[Scribus] How to place text in a box

[John Beardmore]

Chris Bergstresser wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Christoph Sch?fer
> <christoph-schaefer at gmx.de> wrote:

>>  > It seems like a
>>  > pretty basic typesetting function.
>>
>>  No, it isn't ;)
> 
>    You know, I'm going to say any typographic convention in common
> usage in Victorian times counts as a "basic typesetting function".

You can say it but I don't know that it's really fair.

It may have been common, (quantify ?), but that doesn't mean that it's a 
'primitive', or 'basic to', modern type setting practice or algorithms.

More to the point, if I pulled a hundred books off my shelves, I dount 
more than 1% would use text in a box in quite the way you describe.  You 
seem to want to implement a very specific type of titled text frame 
which mostly strikes me as reminiscent of 80 by 25 tty or DOS character 
based user interfaces.


>  I
> realize it's easier to get any number of special effects if you print
> off of engraved woodcuts,

Quite so, and the feature you are requesting could be implemented in 
vast number of styles, or alternatively have highly configurable style.

That either means that a less general purpose, but more specific to your 
needs, tool is produced...


> but this doesn't seem like a specially
> difficult feature to add.

...or that the type of feature you want is added in a highly 
configurable way, in which case it needs a lot of user interface, and 
becomes a voluminous task, even if not algorithmically challenging.

I guess you could submit a feature request, but as you think it "doesn't 
seem like a specially difficult", and the source is open, why not have a 
go ?

I'm probably sounding somewhat unsympathetic, but I guess that's because 
a lot of work is going on in the foundations of Scribus at the moment, 
and to my mind getting 1.3.5.x stable and released, is far more urgent 
than bolting in cutely bordered titled text frames as a relatively high 
level feature.


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
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Phone: 0845 4561332   Mobile: 07785 563116   Skype: t4sustainability