I want to layout a book

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ama

Hi!

I am new here. I installed Scribus and am shocked. Nothing works as I want it.

Long ago I worked with several DTP programs, AMI pro being one of them. But Scribus is weirder than Word, and I do hate Word.

So, what I want to do: take a text and have it flow over the pages of the book automatically.

To see how Scribus works, I took an .sla file from someone and looked at the text in that file. As far as I can see, there are no hidden commands. I do hate Word for invisible commands. I DO!

But the .sla file is overloaded with a HUGE cloud of nonsense. So, working in that file is something for later, when I know how the commands work.

How can I START with the whole thing? I have no idea how many pages I need for the text. So the minimum is 4 pages:

  cover front
  page2  page3
  cover back

How can I make that?

How can I insert text, so that it will flow?

How can I add more pages, so that the whole text (more than 50 pages) will be handled correctly?

I use Scribus 1.5.8, english, on Linux. Something else can not be installed, because the insane operating system installer deletes other versions, even if newer. That is one of the reasons, why I say that programmers are idiots. Since I am a programmer, I am allowed to say that...

Thank you in advance
ama

AdmFubar

Quote from: ama on April 08, 2026, 11:07:23 PMHi!

I am new here. I installed Scribus and am shocked. Nothing works as I want it.

Long ago I worked with several DTP programs, AMI pro being one of them. But Scribus is weirder than Word, and I do hate Word.

So, what I want to do: take a text and have it flow over the pages of the book automatically.

To see how Scribus works, I took an .sla file from someone and looked at the text in that file. As far as I can see, there are no hidden commands. I do hate Word for invisible commands. I DO!

But the .sla file is overloaded with a HUGE cloud of nonsense. So, working in that file is something for later, when I know how the commands work.

How can I START with the whole thing? I have no idea how many pages I need for the text. So the minimum is 4 pages:

  cover front
  page2  page3
  cover back

How can I make that?

How can I insert text, so that it will flow?

How can I add more pages, so that the whole text (more than 50 pages) will be handled correctly?

I use Scribus 1.5.8, english, on Linux. Something else can not be installed, because the insane operating system installer deletes other versions, even if newer. That is one of the reasons, why I say that programmers are idiots. Since I am a programmer, I am allowed to say that...

Thank you in advance
ama
Ami Pro was an early word processor, not DTP  software. you may have to unlearn a few concepts for using Scribus. 

Scribus is for final assembly of of a document. 

Is your book going to have images in it? If so, are all the images ready? Is all the text written? Is this a novel, or something instructional?
Using Scribus1.6.1, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.6
Advanced hobbyist

ama

no images
but some longer quotes
the text is about finished, waits for some orthographic checks

All I need now is the layout.

AdmFubar

Will this be a physical printed book? or just a pdf?

Usually a dtp program is used for more that just text layout.
What details can you share about the document that you are putting together? What type, if any, changes to the fonts and their styling will be required?

Any other details that you can provide will be helpful. I'm trying to determine if scribus is a good match for what you are creating.
Using Scribus1.6.1, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.6
Advanced hobbyist

ama

> Will this be a physical printed book? or just a pdf?

Only printed on paper.


> Usually a dtp program is used for more that just text layout.

Sure. But the print company wants a PDF file.


> What details can you share about the document that you are putting together? What type, if any, changes to the fonts and their styling will be required?

All very simple. No pictures.


> Any other details that you can provide will be helpful. I'm trying to determine if scribus is a good match for what you are creating.

The question is not whether Scribus or not. The question is HOW?.


I need help to start the whole thing.

Today I installed Texlive. Looks like the same size of monster.








AdmFubar

What format is the text file in? plain text? or in some type of word processor file format?
Using Scribus1.6.1, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.6
Advanced hobbyist

ama

The text is in plain text ASCII.