[scribus] Bulleted Lists in Scribus (yes, I know....)

[a.l.e]

hi tony,

> Please be aware that I have serious personality flaw: software irritates
> me unreasonably when it behaves in a significantly counter-intuitive
> way.

in this case, it's not really counter-intuitive. you're hitting some 
bugs and some missing features... but everything would work as you dream 
of... if it was working...

> Now I need your patience, to help me through this mini tutorial -
> because almost none of it works on my system (Stable and NG versions).

i can't really help you with the stable version... all my explanations 
are only tested  on the NG version.

it seams, that you got quite well, how to do it with NG... so, i will 
answer to the parts where i have the feeling, that i can give a valuable 
feedback.

> move them is a considerable exercise in frustration, when in 'edit
> mode', but not when editing a paragraph style - the ease of use
> differences are dramatic. In text edit mode I found that about 95% of
> the time my attempts to move the blue triangles to create the indent
> effect you promise result in the blue portion of the ruler moving an
> equal amount, removing all meaning in the ruler for me.

yes, this is true. the feature is in, but not working perfectly, yet.

> If there happens to be any text in the frame, then the blue triangles
> immediately return to their initial location - no matter where that is -
> when I release the mouse button. It seems like there are anchored with
> elastic. And the text is moved.

i also experienced this in the past... if you need more comfort, for 
now, you will have to use a style.

the are more bugs in there, but for simple cases, it works correctly.

we will need somebody taking care of it...

> I can insert a bullet only in 'edit mode' (i.e. not in Paragraph style
> edit mode, which is where I would really like to insert the bullet) and
> it is inserted  at the indented position, immediately to the left of the
> leftmost text character - with no spacing between bullet and text. The
> appearance is thus poor.

the bullet will be inserted at the place where the cursor is. it's just 
like typing any other character.

as i said, lists as such are not supported yet by scribus. but there is 
a workaround for building lists.

there are plans to implement automatic formatted lists, but you probably 
agree with me, that there are other issues in scribus which should be 
solved first!

> You then tell me to 'jump under the tab' - but the cursor is already
> there by virtue of the  bullet having been inserted at that point - so
> this step has no meaning.
then, the indent was too small.


> Finally you say: "if you need lists in your document [yes I do! - that's
> where I came in to this show...], you will probably want to create a
> text style with the indent."
>
> Huh? But I already found that I can't insert a bullet in the paragraph
> style editor!

no, you define the indent and the tab in the style. you will have to add 
the bullet for each list item.
styles are only for formatting, not for text... remember: you're 
defining a paragraph style (which does not have any character in it, 
only formatting), not a list style as you may know from openoffice.org

> And at the end of the this process, I (so far, don't) end up with a list
> using the standard 'single size,fixed shape, any colour as long as it is
> black, fits all and liked by none' bullet - which is what I am trying to
> avoid.

fancy bullets are very hard to use right. most of the time they look 
quite amateurish... going for a en dash is the key for an easy success...

but if you master it, add the bullets you prefer! scribus will let you 
insert any (and i mean ANY!) vector graphics you may come up as a 
bullet... but for now, it won't help you apply the bullets to each list 
item.
it's a pity, and it will change in the future... but there is some hard 
work to be done to get there!

> Sorry, I have to stop here  and vacuum the floor - all those glass
> shards stick in the foot, don't they? And my local monitor retail store
> closes soon....

a rapid change of timezone would give you 5 more hours to go shopping... 
just as a hint...


ciao
a.l.e