Scribus Forums

Scribus => Beginner Talk => Topic started by: lemonphenomenon on November 12, 2019, 08:12:37 PM

Title: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 12, 2019, 08:12:37 PM
I have set the first page in my document as a left page, and the document is correctly displayed that way in Scribus. But when I save the document as a pdf the first page displays as right, and consequently all the left pages are in right page format and vice versa. I make sure that in document setup First Page is Left Page (and I remember to click apply), but it makes no difference; the first page still displays as right in the pdf. I haven't got a blank first page that I hadn't noticed. (If I change First Page to Right Page in document setup the pdf still has the first page as a right page.)
I am using Scribus 1.4.7 on a Mac OS 10.12.5
I'd be very grateful for any help.
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: Nermander on November 12, 2019, 08:33:14 PM
It may be that your PDF viewer does not honor the information whether it is a left or a right page. Honestly I'm not even sure if a PDF can contain that information?
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 12, 2019, 09:59:27 PM
Thanks, Nermander. I'll try to find out whether my pdf viewer can contain that information about the first page. It does contain some information about right/left pages because when I add a blank page at the start of the pdf all the subsequent pages are redesigned correctly. 
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 12, 2019, 10:05:48 PM
I didn't notice that this topic was discussed here:
http://forums.scribus.net/index.php/topic,3363.0.html (http://forums.scribus.net/index.php/topic,3363.0.html)

Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 13, 2019, 07:33:29 PM
'It may be that your PDF viewer does not honor the information whether it is a left or a right page. Honestly I'm not even sure if a PDF can contain that information?'

It seems that a pdf can contain that information, and that some viewers respond to the information and some don't. I've tried two pdfs, one made with Scribus and one made with Indesign, on 3 different viewers. Acrobat shows both pdfs correctly, and the other 2 viewers show only the Indesign pdf correctly.

It comes down to this: is it possible to get a scribus pdf that will show page spreads correctly? Choosing 'facing pages' worked in Indesign for all 3 viewers, but 'double sided' (left page) only worked in Scribus for Acrobat. Any suggestions, , Nermander or anyone else?   Thanks   

Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: a.l.e on November 14, 2019, 08:01:19 AM
as written in the other thread: afaik, scribus does the right thing.

what you can do: check if any other software can produce PDFs that work with a viewer that does not work with Scribus.
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: Nermander on November 14, 2019, 06:35:48 PM

Isn't that exactly what is described here? PDFs from InDesign works in all readers, but the PDF from Scribus only in Acrobat.

Quote from: lemonphenomenon on November 13, 2019, 07:33:29 PM
I've tried two pdfs, one made with Scribus and one made with Indesign, on 3 different viewers. Acrobat shows both pdfs correctly, and the other 2 viewers show only the Indesign pdf correctly.
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: a.l.e on November 14, 2019, 08:57:39 PM
so, i have to correct myself:

@lemonphenomenon , please provide sample PDFs created with ID... if possible also with the matching indesign files.
they can be "empty" PDFs, with just a few pages and fake content.

and list which readers you have tried and which ones did work and which did not.

if you did something special in the viewers, in indesign or in scribus: please specify...

you can also provide scribus files and the matching PDFs, so that we can see that you did correctly setup the double page in scribus.

i know it's tedious... but without facts we can continue this discussion forever and scribus cannot do any progress...

have a wonderful night
a.l.e

Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 15, 2019, 09:24:31 PM
Thanks, a.l.e. Here is the Scribus file and the Scribus and Indesign pdfs. I can't attach the Indesign file.
Both pdfs are opened correctly by 2 browsers (Firefox and Safari) and by 2 versions of Acrobat. Neither is opened correctly by Preview, which makes the first page a right page and therefore muddles up all subsequent pages too, giving right pages the left-hand layout and left pages the right-hand layout. It was true but misleading for me to say in my first post that Preview opened the Indesign pdf correctly, because in the indesign-generated pdf I was using then the spreads were saved not as facing pages but as single pages, twice as wide as usual. Presumably that was why they opened correctly in Preview - it wasn't given the chance to misplace the first page. Sorry about the confusion.

It seems that, as you suggested, Scribus works fine, and that the problem is with Preview.

Thanks to you and Nermander for your time.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: a.l.e on November 16, 2019, 08:59:34 AM
to be sure: when i write

scribus does set spreads "as right as possible"

do i summarize your words correctly?

Title: Re: making first page left
Post by: lemonphenomenon on November 19, 2019, 01:05:43 AM
That's right, a.l.e.  As far as I can see Scribus sets the spreads perfectly correctly.
Thanks again for your help.