[scribus] Vertical align of text / aligning text with horizontal lines

[Gregory Pittman]

On 09/30/2009 11:13 AM, Timothy J Massey wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I'm new to Scribus but not new to DTP.  I'm trying to create your standard
> fill-in paper form.  You know:
>
> Name; __________
> Address: ________
> Telephone: ______
>
> etc.
>
> > From what I can tell, Scribus doesn't give me a lot of tools for making
> this work the way I would expect.
>
> At first, I created a separate text box for each label (Name: Address:,
> Telephone: in my example above).  But then I found that I can't vertically
> align the text inside of a text box to the *bottom* of the text box!  This
> causes no end of problems for me.  How do I align the text and the lines
> next to the text?  FWICT, I'm forced to do this purely by eye.  I can't
> use any type of guide lines, because the *top* of the text is snapping to
> the guide line, and I'm not trying to draw a line at the top of the text,
> but at the *bottom*!
>
> This problem is made worse if I ever want to change the font size: the
> baseline of the text will be pushed *down*, because it's anchored at the
> *top*!  If it were anchored at the bottom, it would merely push up, where
> I've got plenty of room.  After all, I need to leave more vertical space
> for handwriting than I do for type...
>
> Enough ranting.  My question:  how do you set up your document so that you
> can create a document like I've described?  Is there a technique that I've
> missed?
>    
Hi Tim, welcome to Scribus!

For this kind of thing done in this way, I prefer to use a horizontal 
line (ie, a vector drawing). That way, you have independent control over 
line style and font size/style. It can be a bit fiddly when you move 
things or change font features. Once you're set, group the line and text 
so they can move together. Use the number data in Properties to help 
with precise spacing and spatial relationships.

In the Shape tab of Properties you can find adjustments for Distances of 
text from the various borders of the frame.

Greg