Text Box Automatic Linespacing behaves differently in 1.5.5 than in 1.4.8

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jacrider

I have converted from 1.4.8 to 1.5.5 because 1.5.5 is included in Ubuntu 20.04, and I am having one serious problem with it.  I have lots of text boxes where the spacing is set to Automatic Linespacing because I use various fonts and font sizes within the box.  In 1.4.8, this worked real well for me.  But in 1.5.5, when I have lines using font sizes less than 11 or 12 points, there is greater space between the lines than before.  Also, in 1.4.8, I could create a line of one or more blank spaces and set the font size to a small value (like 2 to 6 points) and get a small gap between lines.  In 1.5.5, regardless of the font size for the blank spaces, there is a gap that appears to be at least 12 to 15 points.

Is there a better way to achieve the former behavior, or any way at all to do so in 1.5.5?

utnik

hi jacrider

Quote from: jacrider on May 01, 2020, 10:11:53 PM
I have converted from 1.4.8 to 1.5.5...

there came a new text layout engine with scribus 1.5.3. this may be the reason for some visible differences.
QuoteI have lots of text boxes where the spacing is set to Automatic Linespacing...

'automatic linespacing' is a setting i never used in 1.4.8, as it was set to a fixed factor to the font size (independent of the need for space of a specific font).
i don't know if this is better now. i'm used to define line hights to match a font...
Quotewhen I have lines using font sizes less than 11 or 12 points, there is greater space between the lines than before.  Also, in 1.4.8, I could create a line of one or more blank spaces and set the font size to a small value (like 2 to 6 points) and get a small gap between lines.

you should learn to work with paragraph styles. ('edit' → 'styles') here you may define fixed spaces for your fonts.
for the blanks you should define spaces above and/or below your paragraphs. dealing with empty lines to fake those spaces is a bad habit.

but for editing your old files this means a lot of work. i'm sorry for that.

utnik

jacrider

I suppose I am going to have to take another look at paragraph styles and determine whether I can make them work for my application.  I intended to use them more when I started using Scribus over 5 years ago, but found them too much trouble when almost every line of text in my documents required a different style, especially when automatic linespacing usually worked well for me.

I've had two objections to paragraph styles in Scribus, possibly due to my prior experience.  In addition to other word processing programs, I used FrameMaker rather extensively about 30 years ago and I've used StarOffice/OpenOffice/LibreOffice for about 25 years.  In each of those, it has been possible to modify the style of an individual paragraph without creating a new paragraph style which was so much more convenient when the style would not be reused.  If this is possible in Scribus, I haven't found it.  The other problem I've encountered is that in at least one of the styles I created and use on a regular basis, Scribus doesn't use the character style saved with the paragraph style.  I set the character style to use Liberation Sans Bold, but I always get Liberation Sans Regular (the default I set for most of my text boxes) and I have to change the font in the story editor every time I select that paragraph style.

Is there any chance that these will be changed/fixed in the near future?

utnik

hi jacrider

Quote from: jacrider on May 02, 2020, 04:31:34 PMI've used StarOffice/OpenOffice/LibreOffice for about 25 years. In each of those, it has been possible to modify the style of an individual paragraph without creating a new paragraph style...

well, you can do direct formatting for a selection. (use 'text properties')
Quote...at least one of the styles I created and use on a regular basis, Scribus doesn't use the character style saved with the paragraph style.

could you show me a test file wich shows this behaviour?
i would like to search for the reason – and if i can't find it, i'll file a bug report.

utnik

jacrider

Obviously I am going to have to spend more time with some of the feature changes from 1.4.8.

1.4.8 did not have a separate text properties, and my impression was that the properties applied to the entire frame, not just the selection.  So I may be able to use that to accomplish what I need.  I'll be working on it today to find out.

I'll have to spend more time with 1.5.5 to find out whether the bug with the character style is still there.  I tried to create a simple test page to demonstrate it, but I got the expected behavior instead of what I've been getting with 1.4.8 and several earlier releases.  I'll keep an eye out for whether it happens again.  It is something I use every week, but I had already completed that page in 1.4.8 this week before I switched to 1.5.5, so it may have already been fixed.

jack_cat

Although probable that the versions are indeed different, you might investigate another avenue.

Every style can be manipulated individually. There are about a dozen different controls on the text style which can change the space between lines and between letters and everything else. They are complicated and require a good deal of experimentation, but there are not so many that you can't figure it out.

It appears probable that you need to do some work on those parameters for your smaller-sized styles.
This is all done in the style editor. Edit > Styles.

The Properties window also has some tools, and you can experiment with selecting a block of text and applying some formatting through the text menus. But my first guess is that you should work on the styles.

Good luck and hope this helps.
jack