[scribus] flexible text box lenght

[Gregory Pittman]

Chantal Rosmuller wrote:
> Great thanks, this is useful!
>
>  wrote:
>   
>> ciao chantal
>>
>>     
>>> Okay but is it possible to check this with a script?
>>>       
>> i've never tried (it's one of my goals for this year to play a bit with
>> scribus scripting... it must be fun :-), but i recally having read on
>> this list, that you should go this way, if you want to adjust the height
>> of a frame through a script.
>>
>> http://docs.scribus.net/index.php?lang=en&page=scripterapi-textframes
>> mentions a textOverflows() method...
>>
>> so: yes, you should be able to do it with a script!
>>     
We hope to have something more easily used when the Scripter-NG is more 
fully implemented.
There is a basic principle here, though, to keep in mind:
Use the Scripter for repetitive and tedious operations, but use the main 
Scribus interface especially when you need something which needs to be 
highly flexible.

This automatic adjustment of frames so that text will fit, while maybe 
seeming simple, actually involves many possible ways to change various 
parameters.
1) you can keep all text features the same and simply adjust height 
and/or width of the frame.
2) you can adjust font size
3) you can adjust linespacing
4) you can adjust the height/width of characters as compared to standard 
dimensions
5) you can adjust word tracking/kerning
6) you might change to a condensed font or a different font altogether
7) you might turn off/on hyphenation

Furthermore, with the main GUI, you can mix these changes, or choose to 
apply changes to only part of the text, maybe just a few words or lines.

Layout is said to be a process of making a judicious and pleasing use of 
the white space of the page, not simply filling in as much white space 
as possible, and it's this kind of thing that a script is not going to 
be good at.

Greg