How styles work

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lozeta

Hi to everyone.

I'm trying to get familiar with Scribus, but I'm not sure I properly understand how styles work (I have used styles in other programs like open office).

Try the following:

1) define a paragraph style (myStyle), e.g. with right alignment and a 10 pt font;
2) create a text frame
3) do NOT apply the style to the text frame, as you plan to use different styles within the same frame
4) in the story editor, write a sentence, then apply your style; when you close the story editor, the style is there
5) now edit the style: set the font size to 12 pt, and press "apply". The text in the frame doesn't change. The paragraph is still labelled as "myStyle", but it's formatted according to the previous version of myStyle. When you apply a style, Scribus seems to make a copy of that style, and doesn't update on later changes (however, if the style is applied to
the frame, the text is updated automatically).

This is completely different from my idea of "style". As the Scribus documentation says:

"another convenience with styles is that, once you have applied them, if you edit a style later, the changes will automatically be applied wherever that style is used."

and this is what I would expect. Am I missing something?

Thank you in advance.

Scribus 1.4.0 on both Linux and Windows.

Meho R.

I couldn't reproduce the problem on Debian Testing with Scribus 1.4.0 final. Just to be sure, when you're editing "myStyle", and when you change font size in "Basic Formatting" section of the window in "Character Style" tab, do an additional change: change the color of the text in "Color" section at the bottom and press "Apply". Any changes now?

If the problem persists, an example .sla file which shows the problem would be useful.

[attachment deleted by admin]

lozeta

Meho R., thank you for you reply. Here is a sample file (made on Windows, but it shouldn't matter).

I'm a bit puzzled: if I change the font color in myStyle, the text frame updates, but if I change the font size, nothing happens. In order to have my changes applied, I need to set the paragraph style to "no style" and then again to myStyle.

[attachment deleted by admin]

lozeta

Meho R., try to change only the font size...

Meho R.

When I changed the font size, nothing happened indeed. That led me to another thought: I applied "No Style" to the paragraph to which previously "myStyle" was applied and took a look at the result. Exactly as I thought: it didn't match other text, meaning that a direct (or custom) formatting was applied to it (you probably changed font or font size manually prior to applying "myStyle" to it), so it retained that direct formatting. Just as in Word Processors, direct formatting takes precedence over automatic settings set by styles.

Try a simple test: in the file you attached in your previous post, open Story Editor and apply "myStyle" to the last paragraph. Now edit "myStyle" and change font size. Does it work?

Or, with the paragraph with "myStyle" already applied selected (not in Story Editor, but directly in text frame), try "Remove Direct Paragraph Formatting" icon next to the style drop-down list in "Properties" palette (Properties > Text > Style Settings).

lozeta

Yes Meho R., the problem is probably there.

I didn't change the font size manually, but instead of simply setting the paragraph style choosing myStyle from the combo-box, I selected the paragraph and then chose myStyle. This was probably enough to create a custom formatting (involving only font size, actually).
Now I know that I must NOT select before applying my paragraph style (by the way, is there a way to remove all custom formatting?).

EDIT: you have already replied to my last answer  :)

Thank you!

Meho R.

Sorry, I was just editing my post and you posted the question in the meantime. I'm glad that's sorted out.

And welcome to the forums :)

lozeta


diegueno

I found a way to make this work on a Windoze 7 machine running v.1.4.2 and it's not documented and completely unintuitive.

  • create the style
  • save the style
  • highlight the text
  • open up the styles pressing the F3 key
    (which is, BTW, not in a tutorial nor the help file)
  • right click on the desired style in the style list box
  • select Apply in the drop-down menu
  • release the right button
After all of that, the style was applied for me.

Because this is 1) not documented and 2) so very awkward and unintuitive to do, I believe that this creates a grave usability issue for the application.

Nermander

As for many Open Source programs documentation lags behind because everything is done by volunteers.

Are you offering to help make Scribus better or do you just want your money back? :)

diegueno

Quote
Quote from: Nermander on May 09, 2013, 03:18:25 PMAre you offering to help make Scribus better or do you just want your money back?

I can test and maybe write documentation.

Lorraine

Hello, I am a newcomer to Scribus and am working in Story Editor. When editing a line, I cannot get more than one font (style) to apply on the same line. Nothing I've tried works. I highlight the section that should be bold, apply bold font, and style changes to bold. Then I highlight only the part of the sentence I want in regular type and apply that font and the whole line changes. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks.

GarryP

Hi Lorraine.

There are two different ways to do what you want.

1. The quick and dirty way.

You can apply text formatting in the text frame itself. Just double-click the text frame - don't go into the story editor - and do your text formatting there selecting the text you want changed and applying whatever changes you want with the Text tab of the Properties palette. (The story editor isn't good for applying formatting on bits of text smaller than a paragraph.)

2. The better way.

Learn about styles. Create a "base" character style, then create a paragraph style based on the "base" character style. Then apply the paragraph style to a paragraph - or the whole text frame - using the Styles tab of the Properties palette. Then, if you want a Bold bit of text, create a new character style based on the "base" character style but with Bold set. Then apply that character style to the bit of text you want bold via the method outlined above.

Doing it with style(s) - please forgive the cheesy deliberate pun - takes a little time to learn but it's well worth the effort. E.g. If you later want to change the font just change it in the "base" character style and everything else will change automatically (for free).