[Scribus] Congratulations and initial comments...

[John Beardmore]

Louis Desjardins wrote:

> I do think the way Scribus handles images is ok ? that is, linked files. 

I can't see any harm in having it as an option.


> I do not support the idea of having pictures embedded into the .sla file 
> for workflow reasons. What I suggest is of course a RFE and is not at 
> all in my view a "must have feature" but it is a "should have" or "would 
> be nice to have" since I see so many people struggling with the broken 
> links or, worst, lost images. And this is not a Scribus-only issue. I of 
> course agree that embedding images would clearly save the broken links 
> and lost images issues but I think we would have far more issues dealing 
> with such huge file, and editing images in the workflow. For this 
> reason, I think the "dynamic collect" (optional) would be a better way.

I don't see that it has to any one way though.  In the long run I'd be 
quite happy to see the user given the choice of

     absolute path reference
     relative path reference
     collected into a directory
     collected into an archive
     contained within the .sla

though I'm happy to accept that there may be more urgent priorities than 
writing 4 new ways to save a job.

As to file size, I've worked on 130 plus page documents in page maker 
and InDesign.  Even at 71 meg, performance on a 512 meg P/II 366 MHz 
laptop was usable with Pagemaker, so on my current laptop which is 1.8 
GHz, 1 gig RAM etc, I doubt it need be a problem.

It will depend on the size of the document though of course -  another 
reason to let the user choose themselves.


> When I make the workshops on Scribus, I strongly insist on the fact that 
> the work must be well organized in order to take full advantages of the 
> software.

Yes, though I guess some peoples preferred way of keeping the work well 
organised would be to use the SLA as a container.

I'm not saying that what you want is wrong or bad, rather that I'd 
prefer not to take a dogmatic stance that precludes the development of 
other solutions.


> Creating a Text and an Image folder in the early stages of a 
> project does help keep things together. If for various reasons someone 
> finds this way to work is not suitable in a particular environment, then 
> simply don't check the "Dynamic Collect" option and use whatever method 
> you prefer. In the end, one would still have the option to "Collect for 
> output" (and actually, this "for output" is a bit of a disturbance here 
> because there are other reasons why one would want to "Collect", 
> archiving the job being one of them).

Agreed.  Backups are key, and being able to back up by project is essential.


Cheers, J/.
-- 
John Beardmore, MSc EDM (Open), B.A. Chem (Oxon), CMIOSH, AIEMA, MEI.
Managing Director, T4 Sustainability Limited. http://www.T4sLtd.co.uk/
Carbon Trust Consultant -  Energy Audit and Design Advice.
Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme Registered Assessor.
P:0845 4561332  F:0870 0522417  M:07785 563116  Skype:t4sustainability