[scribus] Announce Scribus 1.3.7 Released

[Gregory Pittman]

On 06/03/2010 10:43 PM, mrdocs wrote:
> On 6/3/10 10:23 PM, mrdocs wrote:
>   The Scribus Team is pleased to announce the release of Scribus 1.3.7.
>   This new release brings us closer to version the next stable release 1.4.
>
>   During this development period the team focused on stabilty and correctness.
>
>   Almost 50 bugs have been resolved since the release of 1.3.6. In addition,
>   Scribus 1.3.7 provides some minor enhancements:
>
>   * New Scripter functions
>   * Usability improvements
>   * Translation updates
>   * Updates to the documentation
>   * PDF bookmark export fixes
>   * Text layout fixes

Some commentary about the documentation:

Christoph and I will soon be starting work on the next edition of the 
Official Manual, which will anticipate the future stable 1.4 version. 
There is much to edit, much to add, and as many already know, we will 
without a doubt be taking steps to avoid the many problems incurred with 
our previous publisher.

In the short term, I have begun some "translation" of the Working 
with... series to a form more suitable to the online docs. I think you 
will find it better than on the wiki, and it also contains some new 
developments since the 1.3.3.x series.

In the coming weeks/months, I hope to take the Scripter documentation in 
a new direction, with a bit more of a tutorial/practical use approach. 
a.l.e and pygmee did a workshop at LGM 2010, and it was quite obvious to 
me that beginners really struggle to get much useful information from 
the various beginner scripts on the wiki, and I think we all know that 
the basic listing of commands might make some sense to an accountant 
trying to categorize the various commands with mathematical precision, 
yet fails to approach the practical task of making a script do some 
useful function. I don't anticipate that this new Scripter approach will 
become a part of the new manual version.

I also hope to be able to use the new Scripter approach as a basis for a 
workshop for LGM 2011 (as long as a.l.e and pygmee don't feel I'm 
stepping on their toes).

One of my personal biases, and something I think that can really set 
Scribus apart from many other FOSS projects, is that we should be 
looking at documentation as something that should be marching in step 
with the developers, so that we begin to think that underneath the major 
heading of Development we really have Program Development and 
Documentation Development.

I come to Scribus as a neurologist, but I would also point out that my 
interests go far beyond neurology, computers, and Scribus in particular. 
I also have interests in various new concepts in the business world, and 
I suspect am one of the few neurologists, and probably the only LGM 
participant who subscribes to the Harvard Business Review. The reason I 
mention this is that there is the concept in the business world of 
"value added", that as you provide some product or service which someone 
might obtain by other means (and Scribus is both a product and a 
service), you need to show in as many ways as possible why someone 
should choose Scribus over its alternatives. Another concept is that it 
is unwise to compete on price alone, thus the fact that Scribus is free 
only goes so far.

What these concepts help you do is to not ever strive for "good enough". 
They also help you prioritize the choices about where to go next, 
searching out the most important barriers to Scribus adoption, creating 
an experience for the user which surpasses their expectations (called 
the "wow factor" in some circles).

It may be a surprise, but it turns out that one of the roles I perceive 
for myself as a physician is that of cheerleader, cheering my patients 
on as they follow some new direction of taking care of themselves, do 
some hard work working with therapists to regain function, cheering on 
the nurses and therapists I work alongside as they deal with difficult 
problems and persevere for the sake of the patients they help.

Likewise, I want to cheer on everyone who sincerely cares about this 
project, from developers down to the users for their efforts to make 
Scribus all it can be (and beyond).

Greg