscripting.Herearesomelinkswhichcangetyoustarted,andhelpwhen
yougetstuckonsomeissue.
IntroductiontoPythonsyntax
CheckthemanualincludedwithScribus:underHelp>ScribusManual>ForDevelopers>Scripter,andalsoScripterFAQ.
SomebeginningScribusPythonscripts
LearningPythoninteractively
OfficialPythonsite
PythononWikipedia
PythoncommandsspecifictoScribus
ThisisinthemanualincludedwithScribus,underHelp>ScribusManual>ForDevelopers>ScripterAPI
Gettinghumanhelp!
SendanotetotheScribusmaillist,whereyoumightfindyourquestionansweredbythecommunityofdevelopersandusers:
http://lists.scribus.net/mailman/listinfo/scribus.Tosendamessagetothelist,usethisaddress:scribus@lists.scribus.net.
YoucanevendiscussissuesliveonIRC,atchat.freenode.net,onthe#scribuschannel.Ifyou'veneverusedanIRCclient,you
mighttryoutalinkonthewikisite:http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Special:WebChat
Boththemaillistand#scribushavetheappearancethattheymightbeEnglishonly,butincaseyoustrugglewithEnglish,there
istypicallysomeoneabletoanswermostEuropeanlanguages.
TheScribusfileformat:.sla
ThishasnothingtodowithScripter,butwewantedtoincludeinthischaptersomeinformationontheScribusfileformat.theSLA
format,likeScribusitself,iscompletelyopen,andinplaintext.ItissimilartoXML,andforthatmatterHTML,whichyoumaybe
familiarwithifyou'veeverlookedattheHTMLsourcewithyourbrowser.Becauseitisplaintext,youcaneasilyeditthefiledirectly
inaplaintexteditor.
SLA:aneditableformat
YoushouldhavenotroublefindingyourScribusfiles,especiallyifyouhavefollowedourrecommendationsonorganizingyour
projects,sincetheyendwiththeextension.sla.Youmightbeconcernedaboutdoingso,butfeelfreetoopenafileinaplaintext
editor.Takesometimetonoticetheoverallstructure,whichisquitecomplexeveninsmallproject,buttherearetagswhich
identifythevariouspartsofyourproject,aswellasthefontsused,styles,colorsandsoon.
Intheexamplebelowweseeasmallsectionofafilewherethecolorpaletteislisted.Wecanseethattherearetwospotcolors
listed,aPANTONE541CandPANTONE541CPALE.Thiswouldresultinaddinganothercolortotheprintingprocess,andof
courseanextracolormeansextratimeandexpense.WhatwereallywantedwastousePANTONE541Ceachtimebutwith50%
saturationinthesecondinstance.Wecansolvethisquiteeasilybyeditingthefile.
Belowyoucanseehowwehaveeditedthefilewherethecolorswereused.Inthesecondline,wedeletePALEfromthecolor
name,theneditSHADEandSHADE2valuesto50forour50%saturation.
Itisalwaysgoodpracticetomakeacopyofafile(saveitunderaslightlydifferentname),sothatifyoumakesomemistakeyou
stillhavetheoriginal.AbadlyeditedfilemightnotbeabletobeloadedbyScribus,andyouwouldgetamessagethatthefileis
corrupt.Evenso,ifnecessary,youshouldbeabletogethelpinfixingyourfile,ifyoucannotfixityourself.
Produce
Importingtextandimages
Aswehavesaidbefore,Scribusispagelayoutsoftware,notawordprocessororimagemanipulatingsoftware.Whileit's
possibletoedittext,drawvectordrawings,ordophotoprocessing,yourpossibilitieswillbelimitedcomparedwithsoftware
dedicatedtothesetasks.Optimally,youwillwantcompletedtextandfullyprocessedimagesimportedintoScribusforthemost
sensibleworkflow.Bythismethod,youwillstillalsohavetheoriginalsourcefilesforpreservationpurposes.
Importtext
Muchofthetime,textwillbewrittenbythosewhohavelittleorknowexpertisewithlayout,andperhapsnoknowledgeofwhatthe
specificlayoutwillbe.Thosewhowriteforperiodicalssuchasmagazinesornewspaperswillhavenoideaofhowtheirworkwill
bepresentedinthelayout,andprobablynodesiretoknow.Theirfocusisonthecontent,itsaccuracy,theprose,andwhethera
completepieceofworkhasbeencreated.Theeditorialteamwillthenmakedecisionsabouttherelevanceofthematerialand
whethertheirinstructionstotheauthorhavebeencarriedout,evenbeforethelayoutprocessbegins.
Thedesigner'srolewillthenbetotakethistext,partiallyorganizedornot,andtransformitaspartofthelayoutprocess.
Scribushasthecapabilityofworkingstylizedtextfromawordprocessor(suchasMSWord,OpenOffice.org,LibreOffice,KWord,
Abiword,andsoon),wheretheauthorwillhavetheopportunitytosimulatetosomeextentthefinalappearanceofthetext.This
willfacilitatecommunicationbetweentheauthoranddesignerwherestylesmayaffectthesemanticcontenttosomeextent,but
doescomplicatetheprocessofincorporatingthetextintoScribus.
Analternativeistouseaplaintexteditor(suchasMSNotepad,GEdit,Kate,vi,andsoon)whichallowstheauthortoliterally
focusontheverbalcontent,andallowsthegraphicdesignercompletefreedomofdecisionmakingregardingtextstyles.
Howshouldyouproceed?
YoumusthavecreatedatextframebeforeyoucanimporttextintoScribus.
1. Createatleastoneframe.Ifyouhavecreatedmultipleframesthesecanbelinkedbeforeorafterimportingyourtext.
2. Selecttheinitialframe,then
3. File>Import>Gettext.
4. Scribusnowbringsupafiledialog,allowingyoutonavigatetotheproperfoldertofindyourtextfile.Youmayrestrictyour
searchtoparticularfiletypesifthisisuseful.YoumayalsosearchAllFiles.
NotethatwhenyouclickOK,yourtextisimportedandatthatpointyouhavelostanychanceofselectingoptionsatimport.Ifyou
havemadeamistake,repeattheprocesstoreplacethetext,withcorrectsettingsthistime.
YoumayhavenoticedthereisalsoachoiceFile>Import>Appendtext,whichworksabitdifferently.
Gettextwillimportandreplaceanytextalreadypresentintheframe,thoughyouwillseeaconfirmationdialogiftextis
alreadypresent.Ifyouexistingtextlinksthroughseveralframes,allofthattextisreplaced.
Appendtextwillimportthetext,butappenditattheendofthetextalreadycontainedintheframeorframes.
Incasethereisinsufficientspaceintheframeforallthetext,Scribuswillnotcreateanynewframesorpagesautomatically.It
willshowasmallsquarecontaininganXinthelowerrighthandcorneroftheframe(indicatingtextoverflow),butitisuptothe
usertotakecareoftheproblem.Commonly,youwillwishtopasstheextratextintoanotherframe,eitheronthesamepageor
anotherone.
1. Createanewtextframe.
2. Selecttheframewheretextoverflows.
3. ClicktheLinkTextFramesicononthetoolbar(keyboardshortcutisN),thenclicktheframetolinkto.
4. Tolinktoathirdorlaterframe,youmustclicktheiconagain,thenthenextframeinthelinkage.
5. Tobreakthelinkage,thenselecttheUnlinkTextFramesicon(justtotherightoftheLinkFramesicon),thenselectthe
framewhereyouwishthelinkagetobebroken.
6. Itispossiblethatthisunlinkinginthemiddlemayproduceundesiredresults.Thequickestwaytorecoverwouldbeto
Undotheunlinking.
AutomaticTextFrames
AnexceptiontotheneedtomanuallylinkframesoccurswhenyouchooseAutomaticTextFrameswhenyoucreateyour
document.Inthatcase,whenyoucreateanewpage,itwillautomaticallycontainatextframe,andthiswillbelinkedtothe
previouspage'stextframe.
Plaintext
Whenyousaveplaintextfrommosteditorsandwordprocessors,youwillseethatthedefaultextensionforthefilewillbe.txt,if
thisexistsasanoption.Nonetheless,aplaintextfilecanbesavedwithanyextensionoftheeditor'schoice,andinsomecases
mightfacilitaterecognitionandhandlingofparticularfiles.
Animportantcharacteristicoftextfilesisthecharacterencoding.Whencomputersfirstcameabout,therewereonlycertain
charactersavailable,butwithtimetherehasbeenanexpansiontonotonlyincludevariouscharactersfornonEnglish,nonLatin
languages,andthusagreatexpansionintheneedfornewcharactersoutsideoftheoriginalASCIIandLatincharacters.Here
aresomeselectedexamples.
Systemthisdenotesthecharactersetyourcomputerisusingforvarioustasks,includingdefaultsavingoftextinfiles.
UTF8andUTF16thesearethemostcomprehensivecharactersetsavailable,andwillbeabletohandlealmostall
writtenlanguages,plusmanyotherspecialcharacters.Itisrecommendedtouseoneofthesewheneverpossible.
ISO88591Thiscanbeadequate,andisacommonlyusedencodingonmanysystems,particularlywhenyouare
workingonlywithLatinlanguages.
AppleRomanThisisastandardspecifictosomekindsofsoftwarerunningtheMacOS.
HTMLformat
HTMLhasbecomeubiquitous,ofcourse,duetoitsuseonwebpages.TheformatanditschangesaremanagedbytheWorld
WideWebConsortium(W3C),andwenowseethanmanywordprocessorscanimportandexportthisformat.Thedifference
fromplaintextistheabilitytospecifyfeaturesofthestylesandlayoutofthetext,whichcanbeusefulwheneditorsareinteracting
withpagedesigners.
ThereareactuallyseveralversionsofHTML,andScribusisabletomanagetosomedegreeallofthem.WhatScribuscan
handlearetagssuchas<p>(paragraph),<b>(bold),<i>(italics),andvariousheaderstyles.Itwillnotbeabletohandletags
whichspecifyparticularfonts,orCSSingeneral.TagswhichScribuscannothandleareignored.Youshouldadheretospecific
HTMLstandardstogetthebestresultswithimportingintoScribus.
ScribusworkswithHTMLasfollows:
Itwillimportalltextualmaterialonapage.Thiswouldincludenotonlythemainbodyoftext,butanymenusandsidebars
onthepage.Therefore,youmaywanttoconsidereditingtheHTMLbeforeimportsothatitonlycontainsthetextyou're
interestedin.
Foreachheaderstyle,Scribuscreatesastyleinternally,prefixedwithhtml_(forexample,html_h1).Thisismostlyaplace
holdersoasnottoreplaceanyexistingstyles,sothereforeyouwilllikelyneedtoeditthisstyletogetthelookyoudesire.
HereyoucanseesomethingoftheworkentailedineditingHTMLafterimporttoScribus.Althoughitmaylooklikeyouhave
createdlinksinyourScribusdocument,allthathashappenedisthatacharacterstylehasbeencreatedwhichisblueand
underlined.
ODT
OpenDocumentTextformatwasdevelopedasanopenandfreelyusablewaytosavetextalongwithallofitsformattingfeatures,
andusedbyOpenOffice.org,LibreOffice,KOffice,andotherwordprocessors.ItisarecognizedISOstandard,unlikevarious
proprietaryformats,suchasDOC.YouwillhavethegreatestflexibilityandresultsimportingthisformattoScribus.
WhenyouimportanODTfileintoScribus,youwillhavesomeoptions:
OverwriteParagraphStylesincasethereisanameconflictwithanODTfileandoneinScribus,thiswilloverwrite
Scribus'sstylewiththatfromtheimportedtext.Observecautioninchoosingthisoptionifyouhavealreadybeguntomake
stylesinScribus.
MergeParagraphStylesifmorethanonestyleintheODTdocumenthavethesameproperties,Scribuswillmerge
theseintoasinglestyle.Occasionally,itmightturnoutthereissomesemanticreasonforhavingtwootherwiseidentical
styleswithdifferentnames,soconsiderthatpossibility.
Usedocumentnameasaprefixforparagraphstylesthisshouldbeofsomehelptoavoidaccidentallyoverwritinga
ScribusstylefromtheODTfile.
Donotaskagainifyoucheckthis,you'llhavetorememberhowtogetthedefaultbackagain,sinceyouwon'tseethis
requesteruntilyoudo.Inyour.scribusdirectory,youwillfindafilenamedprefs140.xml,andinsidethatundertheplugins,
thereisacontextnameOdtIm.Youwillseethatthevariable(key)iscalledAskAgain,andthatwhenthisvalueis1,you
willbeaskedagain.
Whenthedocumentisimported,paragraphstylesarecreated,addedtoyourlistofstyles,thenappliedtothetext.Forcharacter
styles,nonearecreatedinScribus,buttheformattingchangescorrespondingtothestyleshouldbeappliedwhereneeded.
BecauseofvariousissueswiththeimplementationofODTimportasitcurrentlyexists,itisdifficulttomakeanycategorical
recommendations,butherearesomeparticularbitsofadvicewhichsomewouldmake:
Itisnotnecessaryfortheauthorofthetexttobotherwithmakingstyles,andtosomeextentperhapscounterproductive.
Youwillmerelyaddtheadditionalworkofmakingsurestyleshavebeenproperlyimportedandotherchangesapplied
whereneeded.PerhapsbettertoapplystylesinScribus,aslongasyouhaveadraftprintoftheODTdocumentto
properlycreateandapplystyleswheretheyareneeded.
Somepreferplaintext,andthenwillapplystylesastheyseefitwithinScribus.
DOCformat
Docfilesareproprietary,whichmeansthatyoucannotwithoutpermissionfromMicrosoftmakeanapplicationwhichmakeuse
oftheinternalstructureofthesefiles.ScribuscannotitselfimportfilessavedinthenativeWordformat.Forthistask,Scribus
usesasmallutilitycalledantiwordwhichwillallowimportationofDOCfiles.TheWindowsversionofScribushasantiword
automaticallyinstalledforotherversionsyouwillneedtogetthisutilityyourself.
Whenyouimportsuchafile,allstylesandformattingwillbelost.Inaddition,youmustcheckthetextcarefullyafterimport,since
insomecasesblanklinesorextradigitsmayappearatvariouslocations.
