[Scribus] qt problem - work-around found

[Steve Herrick]

Patrick wrote:

 > Steve,
 > Linux is about as simple as anything to install right now, even for the
 > casual user.

Well, that depends on the distro. There's Mandrake at one end, and 
Debian at the other. Not that I want to discourage people - I myself 
plan to attempt the live net installation of PPC Debian, in the pike 
position, degree of difficulty 3.9.

 > Scribus, I believe could compete quite well in the DTP arena.  It does
 > indeed have a ways to go in some areas, but considering the version,
 > these guys have done a remarkable job!

I quite agree, and had said this at various times. I'm now using it for 
my day job.

I would like to respond to your
 > 3 items as well.
 >
 > 1.  It would be nice if you could set it up to automatically create and
 > continue typing into a new text box, should you exceed the one you are
 > working in at the time or even have the box automatically expand as you
 > type.

This doesn't really respond to my point, but it's a valid observation 
none the less. My only question would be how the program is supposed to 
know were to put the new text box, and what size and shape to make it.

I could see some problem with this though as Scribus is not
 > intended to be a word processor, so don't try to use it as such.  Maybe
 > the developers could include a basic text editor in the program to open
 > as a separate window.  I have used other DTP programs that do this.

Primarily Pagemaker, I suspect. I thought this was kind of cool back in 
the day, but once I started using InDesign, I wondered how I ever put up 
with it. I like having a true WYSIWYG editing environment. I agree a DTP 
program should not be treated as a word processor, but I also know that 
I do text editing right up until I turn the final PDF over to the printer.

 > 2.  Font display has been working pretty well for me in Scribus for a
 > long time now, but I would like a better result when changing sizes.

It's getting better, no doubt. But it really needs to be perfect.

 > Having to go into the Measurements window to adjust line spacing to keep
 > down the font overlap seems crude.

Indeed.

 > 3.  RPMs are available for just about every distro now of the stable
 > releases, but if you want to keep on the bleeding edge, then CVS is the
 > only way to go!

I'm thinking like a Scribus evangelist. Our biggest potential field of 
growth is among people who are currently thinking "This Linux thing 
sounds interesting, but there doesn't seem to be a DTP app for it. 
What's this? 'Scribus?' OK, I'll give it one chance." Clearly, these are 
not bleeding-edge people, nor are they people who care to track down QT, 
so I'm glad to hear there are RPMs. How about apt-get?

 > Hope that helps to clarify.
 >
 > Patrick

Ditto.
-- 
Steve
==
If elections are just something where you go in, you push a button,
and go home, then it doesn't make much difference which button you push.
- Noam Chomsky