[Scribus] Vertical alignment of text in frame

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 12:52:22 -0400
"Louis Desjardins" <louis.desjardins at gmail.com> dijo:

> While I agree 100% we need such a settings to allow fast vertical centering
> of text I think it's advisable to note that automatic accuracy is not the
> point in the case of a spine. I don't think such a settings would be as
> helpful as you might think in the case of a book spine for at least two good
> reasons: 1) the font used (and flavor of this font, including point size and
> caps use?all caps? caps and lowercase?, etc.) and 2) how this vertical
> center option would act on this specific font. The mathematics behind the
> scene will in some cases give excellent results, in others, no. This feature
> has proven its utility in other apps but at the same time it has weaknesses
> only a human eye can correct.

I'm fully aware of the accuracy issue. I did not want the vertical text
centering feature for accuracy. I have three book binders, and I can
guarantee you that the cover bounce would erase any such precision. My
purpose was simply speed of layout. I ended up centering the text by
starting with 1/10 inch top and bottom inset because my eyeball told me
there was at least that much space, and increasing top and bottom by
hundredths until the text disappeared. That was the point when I knew
my insets were slightly too much, so I backed them off a hundredth of
an inch and the text reappeared. In "those other DTP apps" I could have
saved time by just going click, click and the text would have been
centered.

I've laid out, printed and published over a hundred books, so I am
aware of the realities of printing and binding. I want to learn Scribus
and ultimately use it for most of my layout work, so I chose this
simple book cover as my first serious job. The book in question is a
reader for the remaining dozen speakers of an endangered African
language, and I am printing it pro bono. If it isn't perfect I can't
get more than 12 complaints. :)