AnalternativeandmorereliablemethodwouldbetoimportyourDOCfileintoOpenOfficeorLibreOffice,thenexportas
somethingmoresuitableforScribus,suchasODT,HTML,orplaintext.
NotethatDOCXfilesarenotsupported,yetthisshouldalsobeabletobeimportedbyLibreOffice.
Importingimages
Importingimagesisverycommoninlayout.Tobesure,sometypesofpublishing,suchasnovelsandtoalesserextent
scientificpublishing,mayhavelittleornouseforimages.Inmostcommonsituations,includingphotosorbitmappedorvector
graphicsisessential.
Photos
Scribuscanimportanumberofdifferentphotoimageformats,eventhoughsomeofthesemaynotbesuitableforhighquality
layoutandprinting.ThelistofusefulformatswehavealreadymentionedthelistofusefulformatsinPreparingyoursources,
butherewewilldiscussspecificfeaturesofeachtohelpyouchoosethoseappropriateforyourwork.
Importingisdone,justaswithtext,withtheuseofaframe,inthiscaseanImageframe,obtainedbyselectingInsert>Insert
ImageFramefromthemenu,orbyconvertingsomeotherkindofframe,withItem>Convertto>ImageFrame.Copyingand
pastingpictureswillabsolutelynotworkinstead,File>Import>Getimage,orfromthecontextmenu,Getimage.
IntheImagetabofPropertiesyoucanadjustthedimensionsoftheimageintheframeintwowayseitherbyselectingScaleto
FrameSize(andperhapschoosingProportionalsoasnottodistorttheimage),orselectingFreeScaling,tomanuallymanage
thesizeandpositionoftheimageintheframe.
JPEG
Thiswillbeacommonlyusedformatinlayout,withafileextensionof.jpgor.jpeg.Digitalcamerastypicallysaveinthisformatas
theirdefault,eventhoughothersmaybeavailable.Thereasonthisbecamethecasewasthatthecompressionoftheimages
allowsforefficientuseofmemoryinthecamera.Similarly,thisisausefulfeatureforimagesonwebsites.
Thedownsideofthisimagecompressionisalossofdetailintheimage,andfurthermore,thisisasocalledlossyformat,since
dataislostforeverintheprocessofsavingtoJPEG.Generallyspeaking,thehigherthecompression(smallerthefile),the
greaterthelossofdetail,andthelowerthequalityoftheimage.Thismaynotbenoticeableonyourmonitor,butmightbewhen
theimageisprinted.
ImportingJPEGtoScribusshouldoccurwithoutanyissues.NotethatconvertingaJPEGtosomeotherformatwillnotimprove
itsquality.
PNG
PNG,ontheotherhand,isabetteralternativeasacompressedformat,sinceitisalosslessformat,sothatimagedataisnot
lost,eventhoughthesizeofthefileswillbesomewhatlargerthanJPEG.AnadditionalfeatureisthatPNGimagescanhavean
alphachannel,allowingforpartialtransparencyandsomeotherimageeffects.Gimpinparticularcancreatetransparencies,
fading,andmanyothereffects.
AllphotoeditingsoftwarecanhandlePNGimagesforbothopeningandsaving.
TIFF
TIFFisoneoftheoldestimagefileformats,andisusedextensivelyforhighqualityprintedimages.NotallTIFFimagesarehigh
qualityforexample,faxmachinesmakeTIFFimagesfortheirpurposes.Thehighqualitycomesatthepriceofsometimes
makingverylargefiles,perhapsthemaindrawbackofthisformat.
Becauseofitslonghistoryofuse,thereisaninterestingfeaturenotpossiblewithPNG,clippingpaths.Thesearevectorpaths
usedtodelimitpartsofanimageforsomespecialeffectsandcanbedonewithGimpandothereditingsoftware.Theuseof
clippingwillbediscussedinthechapteronTextflowandtypography.
PSD
PSDisthenativefileformatofPhotoshop.Thisformatisproprietary,andownedbyAdobe,whohavekeptsomespecificationsof
theformatsecretsinceversion7.ScribuscanimportPSDfiles,butwillfailwithnewerfeaturesintroducedafterthisversion.That
havingbeensaid,Scribuscanhandlesuchfeaturesaslayersandtheirvisibility,transparency,aswellasblendingmodes.This
canbeusefultoaltertheintensityofashadoworevenhidecertainelementsintheimage.
Oncetheimageisimported,layerscanbeaccessedbytheExtendedImagePropertiesdialog,whichyoushouldseeavailable
throughthecontextmenuorProperties>Image.
SVG,EPS,andAIformats
ProgramssuchasInkscapeandAdobeIllustratorworknativelywithvectordrawings.Vectordrawings,incontrasttobitmap
drawingswhichdescribeanarrayofcoloredpixels,consistofmathematicaldescriptionsoflines,whetherstraightorcurved,
whichthereforewillretainsharpcontoursevenunderhighmagnification.
Inordertoimportavectordrawing,youdonothavetouseaframe.
1. Clickonapartofthepagesothatnoitemisselectedthereasonfordoingthisisthatsomeformats,suchasEPS,can
beimportedintoanimageframe,butinthatcase,theywillbeconvertedtobitmap.
2. Fromthemenu,selectFile>Import>GetVectorFile.
3. YouwillonlyhavethefeatureswhichyourScribusinstallationcansupport.Selectavectorfilefromthechoicesyouhave
available.
4. Themousecursortransformstosomethingresemblingapageorscroll,withaplussign(+).Clicktheplaceonthepage
whereyouwishtoplacetheupperleftcornerofthevectordrawing.
5. Often,youwillseethatthesizeistoolargeortoosmall,andperhapsplacementnotwhatyoureallywanted,butyoucan
easilyresizeyourdrawingandadjustitspreciseplacement.
Mostlikely,yourvectordrawingactuallyconsistsofaGroupofindividualcomponents,whichifdesiredcanbeungrouped(Item>
Ungrouponceormoretimes)sothateachelementcanbeadjustedoreditedasdesired.
Anycolorsinthevectordrawingwillautomaticallybeimportedtoyourcolorpalette,butofcoursecanbechangedaccordingto
yourneeds.
SVG
SVGwasoriginallyproposedbyAdobe,andisnowofficiallyenabledbyW3C.Manykindsofsoftwareandevensomebrowsers
cannativelyhandleSVGfiles,andthespecificationcontinuestoexpandfromtheeffortsofIllustratorandInkscape.Althoughit
hasbeencriticizedfornotincludingCMYK,ScribuscanmanagebothconversionsfromandtoCMYK,andalsoprocessandspot
colors,soyoushouldhavenoconcernsaboutcolorfidelity.
IfsometextisincludedinyourSVG,itisgoodtovectorizeyourfontsforbestresults.Alternatively,andperhapsevenpreferably,
leavealltextoutof(ordeletefrom)theSVGandmakeyourtextwithinScribus.
EPS
EPS,orEncapsulatedPostScript,camesometimeafterPostScriptbutbeforePDFformatwasintroduced.Thespecifications
havenotchangedsince2001,andconsequentlyitislessusedthaninthepast,butthereisnoreasontoavoidordiscardsuch
filessinceScribuscanhandlethemfaithfully.Youmayfindmanylogosinthisformat.Ifpossible,youmaywishtoconvertEPSto
SVGorAImainlyintheinterestsofsecuringtheabilitytoimportittoothersoftware.
AI
AIisthenativeformatforAdobeIllustrator.Becauseofthat,itiswidelyinuse,butsinceitisproprietary,therecanbesome
issueswithcertainfeatureswhichmaynotbesupportedoutsideofIllustrator.Scribushasonlypartialsupport,butit'susually
worthatrytoimportintoScribusfirstratherthanconverttoSVG.
Tables!
AscurrentlyimplementedinScribus,tablescanbeconsideredaspecialinstanceoftextframes.Theyaresomewhatliterallya
matrixoftextframes.ThereisnowsomeabilitytoimportExcelorCSVfiles,butthisislimited.Therealsoissomeabilitytodeal
withcellandoverallborders,butfranklyinalessthanoptimalway.Becausetheseareindividualframes,however,itispossible
toconvertindividualcellsto,forexample,imageframes,whichcouldhavesomeuseinyourlayout.
Becauseofthevariouslimitations,youmaywanttoconsiderbypassingtablesaltogether,andmaketableswiththefollowing
process:
1. CreateyourtableinCalc(OpenOfficeorLibreOffice).IfyouhaveExceldatainafile,openinoneoftheseotherprograms.
2. Selecttheportionofthetableyouwishtouse,andmakeacopy.
3. GotoFile>New>Drawing.
4. Inthefilewindow,selectEdit>PasteSpecial,thenchoosetheoptionwhichbeginswithCalcinthedialog.
5. NowselectFile>Export.
6. Fromtheformatchoices,selectEPS.
7. Onceyousavethefile,thenimportthisEPStoScribus.
ThereasonfordoingthisisthatyouwillfindthatthereismuchgreatereaseinmakingvariousadjustmentsandsettingsinCalc
thanintheTablesenvironmentinScribus.
TypographyandScribus
WenowapproachthecoreofScribus.Theabilitytohandleadvancedfeaturesoftypographyisanabsoluteessential
requirementofprofessionalqualityDTP,andanareawhereScribusexcels.
Firstofall,wewouldpointoutthatyouwillfindanarrayofsettingsavailableinthePropertiespalette,andsomeadditional
featureselsewhere,suchasintheStylesEditor,andyoushouldconsiderthesecomplementarytoeachotherforyourneeds.
Textasaprocess
Considerthatpagelayoutisacarefullyarrangeddisplayorstagingofyourcontent.First,youwishtocapturetheeyeofyour
reader,thenguidehimthroughthepageinanorganizedway.Iforganizationislacking,ifthereisnocohesiveideatothelayout,
thereaderhastroublegraspingthecontentandquicklylosesinterest.Lossofinterestmeansyouhavelostthemessageyou
weretryingtotransmit.
Thisiswhythereisacertainhierarchytotext.Thisdoesn'tmeanthereisastaticstructurethatyouuseeverytime,butthe
designernonethelesscreatessomesortoforderinthewaythatthetextishandledandpresented.Herewearenotgoingto
makeacaseforsomeparticularpatternorchoices,butratherdiscussthevariouschoicesyouhaveavailabletoyouwithin
Scribus.
Belowisalistofvariouschoiceswhichmightoccurinpublications.Whileit'snotsolikelytousealloftheseinanygivendesign,
typicallyanumberofthesewillbeused.Ifyoulookatvariouspublicationsatyourdisposal,youshouldseemanyofthesein
action.
Bodytext
Photoorillustrationlegends
Credits
Headings
Headlines
Titlesandsubtitles
Epigraphs
Citations
Indentedtext
Bulletedlists
Numberedlists
Footnotes
Whatyouwillfindisthateachofthesecategorieshascertaintypographiccharacteristics.Yourjobasdesigneristodetermine
thesevariousattributes.Thisisn'tamatterofhavingsomepredeterminedformula,yetaswehavesaid,theremustbea
hierarchyintheappearance.Forexample,thetitleshouldbeprominenthavesomepunchtoittograbthereader.Titlesand
subtitlesshouldoffersomeinterestingcontrastfromtheheadlines.Youcan'tnecessarilyconsiderthetextinastrictlylinearway,
tobereadtoptobottom,starttofinish,butratherallowforthereadertocapturesomecontext,andthetypographicfeatures
guidinghimalong.Youmayusecolor,contrast,shadows,andevenwhitespace,hopefullyinsubtleways,tokeepthereader's
interest.
Theareasofbodytextarethequietareasofthelayout,whichpromoteeaseofreadingwithoutleadingtovisualfatigue.
Headings,titles,andillustrationsandcaptionsfunctiontohelpbreakupthemonotonyofthetextandkeepthereader'sinterest.
Typographicattributes
Whatfollowsarethevariousaspectsofyourtypographicpalette.Considerthemtobethecontentsofyourtoolboxtoshowcase
yourtext.Trynottoremaininyourcomfortzone,butexperimentwithallofthemsothatyoubecomefamiliarwiththeir
implementation.
Thedropcap
Dropcapswillbesomethingofashowpieceofyourlayout.Thereader'seyewillbedrawntothislargefirstletterofaparagraph,
whichwilllikelybebold,andmayevenhaveadifferenttypefaceandcolorfromthebodytext.Whiletherearewaystoartificially
createdropcaps,themostconvenientwayistocreatethisaspartofaparagraphstyle.SimplycheckDropCaps,thenselectthe
numberoflinesyouwishthedropcaptocover.AdjustDistancefromTextasdesired.Sincethisparagraphstyleappliestothe
entireparagraph,ifyouwishtochangethefontoritscoloronlyforthedropcap,youwillneedtodothisfromtheProperties
palettebyhighlightingletterandediting.
Arecommendationtoconsideristhatinadditionyouedittheremainderofthefirstwordoftheparagraphsothatitisinsmall
caps.InthecaseofthefirstwordbeinganarticlesuchasAorThe,thenalsomakethenextwordsmallcaps.TheProperties
palettehasasettingforsmallcaps,butafewfontswillalsohaveasmallcapsstyle,themorepreferablealternative.Notethe
differenceintheexamplesbelow.
Afinalnoteofcautionaboutdropcapsdon'toverusethem.Donotuseyourdropcapstyleineveryparagraphofbodytext,
maybeonlythefirstparagraphofamultiparagraphormultipagearticle.Forthisreasonmakeaseparatemodifiedversionwith
dropcapsofyourmainbodytextparagraphstyle,soyouapplyitsparingly.
Ligaturesareaspecialglyphcombiningcertaincombinationsofadjacentletters,suchas""forexample.Inordertousethese,
youmusthavethesespecialglyphsinyourchosentypeface.Whiletheycanbeentereddirectlyifyourkeyboardallows,ifyou
knowtheUnicodevalue,pressCtrl+Shift+U,thenenterthe4digitUnicodenumber(suchas00e6for).Otherwise,youcan
fromthemenuInsert>Glyph,thenfindyourglyphbythatmethod.Onceyoufindit,noticethatScribusshowsatooltipwiththe
Unicodevalueyoumightusethenexttime.
Oldstylenumerals,typicallysetbelowthebaseline,areanuncommonglyph,sothereforeyoumustseewhetheryourchosen
fontincludesthese.Fromthemenu,Insert>Glyph.
