[Scribus] Several reasons why columns will stay per frame in Scribus; was: Why do?

[avox]

BandiPat-2 wrote:
> 
> ---------------
> You make it sound so finite Andreas, but I'm guessing the master
> developers will have final say about it all, not you.  
> 

Haven't seen any "master" developers around so far :-)



> avox wrote:
>> Of course you can file a request for page columns and someone might
>> implement them, for ex. by extending the guidemanager or autosizing newly
>> placed textframes
>> (or you could write a python script which implements it).
> 

This doesn't sound finite to me...



> It's more
> important to make the whole program more intuitive, if you expect people
> to use it.  Page columns should have been one of the first things to
> appear, because they are one of the more simple things in DTP and one of
> the most used.  Remember the whole spill about making computers easy to
> use?  Remember computers are here to un-complicate our lives, not add to
> the stress?  If computers are to be made easy to use, then the programs
> will have to follow that premise as well.  If they don't, those programs
> will get left behind, simple as that.  I don't want to see that happen
> to Scribus, because the original developers have put too much time in
> making her come alive.
> 

The point is that frame columns are just as easy to use as page columns,
it's only you who isn't used to it. In fact I might have implemented it that
way if I had been around at that time. Changing the philosophy now would
frustrate a lot of current users.

Our current plans regarding text are
1) reworking the styles & properties palette, giving the columns option a
better place
2) improving the layout engine
3) improving table support (which currently really sucks)
4) make textframe linking more pagemaker like.

Page columns wouldn't really be a text thingy, but more related to guides
and
frame handling. subik has been working on the guidemanager recently, so
maybe
you should talk with him. There also was some talk about automagic sizing of
new textframes, but I don't know if anyone has implemented anything yet.
That way you could have your "page columns", they would just be a little
different:
* you go to guidemanager and generate a columnlayout with gap
* when you create a new frame, you get an option to automatically fill the
available space upto the next vertical guide and to the end of page
* when linking from an overflowing frame, you get an option to automatically
fill
available space on following pages (maybe creating new pages if needed)

Does that sound reasonable to you?

/Andreas
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