[Scribus] greyscale, bleed, and PDF/X-3

[Nik]

Hi All,

Thanks for a brilliant piece of software! I have been getting ever 
better results from scribus, and more recently have upgraded a relative 
of mine to using linux and scribus for their newsletter.

This newsletter is printed in monochrome (one colour on white paper) by 
a commercial printer. In addition, a PDF version of the newsletter is 
published on the website of the organisation (a library). I am trying to 
generate output for both printer and web from the one base document.

I have sent two test PDFs to the commercial printer to make sure that 
our output will work with their tools.

I created the first test PDF with scribus 1.2.4.1 using PDF/X-3 
compatability. The printer's primary issue with this PDF was that it was 
in colour, and they required greyscale for monochrome printing.

I created the second PDF using scribus 1.3.3 (built from tarball), using 
PDF 1.4 compatability, and scribus' greyscale output option. This is 
because scribus 1.3.3 does not support greyscale output with PDF/X-3.

The response frm the printer is that they require bleed. I am currently 
waiting on a reply from the printer for more precise details, but I note 
that under the PDF/X-3 options, there is a trim box which controls page 
bleed settings. If this is the bleed that the printer is referring to, 
then it seems I have two contradictory requirements from the printer.

Q: What is my best course of action to produce a PDF for the printer 
which has both bleed and greyscale?

Any and all responses gratefully accepted.


Cheers!
Nik.