ThesettingsforsuperscriptsandsubscriptsarefoundinFile>Preferences>Typography.Hereyouhavetwosettings,onefor
displacement,theotherforpercentagescalingoftheletterornumber.Thereisonlyonesettingallowedforeach,sothatthiswill
beappliedgloballyforallinstances.
Quotesandapostrophesrequirespecialattention.Thesearenotthesimilarcharacterswhichyoumightenterfromyour
keyboard,butrather,specifictypographiccurvedforms.Therearespecificleftandrightversions,andeachlanguageusesits
ownversionsofthese.IfyouareimportinganODTfile,forexample,theseconversionsmayhavealreadybeenmade.Otherwise,
youshouldconvertthesewithInsert>Quote,whereyouwillseethefullrangeofpossiblechoices.Thereisalsoanincluded
script,Autoquote,whichyoumayfindusefulforautomaticallyconvertingtypewriterquotestotypographicalquotes.
Typographicalspaces
IfyoulookatthelistwhichyouseewithInsert>Space,youmaybesurprisedatthelargenumberofdifferentchoicesyouhave
forsomethingas"simple"asaspace.Twowhicharecommonlyinusearethinspacesandnonbreakingspaces.Whenyou
wantthinspaces,unfortunatelythisisamanualoperation,whereyoumustinserteach,oneatatime.Youmightusethisasa
manualformofmicrotypography.
Fornonbreakingspaces,youhaveapowerfultoolatyourdisposal,whichyoucanapplywithExtras>ShortWords.Beforeusing
it,youshouldcheckFile>Preferences>ShortWords,whereunderyourchosenlanguageyouwillfindalistofshortwordsor
abbreviationswhichwillbesearchedforandtheruleapplied,suchasintheFrenchexamplesbelow.Forexample,if"Dr."is
encountered,thepluginensuresthatanonbreakingspaceisplacedbetweenthetitleandtheperson'sname,sothesearenot
inadvertentlyseparatedbyalinebreak.Similarly,anumberfollowedby"kg"wouldnotseparatethenumberanditsunits.
Thestructureofthelististhateachentrymustbefollowedbyacomma,andfurthermoremustincludeaspacewhichwill
indicatewherethenonbreakingspaceistobeplaced.Therefore,weseeaspaceafterDr.,andaspacebeforekg.Ifyoudon't
agreewithanyoftheseyoucanchangethem,butdon'tforgettosaveyouredits.Youcanofcoursealsochoosenottoapplythis
pluginwithExtras>ShortWords.
IfyoudomakewhatyouconsiderimportantchangesinthisfileinPreferences,youmightsharethisonhttp://bugs.scribus.net
sothatothersmightmakethesamemodifications.
Alignmentandjustification
Thereare5kindsofjustificationoralignmentinScribus.Justbelowthebuttonforlinespacingaretheiconbuttonsforselecting
youralignment,mostlyintuitive,exceptforthefifthone,whichwewillexplainhere.YoumayselectjustificationeitherinProperties
>TextorinEdit>Styles,orinStoryEditor.
Leftalignmentthisissuitablefortitlesandheadings.
Rightalignmentmightbeusedforanauthor'snameafterablockoftext.
Justificationthisreferstoarrangingthelettersonthelinesofparagraphssothattheyfillthelineedgetoedge.Inprinting,we
maydescribejustificationaccordingtothewidthofacolumn,forexample,wemightsaythatthetextisjustifiedforxpicas.The
iconforfulljustificationdepictshowthetextfillsthelinestotheleftandrightedges,withtheexceptionofthelastline,which
alignseithertotheleftorright,dependingonthedirectionappropriateforagivenlanguage.Thisisthetypicalmethodusedfor
magazinesandnewspapers,andallowsforeasylegibilityandreadability.Columnsoftexthavesomethingofavisualmonotony,
whichhelpsoneseetheinformationinblockshighlightedbythetitlesorheadings.Wecanalsoappreciatethatfromfull
justificationcomesthetermtypographicalgray,torefertoasenseoftheoveralldarknessorgraynessofablockoftext.Thus
theseareasofvisualcalmandgrayappearanceallowtheheadingsandgraphicstostandoutandcaptureourattention.
Thethreeexamplesbelowillustrateusesoffulljustification.Noticethatintheexamplewherethereisnoindentationthatextra
spaceiscreatedbetweenparagraphsthiscanonlybeachievedwiththecreationofParagraphStyles,whichisonlypossible
throughtheStyleEditor.Inaddition,indentationorhangingindentationcanonlybecreatedwithParagraphStylesintheStyle
Editor.
Threevariantsusingjustifiedtext

Toobtainahangingindentationsuchasinthelastexample(Compositionensommaire),youmustfirstindentthebodyofthe
paragraphsomepositivevalue,thenindentthefirstlineoftheparagraphsomenegativeamount,whoseabsolutevalueisno
greaterthantheindentationofthebody.
Itisessentialtofamiliarizeyourselfwiththesevarioussettings,sothatyoucancombinethemasneededtoachieveyourdesired
effect.Forexample,insituationswhereyoumayplaceaquoteorsummaryinablockoftext,youmaywishtosetapartwithsome
extraspacebeforeandaftertheparagraph.
Thefifthchoice,forcedjustification,issomethingofatrapforsomepeople.Inthiscase,eventhelastlineofyourparagraphis
fullyjustified,createdasolidrectangularblockoftext.Thismightbeusedforsomespecialeffect,butrarelyusedinpractice.
Numberedlist,bulletedlists
Scribushasfacilityforcreatinglists,butthismustbesetupmanually,usingaParagraphStyle.Theexamplebelowrequired
settingfourparameters:settingtwotabs,indentationofthefirstline,andfurtherindentationofthebodyoftheparagraph.Details
followthegraphic.
Toaccomplishthis,firstaddtwotabsforthenumber(ineditcontentsmode,youcansimplyclickinthecoloredrulerspace).
Next,openthestyleeditor(Edit>Styles),andmodifythefirsttabtobearighttab,sothatthenumbersalignproperly.Thenset
thetextbodyindentationforproperalignment.Youwilllikelyneedtoplaywithsettingstogetthelookyouwish.Youcancreate
multilayeredlistsbyaddingnewstyles,asshownbelow.
Forbulletedlists,youwilluseabulletglyphinsteadofnumbers.Chooseonefromasymbolfont.
Linespacing
Thetraditionalprintingtermforlinespacingisleading,sinceitinvolvedaddingleadspacerstoachievethedesiredalignment.
Scribushasthreelinespacingmodes.
Fixedlinespacingusesaspecificwidthwhichcanbesetbytheuser,andremainsconstantregardlessoffontsize.
Automaticlinespacingadjuststhespaceaccordingtothesizeofthefont.Thedefaultsettingforthisis120%ofthefontsize,but
thiscanbeadjustedinFile>Preferences>Typography.Noticethatthissettingisactuallywhatwillbeaddedto100%.Because
ofthevariabilityoftheresultaccordingtofontsize,professionalstypicallydonotusethistypeofspacing.
AligntoBaselineGridisasettingyouwillfindinFile>Preferences>Guides,inthelowerrightcornerofthedialog.Thisisa
documentwidesetting,whichforcestextalignmentforallframesonallpageswhereitisusedforthechosenfontorstyle.There
isonlyonepossiblesettingforanentiredocument.
Intheexamplebelowyouseethebaselinegrid,whichyoucanshoworhidewithView>ShowBaselineGrid,andseethatthe
bodytextalignstothegrid.Incontrast,theheadingstyleisnotsettoaligntotheGrid,soyoucanexpecttomakesome
adjustmentsforproperspacingaboveandbelow.Whatthisdemonstratesistheflexibilityyouhavecombiningfontsizesand
styles.
ThesettingDefaultwidthforspacewilladjustthespacebetweengroupsofwords.Whenusedinaheading,itcanreduce
excessivespaceandthusemphasizethecontrastforthetitle.inthebodyofaparagraphcanadjustthetypographicalgray
appearance,oradjustforwidowandorphanlines.
Trackingisusedforfinetuningthespacebetweenindividualletters,perhapsevenjusttwoparticularletters.Itiscommonly
usedinlargesizeheadings,wherethespacewhichwasdesignedforamuchsmallerfontsizebecomesdistortedasone
enlargesthefont.Onceyouusefontsizesgreaterthan16points,thiswillbecomemoreobvious.
TheaboveexampleshowstextinLiberationSansBold80pts.Ontop,automaticlinespacingat120%wasused,andno
adjustmentsweremadetobetweenwordandbetweenletterspacing.Thebottomversionshowsanadjustmenttofixed
linespacingof73pts,andthedefaultwidthforspaceadjustedto5%.Bringingthistoaoverallmorecompactappearance
causesagreateremphasisofthistext.
Toadjusttracking,gotoProperties>Text>AdvancedSettingsandlookfortheiconprominentlyshowingAV.Thecorrectsetting
iswhatyoufindmostpleasinginappearance,andthereforeishighlysubjective.Bewarethatsettingsthatworkbestona
particularfontataparticularsizecannotbegeneralizedforotherfontsandothersizes,soeachtimeyoumustagainadjustto
yourpreference.
TouseDefaultwidthforspaceyouwilltypicallybehighlightingtextyouwishtoadjust.
ForTrackingyouwillbemorelikelyplacingthecursorbetweentwoletters,sincethisisusuallyusedonlywhereneeded,andas
muchasneededineachplace.
Multilingualdocuments:whatcanandcan'tScribusdo?
It'scertainlypossibletocreatedocumentswithamixtureoflanguages,notjustonthesamepagebuteveninthesameframe.
Therearesomelimitations,however,whichweindicatebelow.
Althoughthereissupportforrighttoleftlanguages,ScribushassevereproblemswithArabic.Individualglyphscan
certainlybeenteredintoatextframeusinganappropriatefont,buttheproblemcomesdowntovariousligatureglyphs
andterminationlines,andthishasnotyetbeenresolved.
Otherlanguageswrittenrighttoleftcanalsobemanaged,butScribusmaynotappropriatelyhandlediacriticalmarks.
Thereforemakesometestsbeforebeginningsomelargedocumentwithsuchlanguages.
Indiclanguageshavecomplexchangeswhichoccurwithcertainlettersequencesandcombinations,andthereforealso
arenotyetsupported.
SomegoodnewsisthatlanguagesusingtheCyrillicalphabetsuchasRussian,norarethereproblemswithSlavicand
othereasternEuropeanlanguageswhichuseanextendedLatinalphabet.
Vietnamese(TingVit),becauseofitsmanydiacritics,canpresentsomeproblems,butScribusshouldbeableto
handlethissoutheastAsianlanguage,sinceitiswrittenwithamodifiedLatincharacterset.Themainissuewillbe
havingtheseglyphsinyourchosenfont,sosometestingisnecessarytoavoidproblems.
AfricanlanguageswhichuseaLatinalphabetshouldposenodifficultieswithScribus.Hereagain,onemustmakesure
thatachosenfontcanappropriatelyhandletherequiredglyphs.WithOTFfonts,itmaybepossibletoaddcertain
necessaryglyphsifyouhavetheappropriatesoftware,andthefontlicenseallowsyoutodoso.
Inanyofthesituationswhereyoumayreacharoadblockasindicatedabove,youmaybeabletocreateaworkaroundwitha
wordprocessorwhichcanmanagetheselanguages,thencreateaPDForotherimagefilewhichyoucanuseinScribus.Thisis
certainlynotideal,butmayrepresenttheonlypracticalapproach.
Insomecases,youmaybecreatingadocumentinseverallanguageversions,withnotwolanguagesbeingpresentinthe
sameversion.Hereyouhavetwowaysofmanagingthis.Thefirstwouldbetomakeacopy,thenreplacetheoriginaltextwiththe
textusingthenewlanguage,andthusyoucreatemorethanonedocument.
Theotherpossibilityifyouhavethoughtaboutitahead,istoplacethedifferentlanguageseachontheirownlayerbutduplicating
layers,thenchangingthetextontheclonedlayer.WhenyouarereadytocreatethePDF,makeonlythedesiredlayervisibleand
printableasyouexport.
It'salsoworthnotingherethattheScribusinterfacehasbeentranslatedto40languages,andthenumbercontinuestogrow.
SomeAfricanlanguageswhichScribuscanmanage
Hause
Fulfulde
Zama
Tamajaq
Kanuri
Gourmanchma
Tubu
andsomeothers
VariousIndoEuropeanlanguagesScribuscanmanage
French
English
German
Spanish
Italian
Polish
Russian
andmanyothers
Automaticpagenumbering
Scribuscaninsertpagenumbersautomatically.Todothisintherecommendedway,youshouldcreateaMasterPage(Edit>
MasterPage).Insertatextframeandpositionwhereyouwantyourpagenumbertobe.GotoEditContentsmodebyclickingthe
icononthetoolbar(theonewithacapitalAandacursorbesideit),orsimplydoubleclickinsidetheframe.NowInsert>
Character>PageNumberNowchoosethefontanditssize,colorandanyothersettings,plusaddanyothertextyouwishto
accompanythenumber,forexamplethenameofthepublication.Ifneeded,youcanthencopytheMasterPageandmodifyfor
rightorleftpages.ClosethedialogandthepagenumberwillappearoneverypagewherethatMasterPageisused.
Hyphenation
Hyphenationofwordsmightbecompletelyavoidedforsomekindsofpublications.However,ifyouareusingfulljustification,you
maynotbeabletoavoidlargewhitespacesbetweenwordswithouthyphenation,thusbreakingupthesmoothtypographical
grayappearanceyouwouldliketoachieve.Youwillfindthereader'seyeisirresistiblydrawntothesewhitespaces,disrupting
theflowofreadingthetext.Unlesstheyareexcessive,usuallyhyphenationposeslessproblemwithsmoothreadingthanlarge
spaceswithinaline.Therefore,mostpublicationsusehyphenationtosomeextent.
Tousehyphenation,firstgotoFile>Preferences>HyphenationandSpelling.YoushouldleavetheboxesHyphenation
SuggestionsandHyphenateAutomaticallyDuringTypingunchecked,toavoiddialogsrepeatedlycomingupandchanges
needingtobemade.Incontrast,theotherselectionsabouthyphenationlanguage,smallestwordtohyphenate,andlimitations
onthenumberofconsecutivelinestobehyphenatedshouldbeeditedtoyourneeds.
