[Scribus] Congratulations and initial comments...

[John Beardmore]

Hi everybody,

First I'd like to congratulate everybody involved with Scribus.  Over 
the years I've spent a fair bit of money on DTP software and have been 
dismayed by the number of severe bugs and the reluctance to fix them. 
I'm also delighted that it's cross platform so we now have a migration 
path to Linux.

I'm pleased to say that Scribus seems no more idiosyncratic than other 
packages, and as yet, preparing two mid length documents, I haven't 
found any significant bugs !

Having now had a decent initial play with the software, there are two 
things that for me would really make Scribus complete.

The first is the ability to embed images within .sla files.  At the 
moment, if I move a document, it seems to loose all the links to 
pictures as though relative paths were used to locate them.  While I 
accept the principle that a lot of disk space can be saved by referring 
to pictures elsewhere in the file system, this can be a nuisance when 
projects are being developed on multiple machines over multiple sites. 
For me at least, using the .sla files as a container that includes all a 
documents images would be a huge benefit.

The other thing that would be really great would be checking spelling as 
you type.I did some searching in the archives, and I appreciate that a 
view has been taken that the normal work flow will be develop a document 
in something like Open Office, then import the text to Scribus.  While 
I'm sure this can work well, and is perceived by some as the 
'ideologically sound' approach, it takes little account of of document 
development and rework.

For myself, I tend to develop documents in the DTP environment, laying 
out a 'storyboard' of pictures, then entering text around them, 
adjusting the layout as the art and text coalesce.  For me, 'spell check 
as you type' would be a huge benefit.  Even if the purists think I'm 
doing it all wrong, it works brilliantly for me !


Are either of these changes planned ?


Many thanks, 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 and Design Advice.
Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme Registered Assessor.
P:0845 4561332  F:0870 0522417  M:07785 563116  Skype:t4sustainability