[scribus] Templates vs. master pages vs. (page styles)?

[Gregory Pittman]

HI David,
I'll try to answer what I can interspersed with your questions.

On 9/16/20 9:01 AM, David Gessel wrote:
> Dear Scribus list:
> 
> I'd like to be able to define a page format - optimally multiple - that I can pre-design and assign to a document and then apply as editable.  I think I've exhausted the obvious mechanisms, I apologize for the enumeration of the obvious but to save back and forth:
> 
> It seems master pages are specifically intended for non-editable elements, what might be called "background" or "header and footer" (in less flexible environments).  This is wonderful and useful, but not what I'm looking for.
> 
> It seems Templates are used to define entire document designs, absent content.  This is also great for fixed length, pre-designed documents.  A powerful feature, to be sure, but also not quite what I'm looking for in that I can't define a single page template, then create a new document and "add page" and have that template applied.  Indeed, it seems the only way to apply the template is to copy paste the template structure to the next page, a somewhat plausible work flow if one carefully keeps a content free copy to the side.
> 
> If I look through the interface, where I would expect to find it would be in the Style Manager under "Page Styles," if such a thing existed.  I would expect construction of page styles to be similar to construction of and management of "master pages." I'd think it might include something like a mechanism for specifying "next page style" and or "next page even/next page odd" and auto-connect like-named text flows, auto-adding pages as text frames are filled.

>From what you're saying, I would suggest copying a page (Page > Copy) with its layout (which you can place where you want), then changing its content as needed. You're right, Master Pages are generally for fixed content. Another option you have is to copy a page from some external document. (Page > Import) What you could have then, would potentially be some documents with a particular layout, content or perhaps no content, to use for that purpose. Maybe even a general purpose document that has different layouts on different pages as a resource.
> 
> 
> As an aside, for the convenience of combined content creator/page designers, I've found "Next Paragraph Tag" or "Next Style" definitions helpful as might be found when defining a "paragraph style."
> 
> Is there a way to define the Column and Text Distance in a paragraph style?

Column and Text Distances are features of text frames not of a Paragraph Style. Here again, you might have a text frame, with or without content, having the settings you want copied to another location and the content edited/added.

Greg