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#51
Beginner Talk / Re: Making a bilingual book
Last post by a.l.e - November 19, 2024, 08:12:50 PM
I've read your question already on Reddit (is it indeed you?) and thought: no, Scribus is not really the right choice for a bilingual book.

The issue is that you cannot synchronize the start of the paragraphs and keep the flow going hand in hand on both sides.

But.

But, now that I read a bit better your question, you're asking something different.

Yes, it is possible to import (or paste) a text that flows on the left pages and one other that flows on the rights ones.

And it's even pretty easy to do so.

  • Create a Scribus document with facing pages.
  • Create the first pages, up to the first two where you want the translated text to start (I have created three of them: a cover page and two pages for the facing translations).
  • Create a frame on each of the two pages where the translation starts.
  • Paste (or load) your English text in the frame on the left page and your French text in the one on the right side.
  • Create n double pages where you want your text to flow into (I've created five of them): If it's not the right number, you can later add more pages in the same way or delete the ones which are left empty.
  • Click on the frame on the left side and start "Item > Duplicate/Transform > Multiple Duplicate".
  • Activate the "By page" tab.
  • Select "Following Even Pages" and check the box for "Link Text Frames"
  • Do the same for the right page and the odd following ones.

Now, you have your text and you can add spaces or even try to split the frame inside of a page to manually synchronize the start of the paragraphs / sections / chapters (whatever you want to synchronize...)
#52
Beginner Talk / [SOLVED] Making a bilingual bo...
Last post by Gy1l0om - November 19, 2024, 04:21:21 PM
Hello there  ;D  I've read a few tutorials on the basics but I've yet to find this information.

I'm making bilingual books, with English on left pages and French on right pages.

How can I automate the process of linking text boxes on left pages and text boxes on right pages ? I know how to make it by hand, but we're talking hundreds, thousands of pages accross seven books. I'm sure there's a better way. Is there a script/plugin that does that or a native way I've not yet come accross ?

Thanks a lot in advance  :)  !

#53
Code / Proposal for new SLA file stru...
Last post by tim_occ - November 19, 2024, 01:29:29 PM
Hello everyone,

I know that this is a sensitive topic. Nevertheless, I believe that the SLA file needs some improvements. Among other things, it still contains German attribute names for historical reasons. I also noticed that the file structure is "too flat". When the file is read in, all lines are read individually and checked for corresponding tags. This means that an unnecessary number of comparisons have to be carried out, which is particularly slow for large files. In addition, the efficiency advantages of the XML format are not used, namely that information can be read quickly via blocks and processed further in a targeted manner. In newer implementations, these blocks already exist, which is good.

I therefore suggest that most of the old tags be grouped into new parent tags.

An example using color tags. The same applies to styles and many other tags.
Previously:
<COLOR NAME="Black" SPACE="CMYK" C="0" M="0" Y="0" K="100"/>


Suggestion:
<Colors>
  <COLOR NAME="Black" SPACE="CMYK" C="0" M="0" Y="0" K="100"/>
</Colors>

Grouping tags has the advantage that you don't have to go through the entire document line by line to extract all the colors. This is a big advantage when importing data from one document into another document.

As far as I can tell, the new file loader only needs to be able to read the new format, as the old formats will continue to work via the old file loader plugins. In addition, Craig has already built in a function that allows users to save a new document in an older format. So at this point, I don't see any major problems changing the file format for newer versions of Scribus.

See attached file for a proposal structure. It is not intended to be complete.

PS: It is a good chance to replace the German names too and unify the code style, like "COLOR", "MultiLine" or "useColor".
#54
PDF Generation / Re: Nothing happens when hitti...
Last post by Casiosudd - November 19, 2024, 12:37:09 PM
I tried to reinstall both Scribus (same old version 1.3.3.14) and Ghostscript (new). Did not solve the problem.

But after installing a new Scribus version (1.6.2) the pdf-export works again.
Instead inserted pdf's have moved slightly when opened in 1.6.2 - annoying, but at least I know how to fix it.
#55
General Discussion / Re: Description of a sla file ...
Last post by tim_occ - November 19, 2024, 11:35:48 AM
#56
PDF Generation / Re: Nothing happens when hitti...
Last post by MrB - November 18, 2024, 08:53:06 PM
Nope, no idea. Any clues on Scribus version, operating system and version etc?
#57
PDF Generation / Nothing happens when hitting S...
Last post by Casiosudd - November 17, 2024, 09:08:50 PM
I have been using Scribus for several years and saved PDFs hundreds of times every year, and cannot remember that this has happened before.

When choosing File-Export-Save as PDF nothing happens.
Same (no) reaction when clicking "Save as PDF"-button.

Save as image and save page as svg is working.

I haven't made any (known) changes in computer settings or similar, but auto-updates might have been done.

Any ideas why?
#58
Layout Issues / Re: Align the top of the caps ...
Last post by a.l.e - November 17, 2024, 04:10:15 PM
No, Scribus does not have that...

And I could not find any reference in the internets mentioning "hang baselinegrid"...

How exactly is the feature called?
#59
Layout Issues / Align the top of the caps to t...
Last post by shrimp - November 17, 2024, 12:08:34 PM
I basically want that my letter "hang from the baslinegrid". At my uni where they teach us inDesign they told that we should use this setting. This way is easier to align texts that have bigger fonts sizes.

Is this possible in scribus? I have been searching for a while now but couldn't find anything.
#60
General Discussion / Re: Seeking Advice on Finding ...
Last post by abi - November 15, 2024, 04:03:35 AM
Thank you for the responses, will check them out