which of the published manuals

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wiccer

Welcome everyone!

I am planning to get into DTP and I intend to use Scribus to learn the basics. I wish to buy one of the published manuals as I find video tutorials annoying (I'm too impatient). Now, there are two sound options:
- The Official Scribus Manual (1.3.3.x)
- Scribus 1.3.5: Beginner's Guide

Neither is cheap. The Official... seems more comprehensive, which I like, but as we are approaching (are we not?) the moment when the new stable version is ready, with no backward compatibility (right?), is it really such a good investment? Namely:
1) To what extent will the feature set of 1.3.3.x become obsolete in comparison to 1.3.5? I don't want to spend time learning to do workarounds for things that require but a click in 1.3.5...
2)  Can I use The Official... with 1.3.5 without getting confused (Where the hell is this feature? What the hell is that and what does it do?)
3) Is there a second edition of The Official... planned for 1.3.5? I can wait a bit...
or
4) Will there be info on the Scribus website offering updated information for  The Official... owners?

Or should I just get - Scribus 1.3.5: Beginner's Guide and play with it and get know-how of equal value? Mind you, I like the idea of a manual being comprehensive - namely tackling DTP in general and describing cooperation with other open source software (gimp, inkscape) and The Official... does that (I have heard...).

What do you suggest?

Thanks.

Wiccer


a.l.e

hi

1.3.3.x is "dead", don't invest time in learning skills specific to it.

1.3.5 is mostly the same as 1.4, so the beginners guide is much closer to what you will be using than the official manual.

another difference is that the official manual is a manual focused on showing you what scribus can do (+ longer sections on the principles of DTP). the beginners guide is more a didactic book which will show you how to do things with scribus.

personally, i think that you should first focus on learning the basic principles of DTP, without bothering too much with which version of which program it talks about.

while i don't of any good beginner book, here are some online resources:

- http://www.hallas.demon.co.uk/DTP/dtpp.htm (you can order the booklet or download it from archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20070709201831/http://home.freeuk.net/richardhallas/DTP/DTP-Principles-LQ.pdf)

- http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/Principles_of_Design.htm (a bit scattered through lot of pages... but it does not look that bad :-)

... or just google for "principles of DTP"...

hope that helps
a.l.e

wiccer


soakedlontra

Quote from: a.l.e on June 08, 2011, 12:27:26 PM
hi

1.3.3.x is "dead", don't invest time in learning skills specific to it.

1.3.5 is mostly the same as 1.4, so the beginners guide is much closer to what you will be using than the official manual.

another difference is that the official manual is a manual focused on showing you what scribus can do (+ longer sections on the principles of DTP). the beginners guide is more a didactic book which will show you how to do things with scribus.

personally, i think that you should first focus on learning the basic principles of DTP, without bothering too much with which version of which program it talks about.

while i don't of any good beginner book, here are some online resources:

- http://www.hallas.demon.co.uk/DTP/dtpp.htm (you can order the booklet or download it from archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20070709201831/http://home.freeuk.net/richardhallas/DTP/DTP-Principles-LQ.pdf)

- http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/Principles_of_Design.htm (a bit scattered through lot of pages... but it does not look that bad :-)

... or just google for "principles of DTP"...

hope that helps
a.l.e

I know this topic is old but I want to thank a.l.e. for posting those links!

Is there a plan to publish  updated versions of those manuals?