Thehyphenationlanguagespeaksforitself.Ingeneral,thesmallestwordtohyphenatemightbe5or6lettersformostuses,but
inacolumnoftextwhichisquitewideorinasmallamountoftextyoumightincreasethisto7to10.Thenumberofconsecutive
linestohyphenateisagainstraightforward,andshouldbeadjustedtothecontextofyourlayout.
SomethingelseworthknowingisthatScribusdoesnotincludehyphenationsettingsinParagraphStyles.Itmightseemthatthis
meansthatyoucannotusedifferentsettingsfordifferentframesinadocument,butitispossible,albeitabitchallenging.Once
hyphenationhasbeenappliedtoagivenframe,itwillnotchangeeventhoughyoumightsubsequentlychangesettingsin
Preferences.Themainproblemcanbecoordinatingthesettingsforthedifferentframes.Ifyoumightsubsequentlyundo
hyphenationthensetitagain,oredittextinapreviouslyhyphenatedframe,currentsettingswillbeapplied.Althoughthiscan
createitsowndifficulties,atleastthemethodcanbeadapted.It'salsopossibletoaddexceptionstohyphenationasyoulikein
thePreferencessettings.
Onceyouhaveyourrulesandsettings,youthenapplythoserulesforyourframeswithExtras>HyphenateText.
WidowsandOrphans
Lateinyourproductionworkflowiswhenyoucanbegintotackleproblemssuchaswidowsandorphans,thosefragmentsatthe
head(widow)orfoot(orphan)ofsomepageorcolumn.
Thereasonforwaitinguntilsomelatestageisthatyouwanttohaveaccomplishmostifnotallofyourtextedits,sincewidowand
orphansmaycomeandgoasyouaddorchangetext.Sometimesevenaverysmallchangeintextproducesdramaticchanges
inlayoutofthetext.Intheend,youhavelittletogainbyrushingthisstage.
Scribusdoesnotautomaticallymanagewidowsandorphans,yetithasallthetoolsyouneedtodealwiththem.Dependingon
thetypeofpublication,youmightusecoarserorfineradjustmentstobringawidowtothepreviouscolumnorsendanorphanto
thenext.Ifyourdocumentisinajournal,wherethelifeoftheinformationisshort,appearancemaybelesscriticalthaninabook
orotherpublicationdesignedforalongtimeofuse.
First,checktoseethattexthasbeenalreadybeenhandledreasonablywell,hyphenationapplied,sothatyoudon'thave
bigwhitespacesorwhitespaceriversanywhere.Fixthetypographicalgraybeforedealingwithwidowsandorphans.
Next,checkthetextbeforeandafterwidowandorphanproblems,lookingforplaceswhereeitheradjustingtrackingor
whitespacebetweenwordsmighthavetheleastimpact.Howeverthisisdone,thegoalistomaintainthedesired
typographicalgrayappearancenosenseinsolvingoneproblembycreatinganother.Selectingaparagraphwhichhas
theleastamounttextonthelastline,usetrackingandspaceadjustmentbetweenwordstoeliminatethatshortending
line.
Ifthisisunsuccessful,othermethodsshouldbeusedbutwithgreatrestraint.UnderProperties>Text>Advanced
Settings,decreasethewidthofcharacters,perhapsnomorethan1to2%less.Foraparagraphsizedamountoftext,
evensuchsmallchangesshouldaffectlengthoflinesyetnotbenoticeablebythereader.
Incaseyoudon'twishtogoasfaraschangingthescalingoftheglyphs,thenaddanemptylinetomoveanorphantothe
nextcolumnorpage.Thisemptywhitespacewillbelessdistractingthantheorphan.Addacarriagereturnorpagebreak
beforetheorphan.
Donotadjustthelinespacingexceptasalastresort.Althoughnewspaperssometimesusethismethod,thisisquite
unacceptableinabook.YouwouldhavetounselectAligntoBaselneGridinordertoaccomplishthis.
Editthetextcontent.Thiscanworkwellifitisacceptabletotheauthor.
Addoradjustgraphicalelementsoradjustcaptionsandborders.
Seeifthereareheadingswhichmightbesplitintotwolinestopushtheorphan.Conversely,reduceatwolineheadingto
oneinthecaseofawidow.
Finally,workonthewhitespace.Perhapsthespaceaboveorbelowaheadingcanbeadjustedintheirstyleswithspace
beforeandafterparagraphs.Thetotalofbothshouldmatchtheleadingvalue.
Textinanirregularspace
YourcreativityhasfewboundswithScribus.Textframescantakeanyshape,andthusarenotrequiredtoberectangular.This
willbediscussedinAdvancedTypography.Beforemovingontothatchapter,realizethatScribushasmanymoreoptionsupits
sleeve.Youcancreateshapesthenusethemastextframes.First,insertashapeorpolygon(Insert>InsertShapeorInsert>
InsertPolygon),thenfromthemenuchooseItem>Convertto...>Textframe.Afterward,inserttext.Youcaneveninserttextinto
alargelettershapebycreatingalargeletter,thenConvertto...>Outlines,thenConvertto...>TextFrame,theninsertingtext.For
thebestresults,choosethesizeoftheoriginalletteraswellasthesizeofthetextcarefully.Onceyouseesuchexamples,the
possibilitiesareendless.
Forbestresultsinthissecondexample,youmightconsidermakingthebordercolorNone.
Textonapath
TocompletethisintroductiontotextcapabilitieswithScribus,hereisasimpleeffectwithinfinitevariationsScribuscanputa
attachalineoftexttoapath.Beginbymakingatextframewithasmallamountoftext.NowcreateaBeziercurveofsome
arbitraryshape.(SeetheGlossaryformoreinformationonBeziercurves.)WithShifthelddown,selectthetextframe,thenthe
curve,sothatbothareselected.Finally,selectItem>AttachTexttoPathfromthemenu,andtheresultsareautomatic.What
couldbemoresimplethanthat?
What'smore,youcaneditthetextorthecurveevenaftertheyarecombined.ToeditthetextyoucanuseStoryEditor.Toeditthe
shape,selectthepath,thenfromProperties>ShapeselectEdit.
Thisbringsupthefollowingdialogtoedittheshape.
Noweditasyouwish,thenwhenfinished,clickEndEditing.
Textflowandtypography
Bydefault,framesinScribushavearectangularshape.Thisiswhatyouwantinmostcases,andiswelladaptedtocreatinga
structuredcomposition.Thus,onecaneasilyplacetextandimagessidebyside.
Ifyouwishtoincreasethedynamismofthelayout,framescanbemadetooverlap:
Youmayaddatextframetohighlightsomepoint.
Youmayselectsometext,thenplaceitinaseparateframeforemphasis.
Youwishtoputtheimageinsidethespacewheretextalreadyexists.
Whatyoufindinthesecases,isthatthenewframeisontopoftextcontent,andwhatyoureallywantisforthetexttoflowaround
theframe,whichmayhaveanirregularshape.
TextFlow
Exceptforspecialcases,textflowisappliedtotheobject,image,text,orgeometricshape,whichisoverlyingthetextonsome
levelabovethetext.
Enablingtextflow
Remember,thisisappliedtotheobjectabovethetextwhichmustflowaround,soselectthatupperlevelobject.Now,inthe
Propertiespalette,selecttheShapetab.
Yourfouroptions:
UseFrameShapeusestheboundariesoftheframeyoucreatedintheobject.
UseBoundingBoxwillbethesameastheFrameShapeforanunrotatedrectangle,butinthecaseofanirregularshape
orrotatedrectangle,theBoundingBoxdelimitsthehorizontalandverticalboundariesofalltheelementsoftheobject,
includingcontrolpoints.
UseContourLineusesaneditableshapewhichinitiallyisthesameastheframeshape.
UseImageClipPathusestheclippingpathofanimage,whenoneexists.Notonlymustthepathexist,butitmusthave
beenactivatedintheExtendedPropertiesoftheimage.
Sinceit'simportanttoapplytextflowtoaframeonahigherlevel,it'simportanttorememberthatasyouaddframes,theyare
placedonalevelabovethelastframecreated.
HereweseeinthissmallpartoftheXYZtabofPropertieshowtoadjustthelevelofanobject.Theleftupanddownarrowsshift
byonelevel,therightarrowseitherallthewaytothetoportothebottom.Thenumberbesidethearrowsindicatesthelevelofthe
selectedobject,1beingthelowestlevel.
Addingspacearoundanimage
Bydefault,textflowwouldbeimmediatelyagainsttheedgeoftheimageortextframe,butinmostcasesyouwillwantsome
"breathingroom",suchasyouseeintheexamplepageabove.
1. ClickEditintheShapetab.YoushouldthenseebluedotsappearatthecornerstomarktheNodes.
2. SelectEditContourLineatthebottomofthedialog.
3. Adjustthespinboxwiththepercentage(10%here),toyourdesiredamountofchangeinsize.
4. Nowclickthebuttontoincreasethesizeofthecontourlinethetooltipforthebuttonsays,EnlargetheSizeofthePath
byshown%.Thebuttonshowsarectanglewitharrowspointingoutward.Ifyouwishyoucanrepeatclickingtogetthe
effectyouneed,thenclickEndEditing.
Ifyouaregoingtouseaborderforyourframeasyouseehere,youwillwanttoaddsomespaceaboveandtotheleftofthetext
insidetheframe.GotoProperties>Text>ColumnsandTextDistances,andadjustthedistancesasneeded.
Addacaption
Scribusdoesn'tyetsupporttextflowaroundagroupofobjects.Ifyouwanttexttoflowaroundanimage,thenaddacaptiontothe
image,hereareacoupleofworkaroundmethods:
Placeatransparenttextframebehindtheimage,thensettextflowaroundthenewframe,positioningtheimageoveritto
getyourdesiredeffect.
Placeaframeinsidetheimageframe,enlargingtheimageframesothatthecaptionisinsideanyborder.Youmayhave
todisableAdjustImagetoFrametodothis.
Changingtheshapeofframes
Youmaynoticethatwhenyouattempttochangethesizeofthecontourlinethatthedesiredeffectdoesn'ttakeplace.Inthis
case,UndoyoureditsandmakesureyouhavecheckedEditContourLineintheEditdialog.Alsochecktomakesureyouhave
selectedUseContourLineforthetextflowsetting.
Shouldyouwishtochangetheshapeofframes,thisisaccomplishedwiththebuttonsintheupperpartoftheEditShapedialog.
Thefunctionsherearecomplexandrequiresomepracticetomaster,buthereissomeinformationtogetyoustarted.
Thefirstbuttoninthetoprowallowsyoutomovethenodes(bluedots),andyoucandothisdirectlywiththemouse,orin
theXPosandYPosspinboxeslowerdowninthedialog.
Thesecondbuttonallowsyoutoaddnodestotheshape.
Thethirdallowsdeletionofnodes.
Thefirstbuttoninthesecondrowallowsforeditingofcontrolpointsforthenodes.Controlpointswithbecoloredpink
andadjustthelinebetweennodessothatitcurvesbetweenthem.
MoreinformationabouteditingshapescanbefoundintheonlinemanualthatcomeswithScribus.
Typographicconsiderations
WheneveryounarrowacolumnoftextyouruntheriskofthevariousproblemspointedoutinthechapteronTypography.Referto
thatchapterwherethepossiblewaysofadjustingyourtextarecoveredindetail.
Colormanagement
Soonerorlater,anyonewhoworkswithlayoutandthegraphicalworkflowwillbecomeconcernedaboutthecolorrenderingofa
documentonceitisactuallyprinted.Youneedtobecomefamiliarwiththeconstraintswhichyourdocumentisunder,depending
ontheformatinwhichitwillbepublished,andwhatsortsofproblemsmaysurfaceduringprinting.Inordertominimizevarious
problems,usageofcolormanagementisadvised.Thisinvolvesaseriesofsteps,inanattempttolimitvariabilityinanticipation
ofexpectedproblems.Atthecoreofcolormanagementarecolorprofiles,commonlyknownasICCprofiles,whichaimtoactas
abridgebetweencolorspaces.
InScribus,colormanagementisaccessibleviaFile>Preferences>ColorManagementforglobalchangestoactasyour
defaults,andthroughFile>DocumentSettings>ColorManagementtobeappliedonlytothecurrentlyopendocument.
Profileacquisition
Thecolorsofthebitmaporvectorimagefilearetheinitialsourceofcolordata.Inphotography,thecameraisresponsiblefor
transmittingtheinformationabouttheprofilealongwiththeimage.Ifascannedimageisused,thescannerwillsupplythis
information.Foravectorimage,thesoftwarewhichcreatedthevectorimageshouldincludethisinformationinthefile.Wecan
seethecomplexitycreatedwhenwebeginwithaphotographfromacamera(oneprofile),whichisthenprinted(asecond
profile),thenscanned(athirdprofile).Profilemanagementisusuallydesignedtopreservetheprofileoftheoriginalsource
document.
RGBisubiquitous
Oneofthereasonsforthisisthatitallowsforaverylargerangeofcolorstoberepresented,thuspermittingafinelytuned
adjustmentofcolor.Insomecases,CMYKmaybepreferred,especiallywhenthisisknowntobethefinaloutputofthe
publishingprocess.
Itisalsopossible,forexamplewhenutilitizingascanner,tocreateyourowncustomprofiles,inordertohavegreatercontrolover
thefinalresults.Thereisamethodologytothis,anditrequiresspecialequipmentandexpertisetobedoneproperly.
ProfilesinScribus
InScribus,theprofilesaremanagedinthePreferencesColorManagementtabasshownabove.ForRGBimages,forexample,
thereisadropdownlistofchoicesforstandardcertifiedprofilesthatwillbeappliedtoimageswhichdonotincludeaprofile.
ScribussupportsCMYKprofilesinthesameway,allowingachoiceofvariousISOstandardprofiles,oracustomprofileifyou
prefer.
Thesimplestwaytoaddyourownprofilesistoplacethemwhereyouroperatingsystemautomaticallystoresthem.For
Windows,thisis\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color.Macuserscaneitherusethesharedirectory
/Library/ColorSync/Profiles,orforthosewhodonothaveadministratorrights,/Users/<username>/LIbrary/ColorSync/Profiles.On
Linuxdistributionsthedirectoryiseither/usr/share/color/icc,orforthosewithoutadministratorrights
/home/<username>/.color/icc.Inthesedirectories,ICCprofileswillbeautomaticallyloadedwhenyoulaunchScribus.
