[scribus] Newbie Exporting Question

[John Jason Jordan]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:25:26 -0700 (PDT)
wingsgroup <techsupport at wingsgroup.org> dijo:

> I asked about single pages vs. double pages in the Lulu.com (the printer)
> forum and here is the response I received: "Your document should be
> formatted as single pages, not spreads. You might create them as spreads in
> your DTP program, but they should be exported as single pages, because
> that's how they'll be printed." I just want to make sure I am doing this
> right, then, before I waste a bunch of time and effort. I have it all laid
> out as double pages in Scribus (as per recommendations...see the Newbie
> Questions About Spreads thread for more details about my project), so then I
> assume there is a way to export as single pages? (Remember, I am a newbie to
> everything! lol.)

I know nothing about Lulu.com, but I am going to make a wild guess that
they print on high speed lasers. If so, it will be on cut sheets using
more or less the same concept as your desktop laser - just way bigger,
faster, and with gobs of add-ons.

Assuming I am correct, then they would also probably get correct output
from spreads, the same as you would when printing to your desktop
printer, but occasionally the driver or program they are printing from
will require poking at different print options. It is simpler to print
from single pages because it eliminates potential mistakes.

I love spreads in 1.3.6, but as far as I am concerned, the only benefit
of spreads is for the designer to see exactly what the reader will see.
For example, I do only textbooks and workbooks. Usually my books have a
lot of graphics, tables, charts and other non-text elements. I try to
have at least one non-text element on every spread (one side or the
other). A solid sea of text on both pages of the spread is kind of
off-putting to the student. If they see that a quarter of one of the
pages is taken up with a graphic their brain goes "oh, I can get
through this reading easily." I am not always successful in my efforts,
but I do manage better than 90% of the time. I could still follow my
design goal while working in single-page mode, but working in spreads
makes it easier.

What the heck, everything is easier in Scribus. 

As for how to work in spreads but end up with single pages, I assume
Lulu.com wants a PDF, so just specify single pages when you export to
PDF. (Viewer > Single Pages on the export dialog box.)

You might also create a simple little four-page mock-up in Scribus
using spreads, then export to PDF as single pages, and upload to the
Lulu.com forums for comment. I'd make the mock-up with just a big text
box in the middle of each page that says "Page 1," "Page 2," etc.