Hardware

Scribus desktop publishing: The Right Tool for the Job?

By // February 4, 2008, 3:31 AM PST // jlwallen

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  • Scribus Splash Screen

    By Jack Wallen

    The open source Scribus application does almost everything the costlier alternatives do, but at zero cost. It's reliable, flexible, and very user friendly.

    Read a concise summary of Scribus' strengths and weaknesses.

    Let's take a look to see just how simple creating a pdf document can be with Scribus. This is what you see as Scribus starts up. Start up time will vary depending upon how many fonts you have installed on your system.

  • Installing Scribus with yum.

    Jump back to the actual installation. This shows the command you will use (run as root) to install Scribus with the yum installation tool.

  • Installing Scribus with apt-get.

    If you are using an apt-get based distribution, such as Ubuntu, this is the command you will install.

  • Starting Scribus in KDE

    Once the application is installed you will find the executable located in the Office sub-menu of the KDE start menu.

  • Starting Scribus in GNOME

    Parallel with KDE, GNOME houses the Scribus executable in the Office sub-menu of the GNOME start menu.

  • New Document Wizard

    When you first start up Scribus you are greeted with the New Document Wizard. This Wizard will help you create the right type of document. As shown above you can create a new document in various formats, open an existing document, or open a recent document. We are going to create a New Document with the default settings. Click OK.

  • The Text Tool

    The translucent gray box highlights one of the tools that you will use the most in Scribus. This tool is the text tool. In order to create a text box in Scribus click this icon.

  • Text box in red

    After you click the text tool your cursor will change. Click and drag that cursor to create a text box. If you do not create the box the perfect size, fear not, you can drag the handles to resize the box.

  • The Text Tool Icon

    The gray square illustrates the text tool icon. Click this to open up the Text Tool. The text tool is where you enter all text for the selected (or newly created) text box. You do have to select the text box (it will be outlined in red when selected) before you click the text box.

  • The heart of the text tool

    This is the bread and butter of your document. Within this text tool you add, delete, and edit text as well as format your text in many ways.

  • Text tool update button

    Once you have finished editing your text click the update button (highlighted in gray) which isn't available until text has either been entered or updated.

  • Text added to text box

    Once you are done with your text, close the text tool and your text box is finished. You can manipulate the size of the text box with the handles.

  • Opening the layer tool

    Let's say you want to add a color block under your text to make the text pop out. To do this you will first have to create a new layer and then move the created text box to the higher layer. First click the Windows menu and then select Layers.

  • Creating a new layer

    Let's say you want to add a color block under your text to make the text pop out. To do this you will first have to create a new layer and then move the created text box to the higher layer. First click the Windows menu and then select Layers.

  • Layer selector

    At the bottom of the Scribus window you'll find the layer selector drop-down box. When you add a new layer the layer selector automatically switches to the new layer. So if you try to select your newly created text box, you can't. So change back to the Background layer so you can click on your text box.

  • Moving a text box to another layer

    Now that you can select the text box, click it with the right mouse button and select Send To Layer and then select Text (or "New Layer 1" if you haven't renamed the layer.) Remember, you are still in the Background layer so you can no longer select the text box. To do that you will have to switch back to the text layer. But for now, remain in the Background layer.

  • Creating a shape

    Click on the Insert Shape icon (highlighted in gray). By default it is a square. You can select other shapes by clicking the drop-down to the right. We are going to create a square. Click that and then click and drag your mouse over your text box until the black square is slightly larger than you text.

  • The new square hides the text

    Where did the text go? It's still there. But because the text and the square are both black, you can not see it. We have to make an adjustment in the squares' opacity before the text can be seen.

  • The properties window

    From the Windows menu, click on the properties entry to open up the Properties window. This box is critical to your work. You will want to familiarize yourself with "Properties".

  • Changing the color block opacity

    Click on the Colors "tab" in order to make an adjustment to the Opacity of the color block. The percentage of opacity you choose will depend upon the text style used and the effect you want. All changes happen in real time.

  • Visible text

    With the colorblocks' opacity adjusted to 20%, the text is now visible as well as popped out from the document.

  • Changing the color block to a regular box

    Let's say you don't want a color block but just a regular box around your text. To do this go back to the Properties window, click on the color bucket, and select "None" from the list of colors.

  • The color block is now a box

    Now the text only has a box around it. Just like you did this, you can change the color of the box to nearly any color in the color spectrum.

  • Saving your document

    Before converting the document to PDF you first have to save the file. You do this in the standard way. You will want to save this file in the native Scribus format - .sla.

  • Exporting as pdf

    In order to save your document as a PDF file you have to export. To do this go to File and then Export. From the Export sub-menu select "Save As PDF" to open up the PDF Export wizard.

  • Selecting the type of pdf

    This is the first step in exporting to pdf. You first have to select the type of export from the drop down. You can choose from PDF 1.3, PDF 1.4, PDF/X-3, and PostScript. Once you select the type you may or may not get errors (depending upon the type chosen) and a new window will open.

  • Final pdf configuration

    There are a number of options to configure. All options will depend upon the quality you want in the final document as well as the compression (or lack thereof) you wish to use, and numerous other options. You will also want to pay close attention to the Color tab where you can choose between Screen/Web or Printer. Once you have made your selections, click Save to finish the process. Your PDF document is ready to view.

    Read a concise summary of Scribus' strengths and weaknesses.

Scribus Splash Screen

By Jack Wallen

The open source Scribus application does almost everything the costlier alternatives do, but at zero cost. It's reliable, flexible, and very user friendly.

Read a concise summary of Scribus' strengths and weaknesses.

Let's take a look to see just how simple creating a pdf document can be with Scribus. This is what you see as Scribus starts up. Start up time will vary depending upon how many fonts you have installed on your system.

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By Jack Wallen

Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic and Linux.com. He’s an avid promoter of open source and the voice of The Android Expert. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.