[scribus] Tracking and linespacing

[Mike Morris]

I am using Scribus 1.3.3.13 on a Win XP/Pro SP3 computer.  I applied manual
tracking to 2 lines of text.  When I click elsewhere in the text, and then
back into the line of text that has the manual tracking, the tracking % is
displayed as 0.

I searched the bug files and found issue #0006340, which describes the issue
(not limited to manual tracking) as a "feature."  However, in a note
displayed with the issue description, I found this:

"What I find could be improved here is that Scribus could keep track of the
value actually applied so user could know by simply clicking in a text
whether a value was added or not, and what it was."

From that note, I tentatively concluded that Scribus is working as
designed.  Am I correct?

If so, I strongly suggest the development team reconsider this issue and
change the operation of this "feature" such that manual tracking is
displayed after its application.  Is it necessary to file a new bug report
to stimulate that reconsideration?  I read the "Better Justification in
1.3.4" article, but it does not appear to apply to the situation I have
described.

Also, I have several comments regarding the linespacing feature:

If I enter a text frame into a document, and apply a font style and
automatic linespacing before I enter any text into the frame, when I import
text into the frame, everything looks OK.

However, if I click anywhere in the imported text in that text frame,
automatic linespacing reverts to fixed linespacing and I cannot change it
back (selecting automatic linespacing from the Properties/Text window does
not work).  Based on testing with a few fonts, this is not a font style
related issue.

If I create a text frame, select automatic linespacing before I enter text,
and type in text (using the Edit Contents of Frame tool), I cannot change it
(selecting fixed linespacing does not work).

If I create a text frame and accept all default values, and then type in
text, I cannot change the linespacing of selected text (selecting automatic
linespacing does not work).

In the bug tracker, I found 48 issue reports with a search criteria of
"linespacing", including 0004852, with those issues that appear to be
relevant to my observations all closed.  In 4852 is this statement: "It's
necessary to deselect the text frame and reselect to get the correct mode
displayed."  That does not work.

Scribus needs to allow the user to select linespacing to meet the needs of
the document.  I suggest to the development team that the existence of so
many bug reports on this "feature" indicates that the linespacing feature in
Scribus needs to be modified.  I thought about submitting another bug
report, and I will do so if the development team will reconsider the issue,
but that does not appear to be an issue of importance to the team at
present.
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