Scribus 1.1.6 Reviewed 201
TrialOfFire points out MadPenguin's review (with helpful screenshots) of Scribus 1.1.6, which attempts to answer "what is Scribus really like? Can anyone just pick it up and use it? Is it really as powerful as they say it is? And does it live up to the hype surrounding it?"
Killer app it isn't (Score:5, Funny)
Oh yes yes sure... but when will they learn? the *only* free software killer application is here [gnu.org]. And I should know, it very nearly killed me.
Oh and by the way, I'm sure it can do desktop publishing too some way or another...
(old joke) It would be a nice OS... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:(old joke) It would be a nice OS... (Score:2)
If someone would just port EDLIN to it I'd be happy. :)
But surely this [gnu.org] is the ultimate open source program.
Re:(old joke) It would be a nice OS... (Score:2)
Re:Killer app it isn't (Score:2)
If it doesn't nothing prevents you from writing one in elisp.
Ah but: (Score:5, Interesting)
What the hell is it?
Might have been nice to mention that in the
Re:Ah but: (Score:5, Informative)
from the Scibus site:
1.1 What is Scribus?
Scribus is a desktop page layout program in the tradition of Corel Ventura®, Quark Xpress®, PageMaker® and InDesign®
Since its launch in the spring of 2001, Scribus 1.+ offers Linux and Unix users a versatile and user friendly page layout application. Scribus 1.0 and its recent development versions are being used in a number of ways; from brochure design to newsletters and posters to technical documentation. Scribus has the type of the features one would expect in a sophisticated page layout application. You can do all the typical tasks like precision placing and rotating of text and/or images on a page, specify manual kerning of type and much more. With the release of Scribus 1.0, Linux and Unix users now have one more high quality application for the desktop, making it the premier choice for DTP on Linux or BSD with other platforms to come.
Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color and a simple color management system to soft proof images destined for high quality color printing, Other features include flexible PDF creation options, PDF Import, Encapsulated Postscript import/export and creation of 4 color separations. Scribus also supports via freetype Unicode text including right to left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew.
Graphic formats which can be placed in Scribus include Encapsulated Post Script (eps), TIFF(Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Portable Network Graphics (png) and XPixMap(xpm) Scribus now also handles any bit map file type supported by QT3.
Printing, PDF and SVG creation are via custom driver libraries and plug-ins, giving Scribus inventive features: the abilities to include presentation effects with PDF output, fully scriptable interactive PDF forms, SVG vector file output. The internal printer drivers fully support Level 2 and Level 3/PDF 1.4 postscript features including transparency and font embedding. The PDF driver from Scribus can embed fonts for postscript printing and you can use and output high resolution EPS files.
Other useful features include manual kerning of type, rotating object frames, bezier curves polygons, precision placement of objects, layering with RGB and CMYK custom colors. The Scribus document file format is XML, an open source standard file format, a super set of SGML. Unlike proprietary binary file formats, even damaged documents, can be recovered with a simple text editor - sometimes a challenging problem with other page layout programs.
When run from KDE , Drag and Drop is enabled. Thus, for example you can drag and drop from the desktop to the canvas easily. There is easy to use drag and drop scrapbook, which can contain frequently used items including text blocks, pictures and custom shaped frames. Scribus will also run most any window manager including Gnome and Blackbox without difficulties.
Re:Ah but: (Score:2)
Re:Ah but: (Score:4, Funny)
Foo 1.0 has been released. It's been proclaimed the new killer app. killer Funion states that stability has increased exponentially and that it passes the grandma test. Ken at Bargain Hardware states that it installed very easily, and it was a perfect replace for his old program, "bar". He can now accomplish twice the production and efficiency has increased 200%. Mamba Joe, the developer of Foo, expects 2.0 to be released tomorrow. Here's to Mountain Dew!
Version 1.9.8 is important (Score:2)
scribus? (Score:2)
New Record (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:New Record (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:New Record (Score:2)
A better question (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the more common question: "what is Scribus"? The uninformative summary doesn't help; neither does the slashdotted site.
Re:A better question (Score:4, Informative)
Here a link to their homepage [altmuehlnet.de]
Re:A better question (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A better question (Score:5, Informative)
That is the older one. The new one is Scribus Home Page [scribus.net]
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:4, Informative)
Basically:
"Scribus is a Layout program for GNU/Linux®, similar to Adobe® PageMaker(TM), QuarkXPress(TM) or Adobe® InDesign(TM), except that it is published under the GNU GPL. Currently, it is still in its early stages of development, but rapidly maturing and very useable. Already, it has the ability to layout newsletters, create corporate stationery, small posters and other documents which need flexible layout and/or the ability to output to professional quality imagesetting equipment. You can do all the typical tasks like placing and rotating text and/or images on a page, specify manual kerning of type and much more. While the goals of the program are for ease of use and simple easy to understand tools, Scribus offers support for professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, easy PDF creation, Encapsulated Postscript import/export and creation of color separations. Graphic formats which can be placed include Ecapsulated Post Script (eps), Joint Photographic Experts Group (jpeg), Portable Network Graphics (png) and XPixMap(xpm)."
