O Masters of Scribus, guide my humble hand

Previous topic - Next topic

raynapolsky

So I need to make a bunch of little tabs for our card catalog at work. I laid out the first batch, but it was an epic hassle because I had no idea what I was doing. I figured I'd post here to see if anybody could suggest a practical way to approach laying out the second half.

The first batch looks the attached image. Just a bunch of little rectangles, 1x2.125 inches. Should I just make a spreadsheet first, and then import it?

Thanks a billion. Scribus is pretty great.

[attachment deleted by admin]

a.l.e

how many of those pages do you need and which version of scribus are you using?

(and, please, with such a title, i would have expected a post in verses...)

raynapolsky

Hm, I probably could have busted out a haiku. Let's see ...

I need three pages
Eventually I'll need more
With 1.4.7

a.l.e

well, for three pages, just duplicate two times the page (page > copy) and fill each of the text frame with the right text.

if you need many more you can (and as reference for the next time):

- with "page > manage guides" create a grid (three columns with lot of gap, as many rows as you need
- create one text frame and set its text formatting + frame spacing so that it can contain only line in the right size.
- duplicate it three times and place the frames one per column in the top row
- "edit > multiple duplicate" to create the rows.
- use the chain tool to link the text fields (it's very easy with the "n" key)
- duplicate the page
- put all your labels in a text file, one label per line
- load the text file into the first cell and see the text flow from cell to cell.

long to explain than to do. if you upload a .txt file with the labels you're using i can make a screencast showing how to do it (i'll probably do it with 1.5... but it's not much different with 1.4)

a.l.e

#4
Since it might be of interest for other people, here is a screencast with the whole workflow:


Creating catalog labels with Scribus


here is a "faster" version where I use keyboard shortcuts for more comfort:

Creating catalog labels with Scribus (with shortcuts)

raynapolsky

#5
Thank you! This was both
Useful and extremely kind
Scribus forever!

Edited to add: Wow! I just watched your screencast and it was fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time to do all that. Also I'm sorry my haiku was crummy.

a.l.e

You're welcome.

And before you feel to much depressed: I had to try a few times before getting to those two screencast...
What you see is not how I naturally work...
I knew what I had to achieve, I did try a few times and I had a script on the side with a few notes : - )

But, yes, I know Scribus rather well and I can be fast...

raynapolsky

#7
I'm stuck -- around the 2:26 mark, it looks like you select the three text boxes and then go to Multiple Duplicate and make 10 rows of them. In your duplicates, the content remains linked. When I do it, the content is limited to only the first text box and nothing is linked. I tried grouping them but the same problem occurs. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Edited to add: Regardless, I just manually linked them all. This was such an enormous help.

[attachment deleted by admin]

a.l.e

i just checked:

indeed, in scribus 1.4 multiple duplicate breaks the text chain.
if you use the "simple" duplicate (ctrl-d) the link is kept.

so you can do what is faster for you:

- manually link
- duplicate the first row, move the duplicate (with snapping) to the second row, duplicate the first two rows, move them, duplicate the four rows... move them... and when you have all your rows, link the last ones with the first ones of the each row and the next one.

scribus 1.5 has some big improvements but also lot of small things that have been fixed...
(and, of course, if you're fine with using 1.4 you don't need to move to 1.5 for such small things)

raynapolsky

#9
Thanks so much for your help. Check it out!

Edited to add: That was the worst image in the history of images. Here's a better one: https://i.imgur.com/Y88z8g7.jpg

[attachment deleted by admin]

a.l.e

nice to see the final result!

if i get bored, i might write a blog post about it...

raynapolsky