[Scribus] Image compression in PDF export

[Wolfgang Dobler]

I think the PDF export dialog could need some improvements to make
production of web-oriented (i.e. compact) PDF easier.

If I export a document with a few JPEG images to PDF and click `Resample
images', there are two points that are irritating.

1. Images are also `upsampled' (refined) if they originally had a lower
   resolution than what I choose here. I think this is rarely useful and
   if it needs to be possible, there should at least be a radio button
   `Never upsample' [replace by word that really exists] that is on by
   default.
     In an ideal world, this situation would never occur, but in reality
   you have to deal with low-resolution photos from you contributors all
   of the time.

2. The default settings for compression are `Compression Method:
   Automatic' and `Compression Quality: Maximum'.
     The tooltip for `Automatic' tells me quite convincingly that Scribus
   knows what is good for me. But it doesn't, because as soon as I
   resample, the compression is lossless and so the resulting PDF file
   gets huge.

   For web-oriented PDF, good defaults would be `Compression Method: Lossy
   - JPEG' and probably `Quality: High'.
     To distinguish this from the maximum-quality settings desirable for
   print-oriented PDF, I see two options:
   (a) change the defaults as soon as resampling is activated (which you
       would not normally do for print-shop PDF).
   (b) add a radio-button or menu list where the user can choose between
       `web-oriented (compact)' and `print-oriented (best quality)'
       settings. If you go for `web-oriented', the compression method and
       quality get set to the defaults given above.

I know that Scribus focuses more on print-oriented output, but given that
all the pieces for efficient image compression are there, it is a shame
that users need to to do `strange things' to get compact PDF out of
Scribus.
  With `strange things', I mean e.g. to not believe the tooltip when it
says it knows what it is doing. I know other people who had a hard time
figuring the JPEG compression settings out, and it also took myself (who
likes to play and experiment) far too long.


Opinions?

Should I post this as an enhancement request (might take a while as I
leave for holidays tomorrow)?


W o l f g a n g