[scribus] Preferred workflow for mostly text book

[Gregory Pittman]

On 02/18/2014 03:27 PM, JLuc wrote:
> Le 18/02/2014 20:45, john Culleton a écrit :
>> I am trying my first real book interior in
>> Scribus, and the page count will exceed 128.
>> There will be text plus lots of black and white
>> illos. I will use 1.5.0.
>>   So what is the preferred workflow:
>> 1. Type each chapter externally and import as text
>> into a set of linked pages. Then export the
>> chapter as pdf.
>> 2. Type each chapter using story editor. Then
>> export the chapter as pdf.
>> 3. Type the whole book in one document.
> 
> I use a mixture of 1 and 3, depending on the book.
> 
> I type the text in external documents (libreoffice or googledocs)
> and import them as text (without style import)
> I do the layout then.
> 
> With 1) i setup a script to merge the produced PDFs with pdftk when
> required.
> 
> With 3) when the SLAs are ready and before producing the PDF,
> i merge the 10 to 20 SLAs in 3 or 4 big SLAs (Pages > Import)
> (entry and summaries, first part, second part, last part)
> I redo manualy all links (because #11110)
> and sometime i clean the duplicated and unused styles (#11814, #11420)
> but there should be no problem if the styles have the same definition
> in all merged parts.
> And then i produce the 3 or 4 PDFs that i send as is to the printer,
> without merging them further.
> 
>> I am concerned about two things: speed/ease of
>> production and size of the ultimate pdf. It seems
>> to me that if I merge chapters using pdftk
>> then there will be a lot of repetition in the pdf
>> of fonts etc.
> 
> Merging the PDFs is fully scriptable, fast and reliable,
> and less tricky than merging the SLAs,
> but i dont like keeping lots of SLAs.
> IMO, fonts are not that big compared to scribus produced PDFs.
> 

I think the preferred workflow is whatever works. Certainly for 128
pages, your option 2 is the least workable.

You know you need to break up your book into smaller pieces when screen
updates become intolerably long. A 128 page all or mostly text book
might actually work if you have plenty of RAM and a fast processor.

The downside of breaking up your book is to make sure you keep track of
page numbering, right-left pages, and all the other things that make for
a smooth finished book once you merge.

AFAIK, pdftk should avoid duplication of font metrics in your final PDF.

Greg