utnik: I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that issue.
While I understand where you're coming from, the testimony of the original poster clearly shows that - for some people - the lack of out-of-the-box colours is confusing, especially because there's no obvious (to the beginner) way of adding new colours.
Adding a few more colours wouldn't change this situation but at least it would give beginners more to start with before they learn more about the software. It's obvious to me from the testimony that the current situation isn't ideal but what the ideal might be is something I couldn't define.
Most other graphical applications give you a decent selection of colours to start with. For example, Inkscape - by default - gives you a big scrolling area that you can select from. Even LibreOffice gives you more to work with than Scribus.
Having said that, some other applications don't give you much to start with. GIMP, for instance, only gives you black and white from the start (until you figure out how to change colours or bring up the Palettes/Colours palettes).
It takes us down the route of wondering how much the user needs to learn about the software before they can start using it for things that are more than just tests. Personally I'd like to see Scribus give the user more from the start but that's just my opinion. I can see things from the other side of the argument too.
I have a proposal:
1. Rename the PP "Line" tab as "Line and Fill".
2. Move the Line and Fill Colour settings from the "Colours" tab to the "Line and Fill" tab.
3. Make line and fill colour selection as a drop-down menus, as it is with Text colour.
4. Rename the "Colours" tab as "Colours and Palettes".
5. Move the functions of the Colour Manager to this tab (this would also mean that editing colours was then non-modal, which would be a big help).
6. Add a function - drop-down menu? - in this renamed tab to easily choose between different palettes, e.g. Sparse (white and the blacks); Basic (current Scribus defaults); Custom (whatever the user wants); all of the other palettes that Scribus comes bundled with.
Doing the above would:
A. Put all of the Line/Fill-related stuff in one place (which sounds more obvious to me).
B. Make colour selection more consistent (the current mix of drop-downs and lists is confusing).
C. Move palette and colour selection/modification up-front so that it's visible to all users (and not "hidden" in a menu selection and modal dialog).
D. Make it obvious that you can change what colours you're using.
Colours aren't handled very well in Scribus at the moment - from a user interface perspective - so anything that makes it easier for people to get to grips with them will be a good thing.
There has to be a better way of doing things than the current situation.
micker: The above proposal is an expansion of what I suggested earlier so I hope it would also be a good thing.