Hiring Scribus Experts for Consulting?

[BenFranske]

I'm potentially looking to hire a Scribus consultant to help transition a volunteer organization I work with that produces a quarterly local history magazine from Adobe Photoshop and QuarkXpress to GIMP and Scribus. I just don't have the capacity myself to help them undertake the transition but I'm sick of the annual subscription/upgrade drama that Adobe and Quark bring into my life as the volunteer director of technology.

There would be two parts to this job which could be the same person or different people:

• Build a template in Scribus that looks pretty much like our existing publication (we can provide a copy of a recent Quark file and all the assets such as logos, fonts, etc.) You can see an example of an existing publication here at the Internet Archive. This is first and foremost for print but archival copies are posted online as well.
• Provide on-call support to our volunteer magazine writer/editor/layout person who has used Photoshop and Quark for many years (but is not the most technically savvy person) in using GIMP and Scribus to get the first one or two editions out.

I'm interested in a ballpark of what this might cost as well as recommendations on someone to work with on one or both of the needs outlined above.

Thanks!

[PatJr]

imho don't underestimate the abilities of your people
and
youtube

[AdmFubar]

from what i've seen of the publication in the link, they really wont have any trouble making the transition to scribus.

[Aleks100]

& check PhotoGIMP at https://github.com/Diolinux/PhotoGIMP

[a.l.e]

hi ben

i think that i can create the template in scribus and provide instruction how to use scribus to fill it.

the greatest issue is: how to let you pay me... since i'm not in the US.

if you can't find any help closer to you, get in touch with me...

ciao
a.l.e

[BenFranske]

Oh I know it can be done pretty easily, I have used Scribus for years myself for much more complex layouts. I'm also confident that our volunteer could handle it after they get some hand holding. It's mostly that we're talking about a 71 year old volunteer who has been using Quark and Photoshop to do this for 30 years and is a bit hesitant to try new things without some hand holding and a layout template to get started which I just don't have capacity to do right now. Self-learning via YouTube is just not going to be very interesting to them, they will want someone they can call or Zoom with to show them how to do the specific things needed to get an issue or two out.

a.l.e. thanks for the offer, if I don't hear from someone more local I may be in touch! I'm sure we could figure out how to get you payment.

[dragonfly]

I have returned to browsing this forum after a few years break. Noted this thread but I am not looking for any consultancy fees, just offering some tips to your senior designer who has been hooked on Adobe/Quark all these years.

I would not doubt the ability of seniors to pickup new ideas.

I am more than a decade older. Started engineering career in 1955.

My tips to the senior learner are:

Expand your horizon by dual booting between Windows and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Not essential but a valuable step away from Microsoft universe.  There is a application Rufus in Windows which explains the steps. This will open a wealth of open source tools.

In Windows (and also Ubuntu if advice is followed) install these applications.

From Internet Archive download EPUB version of the document you refer to. The reason for using EPUB as an anchor point is that documents can be routed to both the web and (in the context of this discussion) into Scribus for final layout and printing.

Install Sigil to view the content of the download EPUB. At point of installation be sure that you tick the box to make Sigil the default EPUB reader. This will be in XML format but it is previewed in a panel.

Now here is the twist in thinking. In parallel with learning the ropes in Scribus, read about the plugin ScribusGenerator (Python script). This allows the document layout to be on a spreadsheet and the individual vars can be imported into template within Scribus.  For example if we download the Internet Archive EPUB we can impor the content into Scribus.

Why complicate matters by adding other applications I hear you say. I have long been an advocate of creating toolchains where Scribus is just one link in the chain. I posted on this some years back but I have honed my thinking.

Another tool I suggest is CherryTree. This is described as a "hierarchical notes editor". But stretch the thinking and we can regard a series of nodes as representing pages in Scribus. Sub nodes can be text frames, image frames and so on. Rather like a movie show.

In this way we can prototype a document layout. But that is for later discussion.

YouTube tutorials suffer from the problem that the learner has to sync with the video. But if we adopt a container such as CherryTree we can use this in eLearning mode to walk the remote learner through complex interactions with desktop application without following screenshots. Such training containers can give feedback to the tutor who does not need to be local for "hand holding" the learner.

End of ideas dump for now. I can expand for your learner who can be a test subject to see if the ideas can be passed on. No fees. I have my own project I am working on.

[AdmFubar]

Did some digging around and QuarkXpress can export to IDML. Open your template in QX, and export it as IDML, the open the IDML in Scribus and see how well the import is.

This could solve a lot of your learning curve.

Just double checked, the IDML export may only be available in the 2024 version.

[dragonfly]

Building on the last idea to import a vectorfile.
I assumed from OP that Quark was being dropped due to cost.

But I do like working with SVG and have been exploring text to svg. Although I largely work in  Ubuntu desktop, in my Windows 10 some time ago I installed VirtualMechanics SiteSpinner PRO. Although rather dated this has the nice feature of exporting multiframe sites to SVG.  This rabbit out of the hat might be another option if you are staying with Windows.

https://www.sitespinner.com/

Although I much prefer Ubuntu to Windows, I might create a Windows VM in my Ubuntu desktop expressly for the purposes of using selected old Windows apps while at same time drawing on Ubuntu assets. I need Windows to run an old Canon scanner, for example. And SiteSpinner.

[a.l.e]

yes, going through IDML, if quark has the feature, is probably the best way to move to scribus.

on the other side, the document is rather simple to rebuild in scribus and recreating it can make sure that the template is created in a way that is then easier to use in scribus.

also, at its beginnings the workflows in scribus were often inspired by people who were using quark, so it's should not be that hard to move to scribus.

[Aleks100]

1. DTP paradigm is easy to grasp: "Put everything in frame."
2. This Magazine design is so simple that could be done in Xerox Ventura Publisher, and for sure it will be improved in Scribus - for start use Align to Baseline Grid for copy text. Baseline grid alignement exist in Quark and for some reason it is not used in linked pdf.
3. I don't see any reason to go from Quark to IDML and than to Sribus. Just do everything in Scribus.

[NathanUp]

Just adding my two cents here — if your current designer is used to photoshop, I'd seriously consider using Krita instead of the GNU Image Manipulation Program. The interface is miles better and it has some key features that they might expect, such as adjustment / filter layers. Support for PSD files in Krita is also excellent.