Themonitorprofile
Ideally,forthebestcolorcontrol,workingonscreenshouldincludecolorcalibrationofthedisplayofyourmonitor.Bydefinition,
thisistheRGBcolorspace,anddemonstrateswhyhavingtheproperICCprofilesissoimportant.
Calibrationisaccomplishedwiththeuseofhardwaretoreadthedisplayandsoftwaretomakeadjustments.Themethodwill
generateaprofilespecificfortheparticularmonitorinitsparticularenvironmentthebrightnessoftheworkspaceisalsoa
factor.Thisprofileisthenappliedtothemonitor.Scribus,foritspart,allowsselectionofthisprofileintheMonitorsettingin
Preferences.Bydefault,theprofileofthemanufacturerwouldbeapplied,ifavailable.
Howtheprofileisused
MonitorprofilesarenotintendedtooverridetheembeddedICCprofileofanimage,butrathertoadjustthedisplayinorderto
representmostaccuratelytheactualcolorsoftheobjectsintheimage.Typicallythestandardwhiteofamonitorwillbetoo
bright.Thecolorsandbrightnessoftheroomarounduswillalsoaffectus,dependingonwhetheritmightbeasunnyorcloudy
day.Thus,tryingtokeeptheworkspaceenvironmentaneutralgraycolorcanbeimportantforconsistentwork.
ColorProfiles
Scribushaschosentodistinguishimageprofilesfromcolorprofiles.Thismakesitpossibletoutilizemoreambitiousbitmap
RGBprofileswhiletheuserfocusesonadifferentRGBprofilebettersuitedtothedemandsoflayoutandprint(intextand
shapes,forexample).
JustastherearetwodropdownmenusforchoosingprofilesforRGBandCMYKimages,therearetwoforRGBandCMYKsolid
colorsintheColorManagementdialoginPreferences.Thefirstwouldbeusedforoutputintendedforthescreenorweb,andthe
latterforactualprintingonpaper.
Rendering
Profileswillhardlybeusefulunlessyouhaveawaytosimulatethedocumentasitwillappearinthepublicationmedium.This
wayyoucanpreviewtheworktoseethelimitationsofitsprofileandcorrectanyproblems.
Simulatedconversion
Profilescontaincolorinformation.Thisisimportantsincetheoriginoftheimagewilldeterminehowtheimageandsolidcolors
willbeconvertedtotheappropriatecolorspace.
Conversionbetweencolorspacesisnotmadedirectly,evenwhenthosecolorspacesaresimilar.Insteadthereisan
intermediarysteptothewidestpossiblemode:L*a*b..Therefore,anRGBprofilewillfirstbeconvertedtoL*a*bbefore
subsequentconversiontoanotherRGBorCMYKprofile.Incomparingtwodifferentprofiles,therewillbevaluesinoneprofile
whichfallcompletelyoutsideoftheotherprofile.Thus,youmustadjusttheentireprofileandnotjustthevalueswhichdonot
match.
Simulatingthemaximalinkcoverage
Aprofilecanalsobeusedtolimittheanalogresultfromadigitalconversion.Forexample,andintenseblackonscreenisnota
problem.However,whenprinted,adirectconversiontoCMYKvaluesmightendupwithsuperimposedinklayersmadeupof
75%cyan,65%magenta,85%yellow,and90%black,resultinginexcessiveinkandsmearing.
Topreventthissmudging,profileswilllimittheamountofinkcoverage(TACfortotalareacoverage)thatasheetofpapercan
accommodate.Forsomesituations,thismaybe240%TAC.Europeanstandardsarelimitedto320%or300%.
Renderingintents
Thereareseveralrenderingmodessuitableformediapublication.Aswithprofilemanagement,Scribusdistinguishesimage
profilesfromsolidcolorprofiles.Thus,youmayusetheprofilebestsuitedtoarenderingmodefortheparticularobject.
Renderingmodesallowforascreenpreviewofthecolorconversionwhichwilllateroccurwhenyouexportyourdocument.There
arefourmodes.
Perceptibleattemptstoconvertbetweenprofilestopreservetherelationshipofsimilarcolors,avoidingthecreationof
tonalbands.Itisrecommendedforprintpublications.
RelativeColorimetricfocusesmainlyonmatchingcolorscomparedtotheoriginal,calibratingthewhitepointforthe
outputpaper.Itcouldalsobesuitedforprintpublication.
AbsoluteColorimetricalsoattemptstomatchcolorscomparedtotheoriginal,exceptthereisnowhitepoint
compensation.Therefore,itwillbebestsuitedtospotcolors,andnotusefulforimages.
Saturation,asthenameimplies,willabsolutelyrespecttheoriginalcolors,attheexpenseoftransitions.Justaswith
AbsoluteColorimetric,itshouldbeusedonlyforspotcolors,logos,orsymbols.
SimulatePrinterontheScreen
Youcanalsodisplayanonscreenpreviewofwhatwillactuallybeexportedtotheparticularmedia,especiallyinregardto
printingequipment.Itispossibletocustomizethesimulationbyforcingcolortomatchthoseinthecolorspaceoftheprinter
output.BeginbycheckingConvertallcolorstoprinterspace.
CheckMarkColorsoutofGamutinordertoseethecolorswhichmightnotprintcorrectly,usuallybecausetheydonotexistinthe
destinationcolorspace.
UseBlackPointCompensationisanoperationtobalancethecontrastofanimagetocompensateforthemixingofinks.Ina
photograph,forexample,themixtureofblackcorrespondingtothedarkestvalueoftheimagewillbeenhancedbytheCMYK
profile,sothatthemixtureofinksisnotexcessiveatthetimeofprinting.
Appyingcolormanagement
Colormanagementbeginsofcoursewiththeacquisitionorcreationofcompositionalelements,butthetimeofsoftwarelayout
isthemostcriticaltodeterminethecolorprofileswhichwillultimatelybeapplied.
UserPreferencesandsettings
Bydefault,colormanagementisdeterminedinthesettingsinFile>Preferences>ColorManagement.Thesettingsherewillbe
appliedtoallnewlycreatedScribusdocuments.
Sometimes,however,youmaywishtoalterthesettingsforaparticulardocument.Inthatcase,youmightuseFile>Document
Settings>ColorManagementtochangesettingsforaparticulardocumentyouareworkingon.
Youcanalsochangesettingsfromthemainwindow,usingtheEnable/disableColorManagementicontotherightinthebottom
toolbar,nexttotheEnable/disablePreviewModeicon.Ifyouclickholdthecolormanagementicon,youseeabuttontoclickto
ConfigureCMS.
Youcan,ofcourse,choosenottoapplycolormanagement,butthismaycausesignificantdifferencesbetweenwhatyousee
onscreenandintheprintedoutput.
Whatprofilesshouldyouuse?
Profilesareasnumerousasthenumberofdifferentpiecesofequipmentusedtodisplayorprintdocuments.Acommercial
printermaysometimescreatetheirownprofilesfortheirworkflowandinfrastructure,orcallonspecialiststogeneratethem.
Manufacturerswillusuallyprovideaprofilewiththedevicetheyproduce.Generally,itisadvisedtousethesemanufacturer
providedprofiles,butyoumustconsiderthatwithtime,theaccuracyoftheprofilemayshift.Monitorscreensinparticular,may
showchangesincolorsandbrightnessovertheworkingday(fromheatingofcomponents)andovermonths(fromwear).
Demandingpeoplewillthereforerecalibrateprofilesusingmeasurementdevicestoreflectthesechanges.Someequipment
comeswithadaptivesoftwaretoadjustsettingstorealtimehardwarechanges.Argyllfreesoftwareanditsderivativesuchas
dispcalGUIcancreateprofiles.
Therearealsostandardprofileswhichserveasglobalreferencesintheabsenceofspecificones.Thesearegenerally
producedbyconsortia,officialgroupswhodetermine,basedonmediaandtheavailableworldinks,genericprofilesfrom
specificationsissuedbytheICC(InternationalColorConsortium).ForEurope,theECI(EuropeanColorInitiativeeci.org)
publishesRGBandCMYKcolorprofilesadaptedtotheEuropeanworkflowbasedonthespecificationsofFograstandardsand
ISOrelatedtocolor.ProfilesavailablefromtheECIarealsoavailableinaversionlimitingmaximuminkcoverageto300%.
Theseprofilesmakeanattempttostandardizeprocedures,andmaybeareliablebasisforworkintheabsenceofinformation
fromtheprinter.
Thedifficultyofmultimediapublication
ThereisgreatdifficultywithprofilingadocumenttobepostedontheWeb.Whileitisrelativelyeasyandrecommendedto
previewadocumentmadewithcolorprofilescorrespondingtoaparticularprintingmaterial,youcannotanticipatethescreen
renderingofadocumentwhichwillbedisplayedonahugerangeofscreensaccessingaWebpage.
Notonlyarethereawiderangeofkindsofhardwareforvisualdisplay,butsomemaynothaveaccurateprofileswithwhichthey
operate.YoumustacceptthatadocumentcreatedwithScribuswillnotnecessarilydisplayaccuratelywhereveritisviewed.The
bestapproachisthereforetorelyontheprofilesmostcommonlyusedforRGBoutput:sRGBandAdobeRGB.
QualityControl
ThepurposeofqualitycontrolistomakesurethatyourlayoutwillbeexportedtoPDFfollowingcertainlimitationsandfreeof
errorsofvarioustypes,whichisessentialforgraphicdesignproduction.Therearethreetoolswhichhelpus:PreflightVerifier,
PDFExport,andtheSearchReplacefunction.ThePreflightVerifierisconfigurableinFile>Preferences>PreflightVerifier,andit
looksforthefollowing:
Missingcharacters
Objectswhichareplacedsomewhereoffthepage
Textoverflow
Transparency
Missingimages
Resolutionofimages
PDFfilescontainedinthelayout
PresenceofGIFimages
VerificationofPDFAnnotationsandFields
Ignoringunprintablelayers
Checkingthedifferencebetweendisplayandprintingoflayers
PreflightVerifierdisplaysadialogwhichwillshoweacherroritdetects,alongwiththerelevantpageandobject.Theadvantage
isthatitveryeasilywilldetectahostoferrorsyourvisualreviewmayeasilymiss,andtakesatmostafewsecondstocomplete.
Onceyouarepastthisinitialscreen,youthenproceedtothenextstep,PDFExport.Thevariousoptionsareexplainedinthe
chapterTheFinalOutput.Forourpurposeshere,wewillsaythatthistakesafewsecondstoruntheexportfunction,andin
somecasesitmayneedtoberepeated.ThismightcomeaboutafteryouexaminethePDFonscreenorinprintedform.
Whatshouldyoucheck?
Everything!Qualitycontrolrequiresakeeneyeandforyoutobementallysharp.IfyoukeepinmindthataScribusdocumentis
reallyasetofinstructionsonhowtobuildaPDFfromvarioussources,youcanrealizetheimportanceofhavingathandallthe
materialsyouneed.Youarealsomindfulofthetechnicalspecificationsforyourlayout,andyouhavealreadybeenchecking,
rechecking,andrerecheckingallofthisasyoucreatethelayout.Inthisfinalcheckweareonceagainreviewingthetechnical
specifications,onapracticallevelthegeometryofthepagesandthecontent.Thisincludesthefollowing:
1. Thenumberofpages
2. Documentformat,withattentiontothemeasurementunits
3. Margins
4. Safetymargins,allowingforthetypeoffinishing,trimming,binding,etc.*
5. Bleed
6. Thecolorspace
7. Thenumberofcolors
8. Theactualcolors(plates)
9. Resolutionofimages
10. Inkcoverage
11. Black**
12. Outputprofiles
13. Thepresenceofallthesources
14. Typographyapplyingstylesandtypographicformatting,gaps,widowandorphans,typographicalgray,hyphenation,and
spaces
15. Enteringcorrections
16. Compliancewiththestylebookasappropriate
17. Compliancewithallparticularrequirementsoftheproject
Ifthedocumentistobeprinted,thefinaltruetestisviewingtheactualprintedoutput.Adocumentcreatedforthescreencanonly
becheckedonscreen.
*Safetymarginsarenottobeconfusedwithdocumentmargins.Thisincludesthetoleranceofthefinishingequipment,
trimmingandbinding,gluing,andperforating.Thiswilldependonthespecificprintingequipment,andshouldhavebeen
checkedatthebeginningofthedesignprocess,sinceitmayaffectthedesignandlayoutofpageelements.Morespecifically,
youdon'twantimportantcontentinareassusceptibletolossduringfinishing.
**Therearemanykindsofblack,andyoumayinfactusedifferentblacksinthesamedocumentandonthesamepage.Once
yourdocumenthasbeenprintedoutinquantity,thesedifferentblacksmaybeincompatibleandatthatpointit'stoolate.Imagine
youhaveaphotowithamarginwhichfadestoblack,yetthisturnsouttobeadifferentblackthanthebackgroundaroundit.An
attemptatasublimetransitionbecomesugly.
Proofreading
Copyeditingandproofreadingarerelatedtasks.Theformerappliestoreviewingthesourcematerialsforaccuracy,grammar,
andcontent.Thelatter,proofreading,asthenameimplies,happensafteryouhavegeneratedaproofofyourworkforafinal
assessment,notonlyoftheissuescheckedduringcopyediting,butalsofonts,layout,andallthevisualaspectsoftheend
product.Youbeginonbadfootingwithyourreaderifyourworkisn'tcoherent,concise,andpleasingtoviewandread.Asit
implies,copyeditingisbestdonebeforeyourcreateyourlayout,setandadjustyourstyles,sincethisisthetimewheneditingof
thecontentiseasiest.Italsoavoidscreatingotherproblemswhichmightchangethelayout,suchaswhenyousignificantlyadd
orremovematerial.
Thishavingbeensaid,youmaystillfindyourselfchangingthecontentintheproofreadingstage.Thechoicesforhyphenation
maybeinappropriateandneedediting.Yousimplymaymisssomegrammaticalerrorsuntilthisfinalstage.Itmaybethatonce
youseethelayoutachangeinthetextcontentmayimprovetheflowoftextordealwithsomeuglinesslikeriversorgapsinthe
linesoftext.Thus,proofreadingisalsoaveryessentialpartoftheeditingprocess.
Whataboutspellchecking?
