[Scribus] Scribus ease of use

[Gracia M. Littauer]

> ?To Pat, I think MS Publisher is the software for
> you and your newbie friend. ?It does all you are asking for. ?Scribus
> is a different sort of tool.

Oh? I thought is was a DTP <giggle>.

As a female I want to have the last word ;^)

First, the Standard Disclamer, Pat & the NOT newbie client (only to 
Scribus) are good friends, not to say we don't have great discusions on 
what is simple &/or logical. Pat is also my hardware & software vendor 
& my Linux mavin. I don't think he was looking for "baby wizard" tools 
to pop up, just easier & maybe more organized way to find the tools to 
use. 

I think this was a great thread....The basic problem I saw was one's 
take on what 'intuitive' & 'simple' mean. To me it means logical ...but 
of course that is somewhat subjective. Semantics also a 
problem...frame, text frame, column. You call it a frame, I call it a 
box; you call it a text frame, I call it a column; you call how to make 
a magazine a tutorial, I call how to find & use the tools a 
tutorial....."Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (goggle this if you don't 
know what that means)

I think a tutorial should NOT be how to make a product, but a walk 
through of the basic steps that Scribus uses to design a page or pages 
ie: opening a new page, what kind of page; making a text frame & how to 
to use the properties; how to put columns in it ('shape'??? come on, no 
one in their right mind would guess it was there!), how to see ('show 
text frame columns' turned on should be default IMNSHO) & link them, 
next same with graphics, then go on to how to import text from a WP or 
editor. Once one knows how to do these simple basic tasks and where to 
look for things, it's relatively easy to find one's way to more 
sophisticated tasks.

Just finding out how to do the columns gave me the easy way to reproduce 
my family calendar templet. Did it for yrs with family pix & my 
relatives thought I was a genius ;^).

I don't really think designing a newsletter is SO different from 
designing a magazine or book or anything, you have to know how to use 
the tools!!!  Good design is an Art form & a whole different 
story..learning & using Scribus as a tool to create it should be the 
major thrust of any tutorial.

I have used Amiga PgS (15 yrs) & PageMaker & I still had a hard time 
getting comfortable in Scribus. I must add that this list & the IRC are 
the greatest. 

-- 
Gracia...Cooleemee, NC   Registered Linux user #263390 - SuSE 10 Pro
My country, right or wrong. If right, to be kept right, if wrong, to be 
put right.