[Scribus] Linux Font Editor?

[Christoph Schäfer]

Hi John, hi Robert,

> I know the problem (I'm a Linguist).
> In my opinion the only way to produce quality text
> that satisfies all the needs of proper typography 
> *and* to have IPA symbols (all of them) is LaTeX.

Actually, that's not true. There are lots of IPA font sets available 
(Type 1, TrueType, and OTF), and some of them are even for free (as in 
beer). As usual, google is your friend ... ;) And you can achieve 
excellent typographical results in layout software like Scribus or 
InDesign too. Remember that their respective algorithms are, at least to 
a certain degeree, based on TeX/LaTeX. It just takes more work ...

> I have been lecturing on phonetics and phonology at
> university in the summer term and I had no problems
> of this sort at all, because I used LaTeX (with the
> TIPA package).
> 
> I know that many people don't want to start using
> LaTeX because they think it's too difficult or
> cumbersome to use.

In my view, LaTeX is much easier to use than a word processor when it 
comes to editing complex and demanding documents. All you need is a good 
LaTeX book, and there's definitely no scarcity of good LaTeX books. In 
case someone really wants to work with a GUI, there's LyX, which has an 
excellent documentation.

> But I think it's definitely worth
> the effort. And: after more than fifteen years

Minor nitpick: more than twenty years :)

> it is
> still superior to professional (and expensive)
> software in many ways. IPA Symbols, for example.

LaTeX is as professional as a software can be. It's just not necessarily 
commercial.

Cheers, have a nice weekend,

Christoph