Re:A better question (Score:3, Informative)
Also, just "having" PostScript output doesn't mean it's useful. XPress has EPS export for ages, yet we are still waiting for USABLE PostScript files written by XPress, leave alone *syntactically correct* PostScript. XPress can't even pro
Re:A better question (Score:2)
So it has few features that may make it more usable for non-professionals too? Oh the horror, the horror.
Re:A better question (Score:2)
When Quark advertised the "web functionality" of XPress 5, the PHB was all excited about all those graphics designers being able to build websites directly from the XPress layouts. They did never understand why I dismissed without seeing it - because
Re:A better question (Score:2, Informative)
The point was that the PostScript generated by XPress is in fact so lousy that it won't read it itself, generating PS error after PS error on every RIP we and our contractors have (Agfa, Linotype, CreoScitex, Canon). I am well aware that EPS and PS are pretty much the same, I have hand-written PostScript ten years ago.
Re:So many misconceptions! (Score:2)
I am a "Mediengestalter" for seven years now (can be roughly translated as "media designer"), but design really isn't that big part in there. I am more what you call the "press guy". I don't know what you guys in the US do, but here in Europe the (small to medium-sized) printing company will only *prin
Re:A better question (Score:3, Informative)
From the website:
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:2, Flamebait)
It hasn't. Somebody fucked up. In any event, it can't be done with GNU/Linux has Linus already holds the rights to the word 'Linux' itself. GNU/Linux would be an infringement.
My guess is that some clueless Stallman-worshipper wrote the blurb. "There is but one OS, and Stallman is it's prophet!" Y'know, *that* kind of Stallman fanatic.
Max
Re:A better question (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A better question (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
ESR applied to register it, and made a huge fuss about it. Then it was either denied or lapsed, and noone noticed.
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Yes, it is, and it's owned by one Linus Torvalds. Since I can't link directly to the TESS entry you'll have to look it up yourself, the Reg # is 1916230.
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A better question (Score:1)
Re:A better question (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Re:A better question (Score:2)
Well, Gimp does walk over Photoshop. I've got few Adobe Collections (from my prior DTP use), but I still use Gimp (not Photoshop), because for RGB and web Gimp just rocks, btw. I'm always having 3 monitors on every computer.
btw. If you would ever consider going to gimp-devel and checking out what's comming. 2.0 was UI renovation, 2.2 is color management renovation (GEGL), which will finally include options to have CMY
another short review (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdotted? (Score:5, Informative)
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JPEG (Score:5, Funny)
Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2)
You're just sick [gnu.org]! That's why we like you.
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2)
Limiting oneself to gcc 2.95.x is very painful. It's C++ support is lacking in several areas - namespace support is lacking, exception support is lacking, template support is missing some features, and the C++ standard library is totally standards non-compliant. Anyone doing any serious C++ development that can move to g++ >= 3.2 should do so. (There are lots of situations where this isn't an option, of course.)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Requires GCC 3.2 (Score:2)
Them, unfortunately, is the breaks: you can have it tried and tested, or you can join the crew trying and testing it. And just because the packages in Stable have "old"
Scribus is great ! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Scribus is great ! (Score:2)
Killer application on Linux? (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is that printshops accept files only with specific formats, namely with CMYK color separation, the appropriate resolution, and in "well-known" file formats: Quark, Illustrator, et al.
A Linux desktop publishing program that can product color-separated files in the correct format can be a dog to learn and use, that'd be fine! As long as it can produce print-ready files, a painful learning curve is not an issue.
The UI is not the key. Business usefulness is the key.
Re:Killer application on Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
EPS and PDFs from Scribus are usable in any DTP program (including Adobe apps such as Illustrator) can load and use such files. Scribus can also directly print to the hardware.
Reviewer says little cms is for producing PDFs. No, its for colour management! Scribus has its own PDF exporter.
Re:Killer application on Linux? (Score:2, Informative)
PDF? (Score:3, Informative)
Any good printshop can take and print a PDF. They can even tweak the colours if it is needed.
