[Scribus] Windows booklet printing

[Peter Nermander]

> > I make a difference between imposition and simple booklet printing. Simple booklet priting
>  > is where you say "take these pages and try to put them 2-up so when I 
> fold I get a booklet".
>  > Imposition is where you tell "take these pages and place them like 
> this on the sheet".
 
> And one is a subset of the other, of course.

Not the way I see it. Booklet prinitng is having the computer guess how you want things to look. Imposition is telling the computer how you want it to look.

DTP is about telling the computer how you want things to look. You do not want the computer to make any guesses or "help" you where you don't want help.

When I want to do simple things and want the computer to help me, I use MS Word.

When I want 100% control of how things look and are placed, I use Scribus.

And when I want good layout for complex documents without having to work to much I use LyX.

> I disagree.  Agreed, printer margins vary - but assuming the booklet's 
> own margins are larger than those of the printer, then it's not an 
> issue.  What *is* an issue is the absurd habit certain printer drivers 

Som drivers add the documents margins to the printer margins (to make sure whe whole printed image is visible on the paper), paper feeding might make margins different from one page to another etc.

> And why is that a problem?  Why should they learn the advanced parts if 
> they have no *need* to do more than print A5 booklets?

The point is WHY do they need to print A5 booklets? My guess is they need it because it's all they know. And that is the problem. The use a "not so good" solution because it's the only solution they know.

> The problem is that if Word, OpenOffice or Publisher remain a better fit 
> for this task, people will use them (as they *should*, if they're a 
> better fit) - but will try and continue to use them when they need to 
> work on "proper" print jobs - for which they present nothing but 
> nightmares later on, when those of us in pre-press have to try and get 
> reliable separations produced from them!

In my opinion that is not bad. As long as they don't understand the difference, they are better off with such applications. I think you should always use the tool that is right for the job. Not use the most advanced tool for simple jobs because you MIGHT have us for it in the future.

Most of my friend use Photoshop for their digital photos. What do they use PS for? Well, cropping the images and changing the size. Maybe sometimes also change brightness. Why are they using PS for such simple tasks when there are cheaper (even free) alternatives that can do it? Because someone have told them "Photoshop is the best there is".