Document Size Change and Master Pages

[Jim]

Hello,
Fairly new to Scribus and am using Scribus 1.5.4 on Windows 7.

Using File -> New from template I select the Books -> Lulu and Creatspace... template.

I would like to use a different page size for my book so using File -> Document Setup I change the page Width to 11 inches and the Orientation to Landscape. I then check off the "apply changes to all pages" and "apply changes to master pages" options and select "OK"

So now I have the new page size but I can see that the page headings (author and title), page footer (page #) and text boxes all still have their original size - which makes sense as those are objects.

So I use Edit -> Master Pages to edit the size of each of the text frames for each master page so that they all match the new page dimensions.  Works fine.

However when I go back into the document, while the page headers and footers appear as I expect them to, the main text frame is still showing in its original size and aspect ratio. Going back into the Master Pages, the text frames do indeed reflect the new dimensions.

Also if I insert new pages and then do a Apply Master Page, the new page is completely good.

My question is why aren't the new dimensions for the main body text frames updated in the document to match the new master page layout - while the page header and footers are updated.

Attached is a screenshot that illustrates the problem.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[utnik]

hi jim

the headers and footers are master page objects while the automatic text frames are objects on the document pages.
either you edit the existing frames or you insert new pages and delete the original ones.

utnik

[Jim]

Hi Utnik,

Let's see if I understand correctly.

While the Book template has a master page that has a large text frame that fills the page and which is empty, when content is added to a  document page it has to be added in its own text frame that is independent of the master page's text frame - meaning that the Book template doesn't use that text frame for anything - unlike the page header and footer frames which have content defined in them which appears on every page to which it's been applied.

But that implies that I have to manually add a text frame for every page - as opposed to being able to define a standard text frame in the master page - which is what I assumed that text frame was.   

Am I correctly interpreting this?  Thanks

[Nermander]

You seem to interpret correctly.

Master Pages in Scribus are more like a "page background" (up until recently something on a Master page could not even be brought on top of contents on the page, Master pages were always at the bottom).

If you want some kind of "template objects" to put on pages you are better off using the scrapbook.

But currently there is no really useful way to "mass adjust" objects in Scribus.

[Jim]

Hi Nermander,

Thank you for the additional clarification.  In some respects this makes sense because of the frame linking that allows text to flow from one frame to the next specified frame - which is a far more important feature.   

[utnik]

hi jim

i didn't look at the 'lulu and cs' template before. but now i see that the creator didn't understand exactly how scribus handles master page objects. the big text frame on the master pages is completely useless.
i would have done it with an automatic frame. those frames are generated every time when you insert a page – and they are linked. (but not everyone agrees with the use of automatic frames, and you can't use them in an existing file, unless they have been selected when the document or the template has initially been built...)

with templates (unless you created them for your needs) the problems appear later in the process and the source of them is harder to locate!

utnik

[Jim]

Hi Utnik,

Thanks for the tip about automatic frames. -  https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Working_with_text_frames#Automatic_Text_Frame_Creation