Re:PDF? (Score:2)
What is Scribus? (Score:3, Informative)
"Scribus is a Page Layout program for GNU/Linux®, similar to Adobe® PageMaker, QuarkXPress or Adobe® InDesign, except that it is published under the GNU GPL.
With the release of Scribus 1.1.6, Linux and Unix desktop users have a user friendly, but powerful Desktop Publishing application capable of a broad set of DTP needs. Started with humble beginnings as a Python program to make menus, Scribus has been transformed into a young but rapidly maturing DTP application with numerous professional features, as well as some unique capabilities. Already, in use from everything to club newsletters to small newspaper production to animated interactive PDF presentations a la Power point. or Open Office Impress. Other uses are creating corporate stationery and brochures, small posters and other documents which need flexible layout and/or the ability to output to professional quality image-setting equipment."
Scribus is good... (Score:5, Interesting)
(Note: I'm not complaining, just hoping aloud =)
Scribus is an excellent application. I could easily put it in the same category as Mozilla Firefox, XEmacs, GIMP, Blender, Audacity and Eclipse as an example of well-engineered open source application that is good enough to get any real work done.
Scribus is, however, a little bit of a quirk-express. The user interface is not yet completely free of small things that tend to be annoying. For one thing, it's slow (though nowhere near as slow as some pre-1.0 versions - and Freetype integration has greatly helped with this too, with faster and better-looking font rendering) and some details lag behind (the property dialog could use some really heavy improvements).
I think the UI situation is just similar to GIMP 1.0 - it took until 1.2 until the UI was really good and until 2.0 until it was superb. Yet, like GIMP 1.0, it's completely usable for what it's designed for!
So, in conclusion, I'll be hoping that we'll get into the "GIMP 1.2" level soon what comes to the UI. It is really good as it is right now, though.
PostNuke powered Website (Score:4, Funny)
Re:PostNuke powered Website (Score:2)
Re:PostNuke powered Website (Score:2)
Templates (Score:5, Insightful)
There seems to be nothing like this at all for scribus (in fact, by and large the range of templates available for OS office applications is pretty woeful). We really ought to get on top of this as a priority; otherwise MS Office will still have a massive lead in terms of useability to Joe Officeworker.
Re:Templates (Score:2, Informative)
IRC: #scribus on irc.freenode.net...
OR
Mailing List [altmuehlnet.de]
Re:Templates (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't speak for Scribus, but when I grab a form from Office {Max, Depot}, I look for where it says "equivalent of Avery XXXX," head over to the Avery web site, click on the template for XXXX, and OO opens it quite nicely. (Of course, a version change in MS Word with associated format change for templates can trivially break
Re:Templates (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the point was that Scribus has the potential to serve as a Microsoft Publisher replacement as well as a Quark XPress replacement. While Microsoft Publisher may be unwise to use for commercial printing, it does get used by people who can't justify the investment (in both time and money) that Quark XPress requires. (Some of those people really are just printing on an i
Re:Templates (Score:2)
Re:Templates (Score:2)
The point is, whereas MS Publisher makes it utterly trivial for a vicar to make a perfectly ac
Sodipodi (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sodipodi (Score:2)
(2) Sodipodi is a vector drawing program, Scribus is a DTP program. Not in the same field.
Re:Sodipodi (Score:2, Informative)
Partly true, partly not. Vector drawing is not the same as DTP, but there are connections between them. The Scribus team and the Inkscape team, for example, are working actively to coordinate their backends and make it easy for users to use the two apps together. You can get an idea of the short-term implications of this here [salford.ac.uk], and the long-term implications here [inkscape.org].
Re:Sodipodi (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sodipodi (Score:2)
But you can be sure they'll moderate this questioning of the moderation as off-topic. Go figure.
Who uses Quark? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Who uses Quark? (Score:2)
The sad thing is that I like to see companies like Adobe and quark succeed, but they seem to be tied up with MS's politics rather than the needs of customers.
New Updated Screen Shots of 1.2 cvs (Score:3, Informative)
Link: Scribus Screen Shot Gallery [salford.ac.uk]
Gnome: Passepartout (Score:3, Informative)
Also, bad thing the Gnome LyX frontend stalled...
TeX (Score:2)
Does it export layouts to TeX code?
Re:TeX (Score:2)
That's not a big deal though, since a normal workflow for a book is to:
- draw up rough layouts by hand, on tissue / vellum w/ a #2 pencil until one has one or more good candidates
- create tight comprehensive layouts of the better versions either by inking or re-drawing the roughs, or re-
Very good app (Score:2, Interesting)
I did some desktop publishing back in school with Adobe Pagemaker, but I don't have a usable Windoze box around anymore. So last fall I checked if there were any desktop publishing tools for Linux available when I wanted to create a "birthday paper" for my dad's 60's birthday.
apt-get install scribus
And the program had everything I needed and not a single thing too much. It was usable without much learning and I was able to
Any good for books? (Score:2)
Missing some important features. (Score:2, Interesting)
How about the ability to import/export files with FrameMaker's Maker Interchange Format (MIF) format? Lots of Linux documentation is written with DocBook which can be rendered to MIF using OpenJade.