Scribushasabuiltinspellchecker[Item>CheckSpelling],thoughitadmittedlyisabitcumbersome.Typically,yourword
processingsoftwarewillhaveamucheasiertouseandbetterspellchecker.Evenso,asgoodastheseare,theyarenoterror
free,soitisuptoyoutofindmistakestheseautomatedutilitiesleaveorcreate.
Enteringcorrections
Onceerrorsareidentified,theymustbecorrected.Onasimpleoperativelevel,thisonlyrequiresidentifyinganerror,goingto
EditContentsmode,andthengoingtoandfixingtheerror.Thisseemssimpleenough,butrequiresraptattentionandefficient
visualscanning.
YouhaveatyourdisposalanothertoolinScribusforthistask:SearchReplace.Onceyouhaveselectedatextframe,selectEdit
>Search/Replace.
Theadvantagesincludethefactthatyourerrorswillbefoundveryquicklyandwithoutmistakes.Youcanstartbysimplyentering
thetexttosearchforit'snotnecessarytofillinallthesefields.Immediatelyyouwillbepresentedwiththeappropriatelocation,
thenyoumaychoosetoenterthetexttoreplacetheerror,andchoosetoreplaceoneatatimeorallsubsequenterrorsalso.
Archivingdocuments
Herewe'regoingtodiscussanotheraspectofworkingwithyourdocuments.Yourdocumentanditslayoutconsistsofmaterial
fromavarietyofsources,notjusttheimagesandthetext,butalsotheparticularfontsyoumayhavechosen.Justasit's
importanttoorganizeandplantheseaspectsofyourdocumentbeforeyoubeginyourwork,youmustalsoconsiderhowthese
arebestarchivedandtransferred.Whataretheissues?
Whyarchive?
Tofullyunderstandthepurposes,considerthesepointsandsituations:
ImagesarenotincludedintheScribusfile(exceptforsomesimplegraphics).Scribusonlystoresthepathtotheimage
file,andthisisarelativepath,relatedtothelocationoftheScribusfileonyourcomputer.Onanothercomputer,thismay
beadifferentrelativepath,andespeciallyonScribusrunningondifferentoperatingsystems,thefilestructuremaybe
quitedifferent.IfyoumoveeithertheScribusfileortheimagefile,Scribuswillnotfindtheimage.
Itismostunlikelythattwodifferentcomputerswillhaveallthesamefontsavailable.Thus,someonebringingupyourfile
onadifferentcomputermaygetafontsubstitution,andthelayoutbeseverelydisrupted.
Furthermore,colorprofilesshouldbethesamefromonecomputertoanother,andmayormaynotbeavailable.
Inthearchivingprocess,Scribuscanbringalltheseelementstogether,sothataconcisepathstructureiscreated,withallthe
necessaryelements.
Whereandhowisthisuseful?
SosavingaScribusfileisonlyasmallpartofthisprocess,andthisisquitedifferentfromexporting,whichtransformsthe
documentintosomeothernoneditableformat(atleastnoteditableasweareabletoeditthecontentandlayoutwithinScribus).
Archivingwillbeusefulfor:
Keepingaparticularstateoftheworkatsomepointintime
Archivingthedocumentforsomefutureuse
Sendingthedocumenttosomeonewhomayeditit,butonsomeothercomputer
Usingthedocumentyourselfonanothercomputer...
Inshort,anytimeyoudonothaveanidenticalenvironment,filestructure,andresources,archivingishighlyusefulifnot
essential,andattheveryleast,savesconsiderabletimeintryingtoduplicatetheenvironmentandthenecessaryresources.
Archiving
Conceptually,thisissimple,butdoesrequiresomeconcentrationtoperformthecorrectsteps.
1. Createafolderforthearchive
2. InScribus,selectFile>CollectforOutput
3. Inthedialogselectthisfolder(thedialogonlyacceptsdirectories)
4. Inthissamedialog,selecttoincludefonts,andcolorprofilesifneeded
5. ClickOK,andScribussavesyourselecteditemsalltogetherinthisfolder.Notethatacopyofyourimageswillbeinthis
folderandallthepathswillbeadjustedappropriately.
6. Ifyouwish,youcanthencompressthisfolderwithziporsomeotherutilitysothatitcanbesentasasinglefiletoyour
colleague,oryourselfonanothercomputer.
7. Oncesavedontheothercomputer,unzipthefile,whichrecreatesthesamefolderstructure.WhenScribusopensthefile,
itwillofcoursebelookinginthatfolderfortheimages,butalsowillsearchthatfolderforanyneededfontsandcolor
profiles.
Thefinaloutput
Nowwecometothefinalstagebeforethecreationofaprinteddocument,whichinvolvesincorporatingallofoursources(text,
fonts,andimages)intothefinalfixedlayout,andinaddition,applicationoftheappropriatecolorprofilesfortheintendedresults.
Formatchoices
Inmostcases,PDFhasemergedasthemostwidelyacceptedformatforallthoseworkinginthegraphicchain.PDFisanISO
standardbyvirtueofitscarefullydirectedstructure,anditsfileshaveacompactsize,consideringtherichnessofthecontent,the
vectorizedflexibility,anditsuniversalacceptanceacrossmanydifferentsystems.
ThereareotherformatsavailablethroughFile>Export:
PostScriptactuallypredatesPDF,andwastheoriginalwidelyusedformatfordesktoppublishing,aidedbythefactthat
manyprintersweredesignedtoacceptPSinputtocreatedocuments.AlthoughnotasflexibleasPDF,itisstillusedby
ScribusasanoutputformatfordirectlyprintingfromScribus.
EPS,orEncapsulatedPostScript,ratherthandefiningtheplacementofitemsinadocument,placestheminacontainer
forsomegreaterflexibility.EPSsuffersabitfromhavingcustomizedversionsonsomesystems.
ApotentialimageformatmightalsobeusefulistosaveasaTIFF,whichwillflattentransparencies.Thisisabitmap,not
vectorformat,andthushighresolutionfilesmaybequitelarge.
SVGisanewformat,vectortype,andhighlyflexible,butinpartbecauseofitsnewnesshasnotbecomeuniversally
acceptedorusable.
SelectingFile>Export>SaveasPDFopensadialogwithmultipletabsandoptions,perhapsabitbewilderingtothenewuser,
yetdoesoffersomedefaultsettingswhichareusefulformanyprintingtasks.
Generaloptions
Thefirsttabshowsanumberofoptions,whichareatthecoreofthesettingsneededforthefilewepresenttotheprinter.While
thedefaultsettingmaybethecorrectonesformanysituations,wemaywellwhichtochangeafewforthedesiredresults.The
following,then,willcoveranumberofthesesettingsforyourconsideration.
PDFversion
TherearenowmanyflavorsofPDFs,astheformathasevolvedtoincludevariousfeaturesrelatedtoitscontentandstructure.
Scribusallowsforselectionofvarioustypesaccordingtotheneedsyouhavebasedonthecontentofyourdocument.
WitheachversionnameyouwillseeacorrespondingversionofAcrobat,inwhichthePDFversionwasintroduced.Ifyou
documentdoesnotincludeanytransparency,youmightchooseversion1.3,sinceitdidnotallowtransparency.Transparency
wasintroducedasofversion1.4,andmultilayereddocumentswithversion1.5,soyourdocumentmaydictateoneoftheseasa
choice.PDF/X3isbasedon1.3,butincludestheneedforcolormanagementtobeactivated.
AnimportantandverybasicconsiderationwhendecidingonaPDFversioniswhatisrecommendedbyyourprinter.Inmany
casesthisoverridesanyotherchoices,sinceyoucannotuseaformatyourprinterwillnotorcannotaccept.
Compressionandresolution
Hereattheexportstage,youmustagainconsidertheresolutionofimagesinyourdocument.Formostpurposes,aminimum
resolutionshouldbe300dpi.ThisiswhytheresolutionforEPSgraphicsdefaultstothissetting.AnyEPSimagescontainedin
yourdocumentmaycontainvectorizedelements,sothissettingmaybeimportantforyouroutput.
Inaddition,thereisthesettingforCompressTextandVectorGraphicswhichmayhelptolimitthesizeofthePDFfromthese
elements.
AtthebottomoftheGeneraltabisasectionforchoosingtheImageCompressionMethodanditssettings,againwiththeideato
havesufficientresolution,yetifpossiblereducethesizeofthefinalfile,sinceimagedataisembeddedinthePDF.
AsfarasCompressionMethodspecifically,alossytypesuchasJPEGallowsformorereductioninfilesize,butrunstheriskof
datalossanddegradationoftheimageinthePDF.AbetterchoicemightbethelosslessorZIPforgreaterimagefidelity.Onthe
otherhand,ifthefinalfileistobeviewedonscreen,imagequalitymaybelessanissue,sincescreenstypicallyhavea
maximumresolutionof96dpi.
Finally,youmayalsochoosetheMaximumResolution,bydefaultsetat300dpi.Whileyoumightleavethisitemuncheckedasit
isinthedefault,thiscouldbeusefulifyouareusingverylargeimagesinordertoreducefilesize.
Fonts
Youcannotdependonyourfontsbeingpresentonthesystemwhichisviewingorprintingyourdocument.Iftheyarenotpresent,
substitutionswillbemade.Toavoidthis,youhavetwooptions:
Embeddingfonts.Thisistheidealchoicewheneverpossible.
Outliningfonts.Sometypesoffontsmaynotallowembedding,orthelicenseforthefontmaynotpermitit,inwhichcase
thisisyournextbestalternative.Outliningamountstocreatingvectorgraphicalimagesofeachglyph,andincludingthem
asgraphicaldata.
Color
TheColortaboffersaseriesofchoiceswhichdeterminetheapplicationofcolorprofilesinyourPDF.Asyoucansee,inthe
defaultScreen/Webchoiceforoutputintent,youhavenooptions,whichonlycomeintoplaywhenyouchoosePrinter,whereyou
willbemakingconversionstoCMYK.
Convertingspotcolors
Insomeprintworkflows,youarepayingforthenumberofinkcolorsyouuse.Ifyouuseaspotcolor,thisisanadditionalink.This
settingallowsyoutoconvertaspotcolortoCMYKforcostsaving.IfyourdocumentisnotalreadyCMYK,perhapsaduotone,you
shouldprobablystaywithaspotcolortoavoidconvertingyourduotonetoCMYK.Makesureyouunderstandwhatyouaredoing,
andconsultyourprinterifyouarenotsure.
Customrendering
SelectingUseCustomRenderingSettingswillallowadjustmentofsettingsforchangingtheangle,frequency,andshapeofthe
printingdots(ofink).Sincethedefaultsettingsaregenerallycorrect,itisnotrecommendedtoaltertheseunlessyouhave
specificinstructionsfromyourprinter.
Applicationofcolorprofiles
Herewearemakingaconsciousdecisiontoalterthepreviouslydeterminedcolorprofiles,withtheknowledgethatyoumay
changetheresultsfromthatexpected.Thisisthepointwhenwecanchoosetoignoreanembeddedimagecolorprofile,and
possiblyevenloadadifferentoneforuseincreatingthePDF.
PrePresssettings
Thistaballowsyoutoconfigurevariouselementsusedintheprocessofphysicallyprintingyourdocument,aswellas
demarcateareasfortrimmingandfinishingthepaperforthefinalproduct.
Cropmarksdefinetheextentofyourfinaldocumentaftertrimming.Anythingoutsidethemarkswillberemovedinthe
trimmingprocess.
Bleedmarksaresimilartocropmarks,butdefinetheareainsidewhichyoucreateyourlayout.Thisallowsyoutomake
surethatdecorativeelementsorimageswillgocompletelytotheedgeofthecutpage,byoverlappingintothebleed
area.Itispossibleheretoalterthebleedsettingsfromthoseyouchoseincreatingyourdocument.
Registrationmarksallowforthealignmentoftheprintinginksinamultistepprintingprocess.
Colorbarswillshowthearrayofcolorsusedinthedocument.
Pageinformationincludesthenameofthedocument,dateofcreation,andpagenumber.
PDF/X3OutputIntentwillonlybeavailableifyouhavemadethisselectioninGeneralsettings,andallowsthechoiceofa
specificprofileforglobaloutput.ThiswillnecessarilybeaCMYKcolorprofile.
Otherdocumentoptions
Therearesomefurthersettingswhichwillhavenorelationshiptotheprintingofthedocument,butapplytosituationswhena
PDFmaybedigitallytransmittedandviewedelectronically.TheseareincludedintheViewerandSecuritytabs,thelatterbeing
greyedoutifyouhavechosedPDF/X3compatibilityintheGeneraltab.
SettingsintheViewertabdeterminevariousdisplaypropertiesonscreentoallowforeasiermanipulationandreadingofthe
document.Inaddition,SpecialActionsallowsforrunningsomeJavaScripttoopenthePDFortoprepopulatefieldsinaPDF
form.
Printtoafile
PrintingtoafileallowsforapplyingsomespecificoptionswhichdonothappeninthecreationofaPDF.Thesearemore
applicabletotheactualprocedureofprinting(impression)ofadocument.Insteadofactuallyphysicallyprinting,aPostScriptfile
iscreatedwiththeinformationonemightuseintheactualprintingprocedure.
OnceyouselectFile>Print,chooseFileasyourPrintDestination,thenenterthenameofthefile.
TheOptionstaballowsyoutochoosePrintNormal(allcolors),orSeparations,whereyoumayselectindividualCMYKinksto
saveinthefile.TherearethreelevelsofPostScriptexporttochoosefrom,thehighestbeinglevel3.
IntheAdvancedOptionstab,therearesomelimitedchoicesunderPage,andalsosomeColoroptions.ChangePageoptions
onlyontheadviceofyourprinter.ColorofferssomesettingswesawinPDFexport,toconvertspotcolorstoprocess,andalsoto
applycolorprofiles.Inaddition,thereisApplyUnderColorRemoval,toreduceexcessivelyrichblack.Whatthisdoesisconvert
grayfromamixtureofCMYinkstoblack,thusreducingtheamountofinkcoveragetoreducesmudging.
TheMarkstabofferstheselectionofmarksseeninPDFexport,butaddstheabilitytoapplyanOffset.
Finally,Bleedsallowsforchangingfromthebleedsettingsforthedocument.
WhenyouthenclickPrint,youcreateafilewhichcanthenbeusedbyspecializedsoftwarethatcanconvertthecreatedPSfileto
PDFintheprintingprocess.TheseincludeMoonshiner,GSView,andDistiller.
