[scribus] 1.3.5 Windows spelling checker ?

[Louis Desjardins]

2008/8/20 Gregory Pittman <gpittman at iglou.com>

> Gregory Pittman wrote:
>
>> John Beardmore wrote:
>>
>>> I'm playing with the 1.3.5 windows svn and was hoping to be able to use
>>> the spelling checker. Is it implemented yet, or do I need to install other
>>> stuff or something ?
>>>
>> There is a spell checker in 1.3.5 (Aspell).
>>
>> http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/1.3.x_Roadmap#1.3.5_.3C--_We_are_now_here
>>
>> I have to say I haven't built 1.3.5svn with it enabled, so I don't know
>> how it's invoked (maybe the Context menu?).
>>
>> On top of that, I don't know if it is incorporated into the 1.3.5svn
>> Windows build that you can download.
>>
> I've been trying to get it to work, but perhaps with other ongoing problems
> with Scribus, right now it's not usable -- I get a Signal #11 crash.
>
> What you do is select a frame then press F7 or Item > Spell Checker, and
> some windows pop up. Could get that far only with an empty frame, then it
> crashed anyway.
>

I am sorry to enter late in the discussion. I am not responding here to
Greg's post. But I think it is important to have a general overview of the
Spell Checking issue as it arises from time to time on this list.

We have to wonder if a Spell Checker belongs or not in the DTP world, and
especially in Open Source where it is obvious that people have a real choice
of picking the application that is just good for a given task. They don't
have to pay extra bucks to get a WP that has all those tools at hand... We
seem to often forget that reality.

>From the world I come from, a spell checker at this stage of the workflow is
close to useless. It's not the right time, it's not the right people, it's
too late in the process.

Use a spell checker when you write, when you revise, when you proofread. All
that can be (has to be) done upstream.

I know what I say can lead into a long discussion. Arguments such as "it''s
now possible, let's reinvent the workflow" may arise... Or, weaker, "I do
all the work myself and I want to be able to spell check at any time in the
process"... etc.

Spell checking at DTP level is close to be a waste of time for everybody in
the workflow. Even if there is only one person in the workflow. People have
a hard time getting this idea across but let's put it in a more concrete
manner. It's exactly like asking the plumber or the electrician to come over
once the walls are closed. I cannot support this idea from my humble
knowledge of the publishing workflow and from 20+ years of production
experience. And no, this is not fighting! It's common sense. But, to
understand this common sense, one has to be aware of the whole process.

The concrete has dried and you now want to change the basement. Okay! Do
what you want! Call the heavy machines on site. Break the concrete. Redo
everything. But there are far more productive ways to work and it's far more
efficient to learn them than to want to achieve counterstream operations.
And there are more productive ways than to ask the coders to give you tools
that will allow just about anything to be done in any order, no matter if
this is counterproductive or not. I believe we have a problem here.

Some specialised tasks have to be done but not in any order! We could find
dozens of such examples. When in a restaurant, you don't expect the beef to
be killed just before your eyes. The beef will have to be killed at some
point, yes. But way upstream. Now, we are at plate serving and there is no
room for killing the beef at this moment. Plus, it's going to be a mess.
Now, you may smile reading this but really, the same applies to spell
checking. At some point it's going to be a mess and we have to acknowledge
this. Spell checking has to be done upstream. Plus, it has to be done by
skilled people, not a blind computer. (But I agree the computer could help.)

As always, I am ready to listen to new ways, new ideas... We never know! But
I look at this also from the perspective that we have lots of things much
more difficult and critical to deal with and Spell Checking is not and
cannot be a priority. At least, I hope it is not a priority!

I don't know if I made the point clear... or clearer... Please let me know.
I will try to explain better if it has to be clearer. One more thing I could
say is the digital world often lead us to believe we can do and redo just
about anything and it's always a matter of seconds, or minutes... But this
is not true. It may well be a matter of hours... and more. Digital
production workflow is facing real efficiency issues over time and we are
only beginning to realise this. There is lots of time lost in front of
computer screens.

We often want to program to go faster and do everything and we forget that
the most important is not the program, it's the human using it.

And again, we only have a few coders...

Cheers!

Louis


>
>
> Greg
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.scribus.net/pipermail/scribus/attachments/20080820/436c7c4e/attachment.htm>