[scribus] Canons of page construction

[Gregory Pittman]

Jean Basile wrote:
> I was looking online for some hints on good pagination and discovered this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canons_of_page_construction#Van_de_Graaf_canon
>
> The Van der Graaf canon looks quite interesting. But isn't that a little too much free space at the bottom of the page? Than I bumped into this page: http://rodgraves.com/moleskine/ which shows that the lower space is actually used for some kind of footer and page numbering.
>
> Also, is there a place with the proportions calculated for the A4-A6 sizes?
>
> And to make this message even longer do you know more pages about page design?
>   
I think that such information is useful for conceptual and instructional 
purposes, but for many uses not so practical except for purists. It's 
easy to see that hardly any if any modern books use the Gutenberg 
proportions. What we see is that there are different plans depending on 
the content and purpose of the book.

This isn't to say that there are not abundant examples of poor design 
and layout all around us. My advice would be to continue your quest for 
the opinions of others recognized as having something useful to say, but 
in the end pay attention to the layout of various publications you see, 
and when you find something displeasing, unattractive, or which 
contradicts its apparent intended purpose, try to understand why, so you 
can avoid making similar mistakes.

It's a bit like understanding what makes a good or great wine. You may 
read books about it, but until you begin to sample yourself, and try to 
get the gist of what the "experts" say, and make your own judgments, you 
really won't get anywhere. People who simply follow the experts' advice 
about wine are not necessarily making mistakes, but they're not 
acquiring any skill at it.

Greg