IMHO, the ability to import MIF files and tidy up their page layouts before the final render/print would make this a killer app. Other page layout programs may able to import MIF files so exporting this format would be helpful.
Also, how about an English language manual?
Got it installed... (Score:2, Interesting)
For all Solaris users:
Regarding the error on line 139 in scribus/seiten.h:
(parse error before numeric constant)
The code on line 139 is:
QCheckBox* DS;
On Solaris, and possibly on many other Unix System V Implementations, DS is already defined if something includes signal.h; to fix this error, place the following line into seiten.h (right after the #include statements):
#undef DS
I compiled Scribus on an Intel Platform Edition machine, which is a little-end
Re:usability (Score:5, Funny)
Spoken like a man who's never had to use Quark Xpress.
Re:usability (Score:5, Informative)
Oh it sounds like it's a perfect drop-in replacement for QuarkXPress
For all its excellence with output (and when I used it, it worked well) Quark is certainly not an example of brilliant, or even good UI design. Takes a lot of time and a lot of knowledge of the little hidden and non-obvious keycommands to use well.
Re:usability (Score:2)
QuarkXpress is the best layout programme ever. It is difficult to learn, but once you learn it, using it is simplicity itself. Its power is astonishing. It is ouput second to none. Anyone who remembers the thrill of being able to set the background color to none of an item knows why QuarkXpress is so beloved.
It is extensible in ways and with third pary support tha
Re:usability (Score:2)
If software has long learning curve, then it has bad UI, simple and well made GUI leads user to faster learning curve. Well Quark is far from that example.
Re:usability (Score:2)
stability: ????? bwaaahaahahahaha
C'mon last stable was 4.11. 5 never was finished when they already released 6, (yes I agree OSX was the reason) and 6 is not even near to be stable (don't know on OSX though)
Putting money into GUI simplification... waste
Yes, that's what they think. But that and usability with more features (and price) is the sole reason why InDesign is taking Quarks share in such ammount.
Re:usability (Score:2)
Precisely. They need to work on that, not GUI non-issues
C'mon last stable was 4.11. 5 never was finished when they already released 6, (yes I agree OSX was the reason) and 6 is not even near to be stable (don't know on OSX though)
it can still dissapear with no reason under OSX, and there is already a 6.1 patch! WORK WORK WORK Ibrahimi!!!
InDesign is taking Quarks share in such ammount.
InDesign is a piece of trash. No professional is switching to it, and it cannot to
Re:Summarize what it does in one word (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Summarize what it does in one word (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Summarize what it does in one word (Score:2)
Re:how does it integrate with gimp? (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, um, it can take bitmap images in various formats (JPEGs, PNGs, the other usual stuff - not GIMP's xcf format, which nobody uses anyway). That's all that's needed to integration, really =)
Apparently Scribus 1.2 will allow people to launch GIMP to directly edit an image from Scribus, and some other support may be planned for later...
What I really appreciate more is the really freaking cool ability to import SVG vector files into Scribus-editable objects (unless I misinterpreted when I did this last
CVS won't compile either (Score:2)
scfonts_ttf.cpp:86: `FT_GLYPH_FORMAT_PLOTTER' undeclared (first use this
function)
scfonts_ttf.cpp:86: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each
function it appears in.)
make[3]: *** [scfonts_ttf.o] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/self/Scribus/scribus'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/self/Scribus/scribus'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/
Re:Text of Review (Score:5, Informative)
Replying to myself to correct a few omissions and corrections:
My personal view of the reviews of Scribus:
Unfortunately, we have yet to see a review of Scribus by someone who has used professional DTP applications. As a IT/DTP consultant, even though I am a member of the team, my testing with professional DTP pre-flight tools has consistently shown Scribus creates PDF and PS output which most certainly equals and sometimes exceeds those of commercial apps.
Lastly, DTP is itself a complex subject and takes time to master. The "Wizard" approach of other apps really dumbs down the true capabilities of an app like Scribus, just like it would Blender, GIMP or any other similar type of application.
Re:No spot colors (Score:2, Informative)
Re:No spot colors (Score:2)
Re:Stop posting to sites that cant handle traffic (Score:2, Informative)