[scribus] Text frame help please!

[John Beardmore]

Jane Woodall wrote:

> In Aldus Pagemaker you could type the text you wanted onto
 >the page (eg John Smith) and that became a 'box' that you
 >could then resize and place anywhere you liked. That's what
 >I want to do.. but when I tried Scribus last night I struggled.

It should work OK.


> I put in a text frame and typed John Smith in via story
 >editor - but then the text frame appeared to be empty on the
 >page.

If you go back into the story editor, is the text still there ?

If it isn't then maybe you aren't saving it.

If it is in the story editor but doesn't show in the text box, try 
making the text box wider and deeper.


> Is it possible to type text straight onto the page as
 >described above?

It is possible to type directly into a text box.  Select the text box 
then click on the Edit Contents Of Frame button with the 'A' logo.


> If not, how do I get round it? The Scribus instructions suggest
 >compiling a folder of text and images

Which is quite normal in a number of DTP environments, though you can 
embed all your text in the Scribus document.

Pictures are always stored externally however.  I didn't like it either 
when I started using InDesign and Scribus after Pagemaker, but get used 
to it, it's less onerous than you may think, and Scribus is well worth 
persevering with. It's now the only DTP we use for new documents.


> - that's fine if, say, you're
 >using a large block of text and a couple of images for an advert.
 >I don't want to be typing two lines of text and saving that as a
 >word file to import - I'd have 100 word files!

Errr...  Try not to use Word !


> Also the programme tells me I don';t have ghostscript? Is this
 >a problem and if so where's a clear link to download it from -
 >I searched the site and got confused as to what was what.

I doubt this is your immediate problem.  It allows the rendering of EPS 
and Postscript.


>(Plus there was a very annoying banner advert sat right over some
>of the useful info!) 

Yuk !


Cheers, J/.
-- 
John Beardmore, MSc EDM (Open), B.A. Chem (Oxon), CMIOSH, AIEMA, MEI
Managing Director, T4 Sustainability Limited. http://www.T4sLtd.co.uk/
Energy Audit, Carbon Management, Design Advice, Sustainable Energy
Consultancy and Installation, Carbon Trust Standard Registered Assessor
Phone: 0845 4561332   Mobile: 07785 563116   Skype: t4sustainability