[Scribus] Some basics?

[Matt Savigear]

Hello Scribus users,

I have just installed Scribus (on Linux) and have some pretty basic
questions which don't seem to be answered in the docs - they're more
along the lines of recommendations anyway.

I want to create a relatively long manual, of perhaps 200 pages all
told. Now, I know I need to create the text separately (probably by
chapter) and create tables and picture elements separately, and then
tie them all together in the scribus frames. No problem.

There are still a few things I'm unsure of:

(a) Having made my last efforts using LaTeX I love the document
structuring features but I was unable to fully get the layout I wanted.
LaTeX does have some neat features such as automatic section numbering.
You can generate a section layout such as:
  2
   2.1
     2.1.1
     2.1.2
   2.2
   2.3
   2.3.1
  3
...and so on, and if you insert a new \section header in the text
between, say, 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 it will automatically renumber the old
one at 2.1.3 and keep document integrity. Can this be done in scribus? 

(b) What do people use for their text editing needs? It seems that the
cleanest way of doing this is to write in absolutely plain text however
that makes it difficult to denote chapter and section headings, as well
as numbered and bulleted lists. Is HTML a good medium? This would allow
lists and headings without trying to export style information I would
rather leave to scribus.

I guess what I am really asking is what is the cost/benefit of using
scribus? How much more manual layout needs to be done over direct
content creation in a word processor or markup language?
Benefit: Vastly better control over document layout.
Cost:    Loss of a lot of neat automated functionality.

Of course, what I'd _really_ like to be able to do is import LaTeX
documents into scribus for layout. That would be very neat indeed!

Many thanks for any responses!

-- 

Cheers,

Matt.

"I think I would say that, no matter what the other conditions, you can
pretty much ruin a relationship by tumble-drying your girlfriend's
baby." - Michael Hopcroft