[scribus] Help - need a tutorial for "dummies" - ie: newbies

[Gregory Pittman]

On 12/10/2010 04:12 PM, randy.pare at rogers.com wrote:
> Hi, really sorry to bug you guys. My name is r. j.
> paré and I have been putting out an art - lit e-zine {RKYV ONLINE} for years
> using MS Word for all my layouts.
> I know, I know it is a word processing program
> with limitations in regards to page layout.
>
> That said I have decide to learn how to use page
> layout software. I downloaded Scribus after reading good reviews and have decide
> to give it a try.
>
> I am utterly lost. The controls [for an MS Word
> guy, like me] do not seem intuitive. Simple things like importing a picture and
> manipulating its size to fit on the page seem impossible. An image comes in and
> there doesn't seem to be anyway to alter size. I receive articles, poetry shorts
> stories all writtne on MS Word and would like to import the docs and place them
> over background art etc etc.
>
> Frankly I can't figure it out at all. LOL With MS
> Word, I have limitations - but I can do all these things I have just mentioned
> [just not as well as I hoped a layout program like Scribus would
> allow].
>
> Here is a link to back issues of my e-zine to get
> an idea of what I am talking about:
>
> http://www.scribd.com/randy_par%C3%A9/shelf
>
> What I am hoping to learn is this:
>
> How to use Scribus to create a document that has
> artistic backgrounds with text and other art on top, that I can then convert to
> PDF.
>
> Could someone steer me to a guide for such things?
>
>
> BTW I have read the READ ME file and BASICs
> tutorial that come with Scribus - just could not find answers to what I am
> asking there.

Presuming you are using 1.3.9, which you should be, the online docs 
(Help > Scribus Manual > Documentation) is a good place to start. Look 
under Scribus Basics, starting with Working with Frames. This is the key 
thing about Scribus as opposed to MS Word, you are working in a frames 
environment, so text needs to go into a text frame, images/bitmap 
graphics into an image frame.

Beyond that, check out the wiki:

http://wiki.scribus.net

for more info.

Greg