Scribus Basics

Scribus is not a word processing program.  It is generally considered a “page layout” program.  Scribus utilizes “desktop publishing” elements in the design and programming of their software.

“Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) - combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local multifunction peripheral output and distribution.

The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to describe page layout skills. However, the skills and software are not limited to paper and book publishing. The same skills and software are often used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs and outdoor signs.” (Wikipedia.org)

The Scribus Team has included an online tutorial for first time users to get an idea of the capacities of the software.  You can access that tutorial on their website here.

(From Online Documentation)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why Page Layout is different from Word Processing?

What can you do with Scribus? What is a "page layout" program?

Fundamentally, Scribus is not a word processor. This is a very important concept to understand. Scribus belongs to the family of applications known as page layout programs or more commonly known as Desktop Publishing programs. Scribus gives users great flexibility in placing objects like photos, logos, text frames and shapes in the exact place where you want them. This short guide is meant to give a first time user a sense of what Scribus can do. It is not meant to cover every feature, just a simple over view to get you started and being productive.

What can I do with Scribus?

    -Create great looking documents including things like CD covers, greeting     cards, company brochures, newsletters and posters.

    -Create files which will print easily at your commercial printer.

    -Create interactive PDF forms and presentation documents.

(What is interactive PDF? Interactive PDFs have special features like hyperlinks, annotations (non-printing notes), bookmarks – a kind of an automatically created index for your PDF, as well as special navigation features – just like a web browser.)

    -Create logos and drawings with Scribus' easy to use tools including the ability to create neat font effects.

    -Import photos and other artwork with precise color control for high fidelity printing.

First the Theory – The Right Approach

First time users of page layout applications like Scribus can find starting out quite frustrating. The interface seems approachable and familiar enough, but when you make your beginning steps things often do not quite work as expected. Do not make the mistake of launching Scribus, opening a new document and expect to start typing. Making the most of an application like Scribus, requires a bit of understanding of the concepts of "workflow" in the page layout world. It might seem a bit arcane at first, but will pay off in the end.

Part of the challenge of learning Scribus is you are often not just trying to learn a program, but learning page layout, which has its own sometimes subtle rules. There are stark differences from word processors or other text editors. Fortunately, Scribus comes with its own built-in Story Editor (SE). Using this instead of editing on the canvas, understanding the setup and application of styles will greatly enhance your productivity, as well as providing you with more consistent, easier to edit documents.

Workflow, means in the page layout world a way of assembling both the files to be used, but also some forethought on where and how your document will be printed or used. If for example, you were planning on creating a brochure for your business, you certainly would want to have it commercially printed. Thus, you would be sadly mistaken if you thought you could take the low resolution JPEG from your website and use them in Scribus directly. Web and print have two different objectives. Graphics used on a website are almost always unusable for commercial printing. You need much higher resolution graphics. File size should almost always be secondary to image quality when considering commercial print needs. A typical website image is 72–96 DPI , where for good print results, you need 200–300 DPI. Scribus can export PDF at 4000 DPI.

A Simple Page Layout Workflow:

1.    Make a simple sketch on paper of the basic layout.  This helps to visualize how to mix text, artwork and images.

2.    Get images collected as needed, preferably high 200 DPI or higher saved as TIFFs or PNG. Get your artwork (illustrations or line art in a suitable import format. SVG or EPS are usually the best option.

3.    Write out the text in a word processor or text editor. Spell check, double check grammar, etc.

4.    Collect all these files in a project directory and start building your document in Scribus.

In a commercial setting, this might be far more complex. In my experience, using similar methods will allow the planning and structure to make sense and greatly enhances productivity.

Lastly, Workflow similarly takes into consideration the many options when exporting PDF or printing. There are extensive notes about this in the chapter PDF Export. Scribus has many advanced printing features, which are atypical of desktop applications. Make sure tooltips are enabled, to get general guidance and/or read the Printing Section carefully to understand the options.

When reading through the parts of the documentation, especially some of the sections on more advanced topics,make notes on what you do not understand, then post your questions to the mailing list or IRC.

Before diving into a project, sometimes the best thing is to put the computer aside, get out a sketch pad and make a simple drawing how you want the doc to appear. I too have rediscovered pen and paper. On a recent vacation, lacking a computer at times, I discovered my lack of writing by hand has lead to very poor penmanship. Results, I wrote 8 complete pages in an afternoon, more than I might have written in three nights. Why? Because, I could only concentrate on content. I suggest you do the same. Scribus's real magic is the ability to assemble all the bits at the end to create your masterpiece.

So, if text is going to be a big part of your document, start your favorite text editor or word processor and compose the text first. This way you can concentrate on content. This is where word processors sometimes work against you  Note how often you can be distracted by editing done to affect the look, instead of the content. (I'm guilty too) I need not preach to the choir and explain the benefits of saving plain unformatted text. This, in the UNIX world is a given, but for migrating Windows/Mac users may not be the usual habit. Save plain text, you will be happy about this some day. Alternatively, you can import OpenOffice.org.org 1.x and 2.x (OASIS) text and or MS Word documents.

Next, you will need to consider drawings, photos, tables etc., which might be a part of your doc.

Bitmap Images

Like photos that come from the GIMP, Krita, Adobe Photoshop or similar. They could also be images from a digital camera program like digiKam or a scanner application like Xsane or Kooka. Bitmap images are composed of pixels or dots, typically compressed in a file format like JPEG, TIFF, PNG or bmp. For images in Scribus, I prefer and recommend either PNG for things like screen captures or TIFFs. TIFFs are generally very reliable in DTP and should be chosen for any kind of high resolution photos.

Vector Drawings or illustrations

Come from applications like Inkscape, OpenOffice.org Draw, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Sketch, or Xfig. These generate line drawings and other artwork, which is kept in a vector format in ways that preserve their appearance at any scale. It should be mentioned that vector files don't save dots, but coordinates, which describe mathematically where to draw the lines or fill shapes. That's the reason why they can be scaled endlessly without loss of quality. The preferred way to import them into Scribus is via EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) or via SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). The advantage of SVG is Scribus imports this into native editable objects and can re-edit almost every feature in SVG.

EPS/PS Importing

One of the reasons we recommend the latest Ghostscript is to enable the best possibility of importing EPS and PS vector files, which can then be edited natively as Scribus objects. This can be very useful for imports which need further changes and you do not have the original source files.

Importing PDF

One other way you can import files into Scribus is via PDF. Scribus will use Ghostscript to create a high resolution image with a lower resolution file for preview on screen. This is more appropriate for drawings and images versus text. If you need just the text from a PDF, you can open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader or KPDF and copy and paste from the clipboard. Note: you can only import one page of a PDF at a time, and you cannot yet edit imported PDFs.

Once you have assembled all these bits, it is time to begin working in Scribus. For previous users of desktop publishing, launching Scribus for the first time will seem comfortable and familiar.