[scribus] layout software...scribus or Tex?

[Gregory Pittman]

On 11/25/2012 11:13 PM, Erich Dollansky wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:50:04 -0700
> Christen Anderson <christenanderson1994 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hey everybody...
>> I've been working off and on with scribus for a couple years now...
>> love it! My question is, I'm getting ready to lay out a book (~100
>> pages). It's sort of a reference book... there will be probably a few
>> (10 or 15 at the most) diagrams, and maybe side columns by the
>> margins to take notes. Would it be better to use Scribus or Tex for
>> this? I haven't done much with Tex, so it's kind of a steep learning
>> curve, but I'm reasonably computer savvy, so I think I could do it.
>> So.. should I learn Tex and use that, or import from OO directly into
>> Scribus, or use Tex for the basic layout then import into Scribus..
>> or what?
>>
> 
> I think that in this case, this list will not be of much help. Scribus
> can do the job. If you feel comfortable with it, just use it.
> 
> There would be no reason to consider other programs. Else, you could
> also start writing your own software.
> 
> I do not see a reason for you to make a switch now. If you want, you
> can learn TeX after this project when there is no pressure on you.
> 

More or less, I would agree with Erich. There would be a lot of appeal
in using TeX for this, given what you are describing. Getting the
diagrams right and to your satisfaction might take a little work. I
would not recommend importing this much TeX into Scribus.

But as Erich says, if you are comfortable with Scribus, it easily has
the capability of handling this. You will want/need to break this up
into smaller chunks, then use pdftk or something similar to assemble the
final PDF, but this is quite easy.

Greg