Beginners Not Welcome in Scribus?

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rdurost

First, let me say that I have a degree in Electronics and 30 years doing advanced PC Desktop Support.  All I usually need to do is read through all the menus and I can get something done.  This product has the familiar unpleasant scent of something designed by people who firmly believe that "unless you've suffered, you aren't worthy."  And "did you read the man page?"  And "it's not my job to train you, come back when you're not so stupid."

In other words, UNIX admins.

Are you all cool with that?  Because I've already spent 10+ hours trying to accomplish what seems to be one of the simplest tasks imaginable when it comes to page layout: a photo collage combining four separate images, precisely the same dimensions, into a 2x2 layout where I can resize the images and adjust their position and spacing on an 8.5 x 11 page with just a tiny bit of automation.

It blew my mind that there didn't seem to be any straight-forward way to do this simple thing in what seems to be a highly-rated and complex desktop publishing application.

Then I found Photobook Tools and thought, well, "here's the crutch that enables this elementary thing to be done."  As you are probably aware, there are no straight-forward instructions on how to install this on a Scribus Windows installation.  The ONLY documentation seems to be: "7.1. (Unofficial) Windows installation" followed by three lines of gibberish and "After restarting Scribus, this works for me."  Following their instructions resulted in this dialog: 

Let me make one thing very clear--I hate Microsoft and Windows with every fiber of my being, with the fire of a thousand suns that only somebody who has spent a career trying to get something done despite their bullshit could muster.  I have the overwhelming urge to punch Bill Gates in the face approximately six times a day.  Every release is worse than the last one, and with every release they make it more and more clear that their monopoly power means they don't have to care.

I'm not a fan.

And yet, their pretense at caring about their customers does the majority of the time result in more-or-less usable documentation and a somewhat credible attempt to smooth over rocky places.

Would some empathetic soul please place my feet on the path of righteousness?

Much appreciated.

Richard

PatJr

dunno about placing you on a path
if you have specific issue, problem using Scribus, please do post up a question

I know that handling image frames can be a little awkward at first

a.l.e

Ok, I've just deleted a longer ironic text. Let's try to be zen and positive...

This is what I do, when I simply want to create a Photo album for my family: I go to

https://photoservice.migros.ch/de/bestellwege.html ,

download their very nice and simple layout software

https://photoservice.migros.ch/de/bestellsoftware.html ,
(or use the online layout tool)

put the images together and call it a day.

The family loves the small booklets!

So on top of what Patjr already wrote, I have the following hints for you:

- If you can do your task without using a (let's call it) professional tool, do that. That's even more true, if you can use a tool that is provided by your print shop. (personally I really like the CEWE PhotoBook, I'm not joking.)

- You seem to have issues installing Scribus on a Windows computer. If that's the case, just download the setup file for Scribus 1.5.8 and simply install it. There are no instruction to be followed outside of the install dialog. (but, then, if you don't have a clue about DTP , you will be as stuck as I was, when I first opened IIS Manager on a server...)

Really, if you're task is to put 4 photos on a page there are tools that can just do that. I don't see any reason not to use them.

AdmFubar

Someone correct me on this, but those "scripts" look very wrong. Something is amiss with them. They appear to be web pages.I filed an issue with the creator. more when i hear back from him
Using Scribus 1.6.1, openSUSE 15.6
Advanced hobbyist

Nermander

Quote from: rdurost on February 11, 2023, 11:25:27 AM
First, let me say that I have a degree in Electronics and 30 years doing advanced PC Desktop Support.  All I usually need to do is read through all the menus and I can get something done.  This product has the familiar unpleasant scent of something designed by people who firmly believe that "unless you've suffered, you aren't worthy."  And "did you read the man page?"  And "it's not my job to train you, come back when you're not so stupid."
Let me first ask a simple question: How many other page layout/desktop publishing programs have you used?

Have you considered that your issues may be due to that you are not used to this kind of application?

Now, I can agree that Scribus sometimes has a bit different terminology than other desktop publishing programs, but that is because Scribus does not really try to mimic them.

Also, let's not forget that Scribus is Free Open Source Software, the developers are working on it in their own free time.

Quote
It blew my mind that there didn't seem to be any straight-forward way to do this simple thing in what seems to be a highly-rated and complex desktop publishing application.
How did you expect it would be done? To me it is obvious that you need to create 4 image frames, place them where you want them (can be done using guides, align and distribute or manual positioning), get images and then potentially scale/pan the images within the frames.


Of course, if you are not satisfied with Scribus you can likely get a full refund.

rdurost

Quote from: a.l.e on February 11, 2023, 06:44:52 PM
Ok, I've just deleted a longer ironic text. Let's try to be zen and positive...

Thanks for Keeping it Positive.  I do appreciate it.

Is there an English version of the CEWE FOTOBUCH page?  And of the software itself?  I don't speak German.

On a more general note, can the elaborate Verification process before I post a reply be bypassed?

rdurost

Is there an English version of the CEWE FOTOBUCH page?  And of the software itself?  I don't speak German.

--------------------

https://www.cewe.co.uk/photo-books.html

dcr

FWIW, I've been using page layout applications since PageMaker 4 and have used PageMaker, InDesign and QuarkXpress.  With that experience, I was able to complete a project with Scribus 1.4.8 on my first day of using it.  It did require looking up online how to do some things though as many things are not intuitive and some tasks are almost maddeningly more complex than they are in the commercial alternatives.

So, I wouldn't say that it is unfriendly to beginners.  There is a definite learning curve and having used other page layout programs can be beneficial but even that doesn't mean that you'll be able to instantly figure everything out.  In some respects, that experience may also be a slight hindrance because you're used to doing things a certain way and Scribus does them differently.