[scribus] Bulleted Lists in Scribus (yes, I know....)

[Tony Hamilton]

On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 00:16 +0100, scribus-request at lists.scribus.net
wrote:
> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:40:35 +0100
> From: "a.l.e" <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch>
> Subject: Re: [scribus] Bulleted Lists in Scribus (yes, I know....)
> To: scribus at lists.scribus.net
> Message-ID: <20110110224035.27bd099d at eisflach>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> hi tony,
> 
> > > 1. It runs faster than my ability to think, never mind watch the
> > > video. I really have no idea what it is doing.
> > >
> > > 2. I'm really not going to do all that work just to create a
> better
> > > looking bullet - assuming that I happen to have a suitable
> graphic,
> > > which can be reduced in size and still have meaning afterwards,
> > > lying around in my system.
> > >
> > > Is there a better documented way for doing this? I see claims that
> > > many large books have been produced using Scribus. Did they all
> not
> > > need to use bullets? How do other users get round this limitation?
> 
> > MY solution: 
> > 1. Set up the page in TeX. I suggest the Context variant.
> > 2. Import the page as a pdf file.
> 
> i do engrave my bullets in stones (it's not difficult, they are just
> holes) and than throw them into the monitor. most of the time it
> works.
> 
> 
> well, let's get serious.
> 
> 
> when you you're in a text frame in edit mode you get two blue
> triangles in the horizontal ruler, move them until you have an indent.
> then add a tabulator at the same horizontal position as the horizontal
> indent
> add a bullet in the line and, with the tabulator key, jump under the
> tab.
> 
> if you need lists in your document, you will probably want to create a
> text style with the indent.
> 
> this works with 1.3.9.
> 
> what scribus does not support, is to automatically add the bullets or
> number the items... but i don't think that it will be a big problem
> for you...
> 
> 
> ciao
> a.l.e
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------ 

HI a.i.e
Let me start by thanking you for the humour and the mini-tutorial.

Please be aware that I have serious personality flaw: software irritates
me unreasonably when it behaves in a significantly counter-intuitive
way. 

Your humour has turned out to be most prescient. Don't you find that
retrieving the stones causes all sorts of brilliant, noisy and
odoriferous blue sparks and flashes, around the tips of the pliers,
from the deeper recesses of the CRT? I know I do.....

Now I need your patience, to help me through this mini tutorial -
because almost none of it works on my system (Stable and NG versions).

I need to take it step by step:

"when you you're in a text frame in edit mode"

Edit mode ? If I use <Edit>>Edit Text>  or use the icons at the top of
the screen or the keyboard short cut, then I open the Story Editor - and
there is no ruler there. The only other way I know to edit text in a
text frame is to double click within the frame. Is this what you mean by
'in edit mode' ?

When I do this there are no blue triangles in the (top) ruler in Stable,
but there are in NG - so does your advice apply only to NG?

I can get the 2 blue triangles on a ruler, when I am editing a paragraph
style (in either Stable or NG - with the interface being much nice in
the latter).

When I double click in a text frame to enter edit mode, in either
version, parts of the horizontal rule change from black to blue  and are
renumbered. The blue appearance of the ruler is offset by a large amount
from the position of the text frame. I find this utterly confusing.

The 2 blue triangles appear on the horizontal rule in NG only. Trying to
move them is a considerable exercise in frustration, when in 'edit
mode', but not when editing a paragraph style - the ease of use
differences are dramatic. In text edit mode I found that about 95% of
the time my attempts to move the blue triangles to create the indent
effect you promise result in the blue portion of the ruler moving an
equal amount, removing all meaning in the ruler for me.

If there happens to be any text in the frame, then the blue triangles
immediately return to their initial location - no matter where that is -
when I release the mouse button. It seems like there are anchored with
elastic. And the text is moved.

Trying to get the 2 triangles to line up exactly is not possible on my
system - there are always misaligned by a small margin.

The only way I can set a tabulator is by dragging a copy which appears
when I place the mouse pointer in the ruler to either the left or the
right of the 2 triangles - but positioning this tab. under these
triangles is not easily accomplished  because as the pointer approaches
the position of the triangles it changes to a (relatively) much larger
double headed arrow which obscures the location of the 2 triangles. The
usability is not good.

At this stage there is a large horizontal offset between the position of
the 2 blue triangles and the position of the left-most character of text
in the frame. In the test sample I am looking at as I write it seems to
be about 50 picas - with the text well to the left of the triangles.
Thus the triangles give me no clue as to where the text will appear on
the page - which is absolutely counter-intuitive.

I can insert a bullet only in 'edit mode' (i.e. not in Paragraph style
edit mode, which is where I would really like to insert the bullet) and
it is inserted  at the indented position, immediately to the left of the
leftmost text character - with no spacing between bullet and text. The
appearance is thus poor.

You then tell me to 'jump under the tab' - but the cursor is already
there by virtue of the  bullet having been inserted at that point - so
this step has no meaning.

Finally you say: "if you need lists in your document [yes I do! - that's
where I came in to this show...], you will probably want to create a
text style with the indent."

Huh? But I already found that I can't insert a bullet in the paragraph
style editor!

And at the end of the this process, I (so far, don't) end up with a list
using the standard 'single size,fixed shape, any colour as long as it is
black, fits all and liked by none' bullet - which is what I am trying to
avoid.


Sorry, I have to stop here  and vacuum the floor - all those glass
shards stick in the foot, don't they? And my local monitor retail store
closes soon....


Tony