PrintPreview
Gettingapreviewofyourprintedoutputisofunquestionablevalue.Yourpreviewmaygivesomeindicationsofcolorproblemsin
thefinaloutput.ByselectingFile>PrintPreview,youhaveanopportunitytoactuallyseetheresultsofthevariouschoicesyou
makeinPDFexportasshownabove.
Displaysettings
Theseareusedtocustomizethepreviewofthedocument.EnableAntialiasingimprovesthedisplayofvectorelements,fonts,
shapes,andgraphics.Itcanbeusefulforvisuallyassessingoverlaysandknockouts.
Inaddition,thereareDisplayTransparenciesandDisplayCMYK,thelattertoselectivelyshowindividualcyan,magenta,yellow,
andblackinklayersinthedocument,aswellashowtheyinteractinthedocument.KeepinmindthatyourviewisanRGB
simulationofCMYK,thusnotquitethesamething.
Thedisplayincludestheabilitytoassessinkcoverage,especiallywherethereissuperimpositionofvectorshapesortextover
abackgroundcolor.
Previewsettings
WehavethevarioussettingsalreadydiscussedinPrinttoafile,exceptthatherewehavetheopportunitytoactuallyvisualizethe
resultsofthesechoicestoanticipatehowthesewillaffecttheprinteddocument.
Appendix
Frequentproblems
"It'snotworking!"isacommonreaction,sometimesevenavoicedcomplaint,whensomeresultdoesn'tquitemeetour
expectations,orevencontradictswhatweweretryingtodo.
Thefirstthingtodomightbetoreadthissectiontotrytounderstandthevariousdetailsandissuesinvolvedinwhatyoujustdid.
Thenbegintothinkabouttheproblem,consideringthatyoumayhavesetupsomeconflictsinthevarioussettingsyouhave
madeinthecreationofyourdocument,suchastryingtomoveanimageyouhadpreviouslylocked.
Wheretoapproachtheproblem?
Itistypicallyextremelyfrustratingwheneveryoucannotlocatethesourceofaproblem.Inthissituation,youshouldkeepinmind
thehierarchyofthevariousruleswhichapplytoyourScribusdocumentwhatyouseeamountstothesumofthesevarious
settingsyouhaveapplied.
Inthishierarchyofsettings,thosehigheronthescale(suchasDocumentSettings)willbeinitiallyappliedglobally,butmaybe
contradictedbyasettingatalowerlevel(suchasPageProperties)tointroduceexceptions.Thismightallow,forexample,to
includeinsideabookalargerpagefolded,toincludeamap.
Understandingthishierarchyinfactwillhelpussolveproblems,bylocalizingitssourcetosomeparticularlevel,thefirststepin
itssolution.
Hereisasimplifiedmodelofthishierarchyofsettings,fromhighesttolowest:

Onceyouidentifytheappropriatelevel,thesolutionisathand.
I'mstuckwithatool!
Onceyouuseatoolsuchasthatforcreatingaframe,ScribuswillautomaticallyreverttotheSelectItemtool.Ifyouselectthe
wrongtoolorchangeyourmind,youcaneitherclicktheSelectItemtoolbaricon,orpresstheEsckey.
Mytextframesjumpormove
Sometimeswithamouse(orwithastylusforthehappyownersofagraphicstablet),youmayfindthatwhenyouintendedonlyto
selectaframe,itmovesaveryslightamount,duetoyourunintentionalmovementasyouclicked.Thereisasettingin
Preferencesthatmarkedlyreducesthisbehavior.IfyoulookinsettingsintheGeneraltab,youwillseeTimebeforeaResizeor
Movestarts,bydefault150ms,butincreaseitto300msifyouseetheneed.
Installation
Whywaittotalkaboutinstallationuntiltheendofthebook?Installationiscertainarequirementpriortoyourfirststepsin
learningthesoftware,butit'snotpartoftheusageofthesoftwareitself.Sincethisbookhasasitsmainpurposeshowingsome
bestpracticeswhenusingScribus,theauthorsconsciouslychosetoplacetheinstallationhereintheappendix.
www.scribus.netisthesitewhereyouwillfindlinkstoallthepackagesaswellasinformationonsomeinstallationprocedures.
Versioning
BeforeinstallingScribus,it'susefultounderstanditsversioningsystem.Freesoftwaretypicallyhasanumericalsystemwhichit
usesinthesoftwaredevelopmentprocess.
Atthetimeofthewritingofthisbook,thecurrentofficialstablereleaseisversion1.4.Somewhereaheadofthisisa
developmentalversion,version1.5,whichisnotrecommendedforroutineprofessionaluse,althoughitisavailable,andcan
coexistwith1.4onyoursystem.Once1.5hasreachedthepointofbeingconsideredstable,itwillbecalled1.6,andthatwill
becometheofficialstablerelease.
Sofornow,use1.4,whichisstable,andavailableforvariousoperatingsystems.
Linux
ScribusisavailableforalldistributionsofLinux.Somehaveinstallationpackages,andfortherest,sourcecodeandall
necessaryotherrequirementsareavailabletocompile.
Packages
ScribusisavailableasanRPMforallthedistributionsassociatedwithRedHat,andalsoforSUSEandMandriva.Itoften
happensthatScribusisautomaticallyincludedintheinstallationorupgradeofsomedistributions,andforexampleinMandriva
itcanbefoundinthemenuunderApplications>Office.
Packagemanagers
ManyofthedistributionshaveaGUIpackagemanagerthatavoidsanyneedtotypecommandstomanuallyinstallScribus:
drakrpmforMandriva,YaSTforSUSE,SynapticforUbuntu,andsoon.
Itmaybenecessarytoconfigurethemanagertoinstallpackagesfromthirdpartyrepositories,asevidencedbytheinstallation
processforDebianandUbuntupackagesshownonscribus.net:http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Debian.
Source
Aswithallopensourcesoftware,Scribushasavailableitssourcecode.Inexperiencedandunadventuresomeusersmayfind
thisexcessivelychallenging,sotheauthorsofthisbookrecommendconsultingtheofficialforinstructionontherequirements
andmethodofcompilingandinstalling.
Oneadvantageofinstallationfromsourceisthatyouhaveavailabletoyouthelatestupdates,whichincludebugfixesand
enhancements.
Windows
WithWindowsinstallationismorebasic,andquitesimilartoinstallingothersoftwarebydownloadinganinstallerdirectlyfrom
theScribussitefromtheDownloadpageatscribus.net.Notethatthereareboth32bitand64bitversionsnowavailable.
OfficialsiteofScribus.
MacOSX
AswithWindows,MacOSXusesaninstaller.YouwillalsofindDMGfilesontheDownloadpageatscribus.net,althoughonly
version1.4isavailableatthistime.PriorversionsofScribusrecommendedinstallationofX11,butthisisnolongerthecase.
Glossary
VarioustermsusedinScribusandinpublishing.
Analog
Theconceptofananalogobjectisindistinctiontoadigitalobject.Itmightbethesamesortofobject(e.g.,athermometer),yet
theyshowinformationinverydifferentways.
Ananalogobjectpresentsinformationoftenfromsomephysicalmeasurement(mercurylevel,anelectricalsignal,...)whichis
continuous,andthereforehasnopredefinedsmallestunit,potentiallyofhighresolutionifprecisionofmeasurementishigh.
Anythingmeasuringnaturalelementsisanalog.
Themaindrawbackofanalogdataisthatitissubjecttonoiseandothererrorsoftransmission,afterwhichthequalityofthe
informationcanbevastlyreduced.Also,ifonewishestoretransmitanalogdata,specificmethodsandsignalattributesmustbe
used.
BezierCurve
In1962,theFrenchengineerPierreBzierinventedthisprocessthatbearshisnametodescribeautomotivepartsusing
computers.Sincethattime,Beziercurveshavebecomeknownforbeingaverypowerfulandaccuratemeansofdescribing
curvesgeometrically,andthereforeanyvectorgraphicsprogramwillmakeuseofthem.
Thebasicprincipleistodefinetwopointsthroughwhichthecurvepasses,eachpointhavingzero,one,ortwovectors.The
vectorstheninfluencetheshapeofthecurvebytheirlengthandthedirectioninwhichtheyexertthisinfluence.Alongervector
exertsgreaterinfluence.
Byincreasingthenumberofpointsandvectors,anykindofcomplexcurvecanberepresented.Ifacurvereachesitspointof
origin,itcanbecomeaclosedpath,inwhichthevectorsateachendinfluencetheadjacentcurve.
Invectorgraphicalapplications,Beziercurveshavetwomainattributes:thedescriptionofthecurveitself,andthenthestroke,
whichdeterminescolor,width,andperhapspatternorstyleoftheline.
Bitmaporraster
Thisreferstothedescriptiveformatforgraphicsandimages,inwhichthepictureisdescribedbyaseriesoflinesofpixels
(monitor)ordots(ink),eachpixelordatapointrepresentingaparticularcolor.Ultimately,representationofsomeimageeitheron
screenoronpaperrequiresrepresentationasabitmap.Avectorimagemustthereforeberasterizedtoberepresentedinthese
media.Higherdatadensity(morePPIorpixelsperinch,orDPI,dotsperinch)willachievegreaterprecisionandfidelity,atthe
expenseoflargerfilesandprocessingtimeformanipulation.
Scribushassomeinternalabilitytomanipulatebitmapimagesinvariousways(seeImageEffectsintheContextmenu),but
alsocanrelyonGimpformorecomplexediting.CommonbitmapformatsareJPEG,PNG,GIF,andTIFF.
Bleed
Thebleedisanextraspacearoundthefinaldocumentmargins.Mostprintingequipmentcannotprintliterallytotheedgeofthe
paper.Insituationswhereitisdesiredthatanimageorgraphicalobjectliterallygoescompletelytotheedgeofthespace,the
designertakestheborderofthisgraphicalcontentintothebleedarea.
Aftertheactualprintingofthenecessaryinks,thepaperpassesthroughatrimmer,whichcutsoffthisexcess.Insidethebleed
areatheremayalsobeothercontent,suchasregistrationmarksandthecolorpaletteofthedocument.Cutmarksmaybe
addedaswell,butyourprintermayprefernottohavethese.
CMYK
Thisreferstoacolorspace,andalsoaprintingprocess,usingthecolorsCyan,Magenta,Yellow,andBlack(theKisperhaps
fromthewordKey).Byprintinglayersoftheseinkcolorsonpaper,oneshouldbeabletoproducemostcolors(withinthegamut
ofthecolorspace).Inpractice,greensandbrightorangemayposegreatdifficulty,andeventhoughCMYcanproducedeepening
shadesofgray,atrueblackisneverquiteachieved.Thustheinclusionofanactualblackinkforthispurpose.
Colorwheel
Scribusoffersacolorschemegenerator,whichyoubringupbyselectingExtras>ColorWheel.
Indesignyoumustfrequentlycomeupwithcolorchoiceswhichsatisfyone(orboth)oftwopossibleintents:
findingcolorswhichdonotclashwitheachother,i.e.,areharmonious.
findingcolorswhichoffergreatcontrast
Newtoniscreditedwiththefirstdepictionofacolorcircle,butitwasGoethewhoofferedsomefurtherandmorepertinentwork,
particularlyinregardtothepleasingandemotionaleffectsofvariouscolorcombinations.Sincethen,manyothershaveoffered
theirownrefinements,sometimesforspecificpurposes.
Thecolorwheeloffersavisualrepresentationofcolorshowingcolorswhichareclosetogetherinhue(analogous),andothers
dissimilar(complementary).Itarrangestheprimarycolorsaroundthecircle,120fromeachother,andthussecondarycolors
midwaybetweeneachpairofthese.Inpractice,thecolorwheelallowsustochooseamongthefollowingcolorschemes:
Monochromaticasinglecolorischosenforthebase,withvariantsdifferinginlighterordarkerversions.
Analogoushereourbasecolorischosen,alongwithtwonearbycolors,eachthesamedistance(angle)awayonthe
wheel.
Complementaryinadditiontoourbasecolor,wearegivenitscomplement180awayonthecircle.
Splitcomplementaryfromourbasecolor,twoanalogouscolorsarecreated,theneachoftheseanalogouscolors
createsitscomplement,foratotaloffivecolors.
Triadicfromourbasecolor,twoadditionalcolorsareselected,each120awayonthewheel.
Tetradic(doublecomplementary)herewehaveaschemeoffourcolors,ourbasecolor,itscomplement,asingle
analogouscoloronedirectionortheotheraroundthewheel,andfinallyitscomplement.
Also,donotoverlooktheinclusionoftheVisionDefectTypeselectoratthebottom,wherewehaveachancetoseeifourcolor
choiceswillbeperceivedinasensiblewaybythosewithvariouscolorvisiondefects.
Digital
AsnotedintheentryonAnalog,dataorsomemeasurementmayberepresentedinananalogordigitalway.
Intheoryatleast,analogdataiscontinuous,andthereforeshouldnothaveanylimitsonitsresolutiontheremay,ofcourse,be
limitsontheresolution,precision,oraccuracyofthemeasuringdevice.Digitalinformation,incontrast,willhaveafinitelimitof
resolutionbasedonthesmallestunitonebitofdatarepresents.
Theadoptionofthewideuseofdigitaldataandinformationrelatestoitseaseinsaving,altering,andtransmittingofthebinary
information,whichwhencombinedwithstandardsforsomedataformat,allowsforanymachineanywheretointerpretthedata.
Onebigdisadvantageisthatoncethedataresolutionhasbeenset,thisremainsthelimitofthedatadetail.Ifweconsider
creatingourdatawitheverhigherresolution,wethenfacethepracticallimitsofcomputingpowerandspacetomanagesuch
massiveamountsofdata.Wealsoknowthatdigitalsystemsarefallibleatmanypoints,withdatalossorcorruptionasconstant
threats,yethopefullyasinfrequentaspossible.
ForComputerGraphics,comingasithasoutofthedigitalrevolution,weusethisdigitalinformation,manipulatingit
mathematically,acceptingitsadvantagesanddisadvantages.
