Scribus can import text from a variety of common open formats with various limitations. Images tables have their own frame types and, much like commonly used graphics programs such as GIMP, frames can be layered to achive a specific effect. Text must be placed inside of a text frame. In Scribus the document is just a canvas with various frames. It is Unicode native and supports layouts with complex scripts such as kanji and right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew.
Scribus uses its own XML-based file format. Pros: Fantastic product for free impressive range of pro-style featuresĬons: Takes a little learning help guides a little lackingĬonclusions: May not be the choice if you're in the publishing business, but otherwise could be a real economy.Scribus is a full-featured Qt-based desktop publishing package available for Linux, Windows, MacOS, and other operating systems. Overall though, it's a credible alternative for anyone needing light to medium desktop publishing. There are a few niggles, such as the fact you'll need to install open source software GIMP if you want to resize images "within" Scribus itself. It has serious print production tools such as pre-flight checks that simulate exactly how your project will transfer from screen to page at a commercial printers' facilities. That said, the clean approach does make good use of the available space.Īs well as having all the features you'd expect in terms of layout and design, such as automatically flowing text through a series of frames, which can be in different shapes, it's clear this isn't just a toy for producing posters for a child's birthday.
It's relatively simple to use, though it may take a while to adjust to the fact that there aren't any toolbars or menu bars displayed by default, so you'll need to switch them on as you need them.
Today Adobe InDesign is the clear choice for those with serious cash to splash, but Scribus offers a genuinely viable open source option. Back in the day, anyone who wanted desktop publishing tools had to choose between the expense of dedicated software such as Adobe Pagemaker or QuarkXpress (which could be a costly mistake if you picked one that you didn't get on with) or the sheer frustration of trying to produce decent layout in Microsoft Word.
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