[Scribus] Setting a thesis in Scribus (ver. 1.3.3.2 dev)?

[Marek Kaszycki]

Hi!

I will be writing a thesis this year and I would like to receive some  
advice as to how to do it in Scribus. I am used to Corel DRAW! and word  
processors (MS Word and OOo Writer). My typical workflow involved the  
following:
1. Creating the actual contents and form in a word processor.
2. Creating various title pages in Corel.
3. Exporting outputs of both programs into PDF (via GS from Word, but  
direct export from OOo and Corel).
4. Catenating the resultant PDF files with pdftk.
The output was satisfactory. But only that. My major qualms:
1. Corel is completely incapable of advanced text formatting. It is  
completely oblivious to styles and thus ill-suited for body text. However,  
it is mostly adherent to typographical rules. It handles justification and  
spacing much better, for starters. But inability to add footnotes (and  
that's only the tip of the iceberg) disqualifies it.
2. Word processors, on the other hand, do not provide any support for  
color management, are very inflexible when it comes to creating title  
pages, adding images (which had to be prepared beforehand, resolution and  
all, and printed from a PDF reader to maintain any reasonable degree of  
control), working on text flow, etc.

I tried QuarkXPress, which would solve most of my problems, but one: it's  
very expensive in the Passport version, which is required for my work. Not  
to mention that it's very slow.

So far, I'm getting acquainted with Scribus. It seems fit as far as I see  
it, but I have a few questions regarding workflow:
1. It supports aspell, doesn't it? (It's just that I'm not completely sure)
2. It seems to support styles (defined from scratch). Does it support:
a) creating table of contents based on headings (as in word processors);
b) creating indices (regardless of what it is based on -- automatic,  
manual, assisted);
c) anchoring images to paragraphs, keywords, etc.;
d) styles definitions such as 'begin on next page' (couldn't find such  
setting, probably have to go with manual?)
e) footnotes and endnotes (I wasn't able to find them);
f) live pagination (based on headings) and page numbering (within  
sections).
3. It's very similar to Corel in regard to handling text frames. Working  
with Corel's text frames is mostly manual labor, though. What about widow  
and orphan control, for one? What about more advanced features (such as  
controlling widows and orphans unless two lines of text are the only ones  
on the page, in which case resort to tightening text in that and/or  
preceding paragraph(s), for example)?

Or would you rather advise me to prepare the body of the text in OOo,  
export it to PDF and open in Scribus to make final adjustments?

Sorry if I'm asking about basics, but I either couldn't find the functions  
or couldn't get them to work properly. Hopefully, I'm simply doing  
something wrong, and not forcing Scribus to do something it cannot. I  
received a code 11 error trying to apply a style (heading). Is it a known  
bug?

Otherwise, the program is excellent. It is already very impressive, and  
shows very much promise to become the best DTP software.

Cheers!
Marek Kaszycki