[scribus] Confused on how to insert/delete pages

[John Beardmore]

Mark F. wrote:

> Hi Mark -- Best not to be making such major changes so late in the 
> workflow of the document. If you have to insert an odd number of pages, 
> though, you'll need to go through the later ones that have moved, select 
> each one, go to Page >> Apply Master Page, and select the correct master 
> (right or left).
> DAN
> 
> Eeeyow.  Okay.  Looks like more explanation on my part is in order.
> 
> I have a good idea of what the book is going to look like.  I can lay out 
> individual chapters with good results.  I have a handle on the margins, 
> illustrations, headers/footers, and virtually all other details.
> 
> This is a technical/hobbyist book which consists of numerous sections, 
> each on a different piece of equipment.  I have more sections than are 
> necessary to reach my target size of 235-250 pages  (~125 two-sided 
> pages).  That's why I'm looking for a way to move, add, or delete 
> sections.  Right now, I don't have a final idea of WHICH sections are 
> ultimately going to be used because I don't have a good enough 
> estimate of the page count until I actually lay them out with all the 
> pix.  This is a heavily-illustrated book.  Sort of a Catch-22.

I share your problem in that I use Scribus to put technical reports 
together, and sometimes, (probably usually !), things get inserted at a 
late stage as things evolve.

This seems to offend the layout purists who feel that Scribus should 
ONLY be used for layout once all the elements that will be in the final 
draft of a document are available, and further, seem to feel that 
Scribus should make little if any compromise to any other way of working.


> Certainly people have had to add an odd number of pages to a two-sided 
> book late in the game for some reason or other. Either that or I'm totally 
> abusing the desktop publishing concept.  :confused:

I tend to the view that the way you want to use it is fine, though for 
people from a production workflow background it may not seem very 
conventional.

I 'abuse the desktop publishing concept' because it's more up to the job 
than word processing, and I don't take especially kindly to being told 
that I can't work my way because it doesn't fit the traditional 
production orthodoxy.


> BTW, I did try an example of deleting a single page, then going to one of 
> resulting offset pages and applying a correct master page.  As far as I
> could
> see, nothing happened at all.  Probably something I goofed up.

It will put the correct guides in place. I assume they are different for 
left and right pages ?  But it won't move the page content as the guides 
change.  That has to be done by hand, but I agree that if it's possible 
to implement it would be a useful feature.


> Another way to get around this could be writing the book in separate 
> Scribus documents, then concatenating them together in the order I 
> desire.

This is generally recommended because for the time being at least, 
Scribus seems to slow down a lot with large documents.

20 pages or one chapter seems to be about the recommended size, though 
personally I've never bothered to split things, and I've got away with a 
61 page doc, a mixture of diagrams and groups of linked text boxes. 
(2.4 GHz Pentium 4, windows XP with 4 gig of RAM.)

It maybe that I'd have had many more problems if I had a single story in 
61 pages of linked text boxes ?


>  However, the same problem would result if a section 
> ended on a RHS page and I had chosen to begin each section on a RHS 
> page.  But in that case I'm dealing with an easier solution.  The sections 
> tend to be no more than ten pages each, usually around 5-7 pages.  
> 
> I could compose the separate sections, each starting on a RHS page.  When
> that is
> done, it would give me a page count and I could pick the sections to
> include.
> Then I could begin concatenating them.  If I happen to have a section that 
> ends on a RHS page, I can fix the next section by translating each of the
> pages' contents by selecting all items with Shift-Right Click and moving 
> them to the correct margin with Ctrl-Shift-(left or right arrow).  This last 
> works -- I've tried it.  Crude, but it's a solution.

I have a dim recollection that there will be a better one arising from 
leaving all the Scribus pages centred, then using imposition software to 
do the left hand / right hand page thing from Scribus PDF output ?  I've 
never tried it though.


> Question is now whether I can build up a book by concatenating sections.
> Will try a test of that next with some sample sections by importing, cutting
> and pasting,

If you dig back through the archives I think you'll find what you need.


> Every once in a while, the process would "eat" one's work.  Not good.

:)   That's what backups are for !


Cheers, J/.
-- 
John Beardmore, MSc EDM (Open), B.A. Chem (Oxon), CMIOSH, AIEMA, MEI
Managing Director, T4 Sustainability Limited. http://www.T4sLtd.co.uk/
Energy Audit, Carbon Management, Design Advice, Sustainable Energy
Consultancy and Installation, Carbon Trust Standard Registered Assessor
Phone: 0845 4561332   Mobile: 07785 563116   Skype: t4sustainability