I think the issue here is that you expect a FOSS software in version 1.5 to have the same user experience as a commercial software in version 15.
It is well known that the Scribus user interface could use a major overhaul, but being an Open Source project that would probably require someone to take the lead on such a project and coordinate efforts. There have been numerous suggestions about improvements to the user inteface, but very few of them end up being developed.