EditorialChannels
Thisisn'tacommonlyusedterm,buttheconceptisratherubiquitousthesedays:theideaofhavingcontentwhichmightbe
formattedandfinalizedforsomeparticularpurpose(orchannel).InScribus,onemightsimultaneouslycreateadocumentfor
sharingonthewebandalsoforprintpublication.Theformerwouldneedtobeofalighterweight,andwouldrequireless
precisionandcouldhavealowerresolutionforgraphics.Havingscriptsorspeciallypurposedsoftwareforthiswouldbeagreat
timesaver.
EmandEn
Em(alsocalledquadorquadrilateral)isaunitofmeasurementwhichtraditionallyreferredtothelengthandwidthofablockof
type.SinceinearlytypographytheletterMentirelyfilledtheblock,thisledtothisname.Itssizeisthendeterminedaccordingto
thesizeofthefontbeingused.InScribus,youwillmainlyencounterthisinreferencetothewidthofspacesordashes(em
spaceoremdash).
Enisdesignatedasonehalfthesizeofem.Onceagain,youwillencounterthisinreferencetospacesanddashes(enspaceor
endash).
Fixedwidth(monospacedornonproportional)
OftensimplycalledMono(shortformonospaced),isacombinationofglyphandlinespacingwhicheachcharacter,includingthe
spacefromprecedingandfollowingcharacters,hasthesamewidthasallothercharacters.Thuseachlineoftextwillhavea
specificnumberofcharactersforitslength.Apositiveresultfromthisisthataligningcharactersincolumnsiseasy.Anegative
resultisthechallengeofalignmentofthelinesforjustification.
Fontsize
Thisistypicallyrepresentedinpoints,butwhatdoesitreferto?Traditionally,inthetimeofprintingpressesusingmetaltype,the
sizeofafontreferredtotheheightoftheblockofleadalloyfortheglyphs,notthesizeoftheglyphsthemselves.Thisisperhaps
whytwodifferenttypefacesofthe"same"sizemayhavedifferentheights
Forexample,herearegroupsof3letters,"Hyj",sequentiallyusingDejaVuSans,DroidSans,FreeSans,andNimbusSansL,all
at36points.Thespacingbetweenthehorizontalguidesis36points.
Frame(box)inScribus
Thisisanothertraditionaltypesettingtermwhichappliedtothephysicalframeusedtoholdthetypeinprintingforalignmentand
keepingitinplace.
InScribusitisthenameofthecontainersusedfortext,images,andothergraphics.Eachtypeofcontainercanonlyhaveone
typeofcontentonlytextinatextframe,forexample.Whenyouconvertfromoneframetypetoanother,itscontentwillatleast
appeartobelost,andcertainlywouldnotbeexported.However,ifyoumightforexampleconvertanimageframewithimagetoa
textframe,thenlaterchangeyourmind,youwillseeyourimageagainwhenyouconvertback.
Graphicalworkflow
Thistermdescribestheentireprocessinvolvedintheultimatecreationofsomegraphicalworkwhichresultsintheprintingof
multiplecopiesofsomedocument.Itincludescreation,prepress,andfinallythemassprinting.
Gutter
Thisisthenameforthespacebetweentwocolumnsoftext,neededtovisuallyseparatethematerial,andalsotogivethepage
some"breathingroom",soconsiderbothoftheseneedsasyoudecideonthewidthofthegutter.
HalftoneandDuotone
Halftoneisaprintingtechniqueinwhich,ratherthanprintinganareawithcolorhomogeneously,anarrayoftinydotsofinkof
variablesize,shape,andspacingisprinted.Whatthisaccomplishesisanabilitytohavesubtlechangesincolorintensity,andis
particularlysuitableforprintingphotographs.Theprocesscanbeextendedtousingmorethanoneink,givingtheimpressionof
analmostinfinitearrayofcolorsontheprintedpage.
Duotone,asthenameimplies,isaprocessofusingtwocolors,typicallyblackoversomeothercolor,suchasblue.
HSVorHSL
StandforHue,Saturation,andValue,andHue,Saturation,andLIghtnessrespectively.Theyarenotnecessarilythesamething,
althoughthelackofstandardizationmeansthatyoumayfindthemusedinterchangeably.
ScribususestheHSVdesignation.ChangingtheHcomponentwillchangethehueorcolorinacircularfashion,whilechanging
Sadjuststheintensityofthecolor.Forexample,ifweconsiderandRGBcolorof(0,0,100)andanother(0,0,255),thelatterwillbe
moresaturatedandthereforemoreintenselyblue.
Thevalueorlightnessismorecomplex,andinthiscaseconsiderRGB(0,0,255)and(100,100,255),inwhichcasethelatterwill
belighter,andinasensemorewashedout.Atmaximumvalueallcolorsbecomewhite,atminimum,black.

Imposition
Whenoneconceivesorreadsabookordocument,wethinkofthepagesinorder:1,2,3,...,totheend.Ifwehaveonly2pages,
wemightsimplyprintbothsidesofasheetofpaperandbefinished.Foranylargernumberofpages,andespeciallyifwefold
thisintosomepamphlet(asintheHandsOnchapter),booklet,orbook,wecanseethattheactualprintingrequiressomework
andcalculationtoreorderthepagessothatwhenthepagesarefolded,whenthebookisassembled,thereaderseethemin
thecorrectorder.Thisreorderingiscalledimposition.
Inasimple4pagepamplet,madebyfoldinganA4sheetofpaper,wecanseethatonesideofthepapermusthavepage4on
theleftandpage1ontheright,andtheothersidehaspage2ontheleftandpage3ontheright.
Ifweconsidera16pagebookletwemightdenotethefollowingsequencetoindicatethepairsofprintedsheets.Herewedepict
theprintingofthefrontandbacksideof4sheetsofpapertocreatea16pagebookletafterassemblyandfolding.
161
215
143
413
125
611
107
89
Theactualorderinwhichthesheetsofpaperareprintedwouldofcoursedependonthespecificprintingequipmentused.There
arealsomorecomplicatedprocessesusedintheprintingofbooks,inwhichmanymorethantwopagesareprintedatthesame
timeonalargesheetofpaper,withthecomplexfoldingandcuttingthenoccurringafterward.Foradepictionofthissee
Documentformat:PrinciplesofImposition.
LayersandLevels
Imaginethatyouareindesignschool,attachingvariousobjectstosomeworkyouaredoing.Sinceeachobjectisphysical,itwill
eitherbeontopoforunderneathsomeotherobjectinyourworkspace.InScribus,thisistheconceptofLevels,andjustasyou
canreorderthispositioningindesign,youcanreorderitinScribus.Justasindesign,notwoobjectscanbeatthesameplace
orlevel.
Now,imaginethatyouhaveasheetofclearplasticonwhichyouhaveplacedmanyobjects,creatingawholenewsetoflevels.
Youthentakethissheetofplasticandlayitdownontopofyouroriginalworkspacewithitslevelsofobjects,anotherlayerof
objects.ThisistheconceptofLayersinScribus,exceptthatyoursheetofplasticisvirtualandinvisible,yetjustaswiththat
sheet,youcanputitontopoforunderneathanyoftheotherlayersyouareworkingwith.InScribus,notethatyoucanonlywork
ononelayeratatimethisisausefulfeaturetokeepyoufromaccidentallymakingunintendedchangeselsewhere.Youcan
alsomoveanyobjectfromonelayertoanother.
MasterPages
MasterPagesarepreformattedpageswhichhavelimitedcontent,perhapsachapterheadingorpagenumbering,used
repeatedlyinadocument,typicallyamultipagedocument(youmightalsouseaMasterPageinasinglepagedocumentwhen
youproducedifferentissuesorversions).Ifusedforpagenumbering,youwilloftenneedatleasttwoversions,oneforright
sidedpages,andtheotherforleftsided.
Offsetprinting
Amajoradvanceinprintingdatingfromthelate19thandearly20thcenturies.Priortothat,printingwasaverylaborintensiveand
slowprocess,eitherusingmetaltypeorlithography.Inthesetwomethods,inkisdirectlytransferredfromtheoriginalmaterialto
thepaper.Inoffsetprinting,theoriginalmodelincylindricalshapetransfersinktoacylindercoveredwitharubbersheet,which
thentransferstheinktopaper.Therubberallowsformoreintimatecontactwiththepaperandthereforeisofhighquality.
Furthermore,printscanbemadeinlargequantitieswithoutdegradationoftheoriginal,andthereforecostsaremuchlower.
Onlyrotogravureorphotogravurewillproducehigherqualityimagesinquantity,butduetothecostofthisprocess,oneneedsto
makeaverylargenumberofcopiesforthistobeeconomicallyadvantageous.
Paper
Ifyouvisitaprintingoperation,youwillseethatpapercomesinanamazingarrayofsizes,colors,andthicknesses.Outsideof
therealmofprofessionalprinting,wearemostlyfamiliarwithsomestandardsizesofpaper,formerlyusedintypewriters,and
nowintheprinterweattachtoourowncomputers.
Internationally,theAseriesofpapersizestakesprecedence.Itwasdevelopedin1922byGermanengineerWalterProstmann,
withthedesignprinciplethattheratioofthelengthtothewidthisequaltothesquarerootoftwo(approximately1.414213).The
importanceofthisisthatwhenyoufoldorcutsuchasheetinhalf,youcreatetwosheetshalfthearea,buthavingthesame
proportionsastheoriginal.
Thus,inthediagrambelow,weseethatA4ishalfthesizeofA3,A5ishalfthesizeofA4.Whatthisleadstoindesignisgreater
easeinresizingadocument,sincethepages'proportionsarethesame.
IntheUSandCanada,forhistoricalreasons,USLetterandUSLegalsizesremainthestandards,andtheirrelationshipstothe
Aseriesarealsoshown.
Proofsandproofing
ThewordproofcomesfromtheGermanPrfung,meaningtest.Thus,thetermreferstoatestprintingofthefinalproductto
judgevariousaspectsofthecreativeandprintingprocess,inparticularthefidelityofcolorsastheywereoriginallyconceived.
Someprintersmayrequestanactualsignatureontheproofbeforetheywillproceedwiththeproductionprinting.Inthese
situationsthesignedproofissomethingofacontractfortheprintingservices.
Proportionalspacing
Incontrasttofixedwidthormonospacing,proportionalspacingadjuststhewidthofglyphsandsurroundingspaceinorder
produceapleasingeffectandimprovereadability.Forexample,theglyphfor"i"doesnotrequireasmuchspaceas"m".Inmany
casesproportionallyspacedtextwillrequirelesstotalspacethanthesamemonospacedtext.Agivenproporionalfontmayhave
variants:aregular,acondensed(narrower),andextended(wider).
Pullquote
Thisreferstosomeselectedtextwhichyoucopyfromorpulloutofthemainbody,thenenhanceit,perhapsbyenlargingthefont
ormakingitbold.InScribus,youwouldmostlikelycreateanewtextframe,thenstrategicallyplaceitforthedesiredeffect.
RGB
AcolorspacemadefromthelightcolorsRed,Green,andBlue,usedforscreendisplay,video,andstagelighting.Incontrastto
CMY(K),lightcolorsareadditive,andthemaximummixtureofallthreeshouldbewhite.Theyarealsosimilartotheparticular
wavelengthsoflightwhichthevariousconesintheretinacanrespondto.
WhileadjustingRGBvaluesissimpleandintuitivelyeasyasaprocess,itcanbecumbersomewhenoneissearchingfora
particularresult,andthereforemanypreferusingtheHSV(huesaturationvalue)methodforadjustingRGBcolors.
Scrapbook(inScribus)
ScribuscanstoresetsofarbitraryobjectsofalltypesitsupportsinalibrarycalledScrapbook,whichcanbesavedinanexternal
file.Itisapracticaladditiontotoolsandtemplates,tobeusedforeditableobjects,recurringelementsinthelayout,ortoprepare
standardcontent.
Spacing
Spacebetweencharactersintypography.Spacingisfixedinmonospacedfonts,butespeciallyintypographyoneismoreoften
usingproportionalfonts,inwhichthewidthofcharactersvariesinsomerelationshiptoem(thewidthoftheletter"m").Thereare
twotypesofspacing:groupspacing,whicharethegeneralrulesforallcharactersinthefont,andkerning,whichappliestothe
spacingbetweencharacterpairs.Insomecaseslettersmaycombinetoformligatures,whichareasinglecharacter/glyph(,
,ff,flforexample).
Spotcolor
Thesearemostlyproprietaryinkshavingaparticularcolor,andthusnotrequiringamixtureofCMYKfortheirappearanceina
printeddocument.Somespotcolors,suchasgoldorsilver,cannotberepresentedintheCMYKcolorspace,thustheirutility.
Touseaspotcoloryoumustbesurethatthecolorexistsandisavailabletoyourprinter.Ifnot,theremaybeanopportunityfora
digitalemulationofthecolor.
Scribushasanumberofspotcolorpalettes,aspermittedbythepatentholderoftheink.
Typographiccolor
Typographicalcoloristhesubjectiveimpressionproducedasoneseestherelativedarknessofablockofspaceonthepage
consistingnotonlyofthetextitself,butanyspacesbetweenlettersandlines.
SomeexamplesareshowninthesectionComposing:TypographicColor.
Theparticularfactorswhichcontributetotypographicalcolorwillbethefontused,itsweight,adjustmentstoheightandwidthof
glyphs,spacingandkerning,linespacing,andjustification.Onemayalsogetanimpressionofthehomogeneityofthisgray,
perhapsdisruptedbyexcessivegapsbetweenwordsorlettersatsomelocations.
Vectorgraphicsorimages
Inadditiontoabitmaprepresentationofimages(describedabove),therearealsovariousvectorformats,inwhichimagescan
bedescribedbygeometricalformulas.Beziercurveswouldbeconsideredakindofvectorformat,andmaybeincorporatedinto
somevectordrawing.
Incontrasttoabitmapimage,avectorimagehasnoinherentresolution,andthereforeshouldshowcrispdetailevenathigher
magnifications.Therefore,thefinaldetailislimitedonlybythedisplayorprintingdevice.
Themaindrawbackofvectorgraphicswillbeseenwheretherearesubtleandgradualchangesincolororshading,oftenthe
caseinphotographicimages,forexample.Thisiswhydigitalcamerastypicallyusesomebitmapformatinaddition,ofcourse,
thephotodetectorsarearrayedinarasterformat,sosavinginvectorwouldrequireaconversion.
CommonvectorformatsusefulinScribusareSVG,PSorPostScript,EPS,andAI.

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