[Scribus] spellcheck for Scribus

[John Beardmore]

Louis Desjardins wrote:
> 2007/12/27, John Beardmore <John at t4sltd.co.uk <mailto:John at t4sltd.co.uk>>:

> Long intro to mention that, as a rule that may have many exceptions, it 
> is far better to spellcheck (and edit thoroughly) any text before 
> starting the layout but there are cases where it will prove to be the 
> way around. But again, if so far some of us don't recommend warmly to do 
> this within Scribus, it's partly because of the difficulties the 
> application still has with text manoeuvres.

It doesn't seem any worse than pagemaker or indesign ?  A few quirks 
perhaps ?  I don't think I noticed anything serious, though we tend not 
to use large numbers of linked text boxes.


> Otherwise, there would be no 
> reason not to simply use Scribus as a real copy editor,

For the sort of work we do, it's already fine.


> with all the 
> facilties such as a good spellchecker

Yes -  there may be higher priorities than a spellchecker perhaps.  I 
know a lot of work is being done 'under the hood'.


> (and don't forget that a computer 
> cannot think, thus understand),

:)   Nor can word...


> and the hyphenation setting, and the 
> desired typographic enhancements, and the desired column width, etc.. 
> And then, still using Scribus, one could take this edited text and 
> complete the layout. This could be one suggested workflow. Might work 
> for some. Might need some polishing in the corners for others.
> 
> Adobe has InCopy and Quark has CopyDesk. Both solutions rely on a robust 
> text engine. I don't have the figures about how well those products do 
> in the marketplace but from my own profesionnal perspective, it is very 
> rarely that I have heard of those programs. Probably because MS Word is 
> so well spreaded that people outside the DTP world are reluctant to use 
> yet another format. This might explain why we never ever got any client 
> who sent us a text file set in any of those programs in over 20 years in 
> this business. Scribus brings fresh air in this world. When Scribus will 
> have such a robust text engine that will allow any kind of (fast) copy 
> editing, we will be able to introduce that delicate task into the 
> publishing workflow using more extensively Scribus ? and this will prove 
> to be efficient. At present time this is not the case from a demanding 
> production stand point workflow and I can only wish we will get to this 
> point soon. In the meantime, any steps forward are welcome and the 
> addition of a good spellchecker is one of them. If you ask me if I would 
> use it at the moment, I would certainly answer no, because once the text 
> is in Scribus, heavy editing is still too demanding for the actual 
> capabilities of the application. But again, what is not useful for 
> people like me might prove to be just fine in other workflows.

Agreed.  No doubt it would be good for us.


> Provided we have this text "heavy editing" capabilities, there are great 
> chances we see more and more people use Scribus not only as a layout 
> application but also as a text editor. I can already imagine the big 
> step forward! But this also means that such a tool allowing "text 
> people" to be closer to the layout will oblige everyone in the chain to 
> accept with even more humility the limits of their interventions. While 
> there is no evil in a spellchecker, evil ? we say ? is in the details 
> and when we allow last minute changes, then evil can slip through and 
> spoil the efforts of a lot of people, no matter whether there is a 
> spellchecker or not. If we look at the spellchecker as a 
> "laisser-passer" for any kind of last-minute text editing, I deeply 
> think this is wrong. But it is more a matter of how to use the tool than 
> the tool itself. As in most cases... :)

We aren't generally working to deadlines, so our culture is bound to be 
different.

We tend to work until the documentation says what we want, developing 
text and graphical material together.  If appropriate we revisit 
documents, as required, sometimes over years, to refine the way we say 
things and keep them up to date.


> Happy New Year to all!

Indeed !  And may thanks !


Cheers, J/.
-- 
John Beardmore, MSc EDM (Open), B.A. Chem (Oxon), CMIOSH, AIEMA, MEI
Managing Director, T4 Sustainability Limited. http://www.T4sLtd.co.uk/
Carbon Trust Consultant: Energy Audit, Carbon Footprint, Design Advice
Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme Registered Assessor
P:0845 4561332  F:0870 0522417  M:07785 563116  Skype:t4sustainability