[scribus] pdf formatting problems

[John Culleton]

On Sun, 13 May 2012 20:40:10 -0600
Ray Schmidt <h.ray.schmidt at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am new to Scribus but have tried doing some
> searching and have not found any information
> regarding my problem.
> 
> My issue is that when I create a pdf text field
> and then export it to a pdf document the text
> in the text field is either cut off on the top
> or the bottom and I can't find any way of
> aligning it properly short of trial and error
> and continually changing, saving, and checking
> it.
> 
> In Scribus, if I type some text in the text
> field, it shows up as aligned along the top of
> the pdf text field frame.  Yet, when viewed in
> a pdf viewer (Foxit Reader) the text seems to
> be aligned along the bottom and is actually
> partially cut off.  I can mitigate that by
> increasing the size of the text field to
> something much larger than the text requires
> but then it makes it hard to select fields in
> the pdf document when they are close together
> as the cursor is much larger than the font
> itself.
> 
> Is there some sort of padding that is
> automatically added to pdf text fields?  Am I
> missing some formatting setting somewhere that
> would resolve this issue?
> 
> I have tried viewing the pdf in both Foxit
> Reader and Adobe Reader.  In Foxit the text is
> cut off on the bottom while in Adobe it seems
> to be similarly padded except it is cut off on
> the top instead of the bottom so it does not
> seem to be isolated to a single pdf reader.
> 
> Any help or information would be greatly
> appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.
Scribus is not a word processor. It works
differently. Start all over. Click "help" and read
the tutorial "Getting Started." Most of us have
bought one or more books on Scribus. 
I suggest "Scribus 1.3.5 Beginners
Guide." 

Here are a few hints. 

Your problem starts at the beginning. On that
first screen that pops up when you start Scribus
page you need to describe your document. You
should specify double sided for most documents
(upper left corner). You should specify the
approximate number of pages but usually not more
than 20. IMPORTANT! Click the box where it says
automatic text frames. Make sure that there are
reasonable numbers in the spaces for margins.

When page 1 shows up a red frame will appear.
This is your text frame. Right click in this
frame and you get a menu. Click on "Content".
Choose what you want to do from the next menu. If
you are going to key in text from the keyboard
click on "edit text." You key text in the next
frame and save it by clicking the green check
mark. 

But before you go much further you will need to
read up on the style editor.

It is possible to key things in without going
through the above sequence but then you can get
into trouble as you have found out. Use the story
editor as described above. It is safer. 

Again, Scribus is not a word processor. It is not
truly WYSIWYG (What You see is What You Get) when
you are entering text. There is a presentation
mode you can get to after you exit the story
editor (green check mark) with <ctrl><alt>p but
in that mode you can't make changes. Hit that same
key sequence again to get back into normal
operating mode. 

Before you start again you might want to spend
some time reading one or more online tutorials,
the online help and the above described book.


-- 
John Culleton
Wexford Press
Free list of books for self-publishers:
http://wexfordpress.net/shortlist.html
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