[scribus] degenerate objects

[John Culleton]

On Wednesday 10 February 2010 05:03:22 K.King wrote:
> <<
> Certainly, if someone wants to fork Scribus into a Scribus-For-Dummies
> version, I say, go for it!
>
> I say, go for it too, I know a lot of people who would like that and
> would benefit from it.
> IMHO I would not like a fork though, I believe that you can build
> applications with choices supporting profiles or preferences which then
> allow a range of users to use the software, with no discrimination.
> A professional should certainly be able to use a piece of software that
> is easy to use, provided it is (still) capable.
> I don't think you need to drop the original goals of scribus, you just
> make them your primary goals, and by introducing secondary ones you
> could broaden it's appeal and usefulness to more than just the original
> target audience.
>
>
> <<
> Otherwise I think we want to promote professionalism and knowing your
> content and paying attention to the array of information that Scribus
> has at your disposal.
>
> I know what you are saying, and as I've said above I think you can still
> make software such that that behaviour is available and or possibly the
> default after selecting the "professional profile". But there are other
> potential users of Scribus who do not need that level of
> "professionalism" for all of their work or uses all of the time, though
> they may have sporadic needs for it and that is where have the one
> application with the ability to choose the level of "professionalism"
> would be useful. If you broaden the appeal, you may find more
> constructive feedback that is universal (equally applicable to
> professionals and dummies) and maybe even more developers too.
>
> e.g. The Preflight Verifier, as per my other posting, whether you are
> professional or amateur, I think offering an initial quick summary of
> the types of problems and an indication of the number of instances of
> each could be useful no matter the user level. The professional could
> drill down / expand the list (and potentially sort as desired) and
> resolve in the order they wish, while the amateur can quickly scan for
> anything that concerns them and only look at the ones that worry them?
> You can always leave the existing mechanism for the "die-hard retro"
> profile users :-)
>
>
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I think a simplified set of written instructions can walk a beginner through 
the easy steps to get to an acceptable product. One approach is the single-
purpose instruction. My e-book certainly does not cover in 38 pages what the 
Scribus Manual covers in 438.  But it was my intent at least to guide the 
neophyte through the task of making a book cover.  A similar one could be 
written for brochures, beginning with the fact that the two sides of a 
brochure are really two separate pages in Scribus.  We can't assume anything. 

The fork of Scribus itself into two different products is IMO a bad idea. 
Resources are limited. And repurposing a product to suit a different audience
is probably less effective than choosing/creating a product already designed 
from the beginning with that audience in mind. Microsoft Publisher comes to 
mind. 
-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
Printable E-book 38 pages $5.95
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html