[scribus] Lack of Style Overrides

[john at wexfordpress.com]

On Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:44:40 -0600
Mike Sleger <chappa-ai at q.com> wrote:

> I really, really do not not like how only some (but not all) of a
> paragraph's style settings can be overridden in the Properties
> window.  This means that each and every time I want to modify the
> left indent, right indent, tab settings, etc for a specific
> paragraph, I need to declare another damned style.  Why can't each
> setting in a paragraph's style have a complimentary override option
> outside the context of the Styles manager?  What's with this apparent
> love affair with styles?  I should have the freedom to format my text
> however I please, either with or without a style.  In my opinion, a
> style should only need to be defined when a particular text style is
> to be repeated in a document.  Otherwise, just format the single
> occurrence manually.  (Unless you're in Scribus, then forget it and
> resort to defining yet another bloody style...) ___ Scribus Mailing
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(Almost) anything you can do with styles can be done on individual
paragraphs via the Story Editor.  Just right click on the text frame
and select "Edit Text."

The icons across the top of the Story Editor are similar to the ones
shown in the Style Editor and do the same things.For convenience you
can drag the last two icon substrings of icons below the first string,
and some hidden icons will appear. (This should be the default, IMO).
Note the little dividers with horizontal stripes. These are the
dividers between icon substrings. Just click and drag one of these.
These icon bar changes are persistent from job to job, and make using
the Story Editor much clearer and easier. 

To edit a paragraph or a string just highlight it and make the changes
on the icon bar. There are icons for ragged left, ragged right centered,
full justification and full justification with the last line ragged
right. You can change the font and/or the size for a word or a string. 

Or to just add a tab click on where it is to appear and key it. There
are drop down menus for special glyphs, frame breaks and so on. 

You can indeed format an entire text block in the Story Editor and use
no styles at all. But as you gain experience you will find that styles 
are a great timesaver. 

The disadvantage of the Story Editor is that you need to switch back
and forth between the Story Editor and the WYSIWYG view. But as an old
TeXer I don't mind that. In fact I always enter and modify text via the
Story Editor. I also use styles extensively. In some previous
versions of Scribus you could go to the Create Style routines
without leaving the Story editor, a feature I sorely miss. 

Others have different techniques. Mine work for me. 


---
John Culleton
Wexfordpress
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html