Recent posts

#1
Announcements and Forum Rules / Scribus 1.7.0 Released
Last post by MrB - January 25, 2025, 11:33:49 PM
Hi

We released Scribus 1.7.0 today, 25/1/25.
https://www.scribus.net/scribus-1-7-0-released/

Download checksums in a similar story at https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/1.7.0_Release

thanks
Craig

#2
Features / Re: Node based automation like...
Last post by utnik - January 25, 2025, 10:14:53 PM
hi ale

Quote from: a.l.e on January 25, 2025, 06:10:19 PM
  • i'd like to hear from scribus power users, who can't program at all (like utnik), if they think they would use such a system and, if yes,  what are the task they might want to automate.
i'm not sure if i'd use it. but i might play with it to find out...

what i would really like to have is a way to store and select presets for different tasks. i usually deal with document templates for similar jobs. but sometimes i need different .pdf files from the same .sla document. my individual set of output profiles would help here.

utnik
#3
MacOS / Re: Scribus 1.6.3 does not run...
Last post by MrB - January 25, 2025, 10:08:37 PM
I downloaded it again from SF and it works for me
#4
MacOS / Scribus 1.6.3 does not run on ...
Last post by dragginDaybrake - January 25, 2025, 06:36:16 PM
I downloaded the arm64.dmg from sourceforge.net. I checked the sha-1 hash and they match the arm64 build on the wiki.

But I get the following error when opening the .app:

QuoteYou can't use this version of the application "Scribus.app" with this version of macos.

It appears that it is not compiled for arm? Does anyone else have same experience or is it an issue on my end?

#5
Features / Re: Node based automation like...
Last post by a.l.e - January 25, 2025, 06:10:19 PM
i have mixed feeling about having a visual programming tool for/inside scribus.

i must admit that -- while i have some serious experience with Scratch (with kids) -- i have never used it in other contexts. (ok, except some experimenting with pure data many many moons ago)

from what i understand, visual programming seems to be somehow useful for chaining filters and actions on assets, but i'm not that sure it's a good way to automate (part of) flexible workflows like in scribus.
i fear that, at the end, there is often one critical feature that will be missing (or too hard to do for the user) and the overall experience will rather be bad.

but i might be completely wrong...

twp more remarks from my side:

  • i'd like to hear from scribus power users, who can't program at all (like utnik), if they think they would use such a system and, if yes,  what are the task they might want to automate.
  • personally, i would not implement a graph based system like martin is showing in the screenshot, but rather a single column, similar to what scratch offers.

Dialogo_scratch_Best_Friends_1.png

P.S.: Note to self: if we want to implement something similar to Scratch, QGraphicScene could be one approach to consider...
(for node based programming there would be https://github.com/paceholder/nodeeditor)
#6
Code / Re: Proposal for new SLA file ...
Last post by a.l.e - January 25, 2025, 04:46:20 PM
In order to have an idea about how a new Scribus file format would look like I played around with a schema in Relax NG format and a minimal .sla that would match it.

I've put the draft here:

https://github.com/aoloe/scribus-sla/tree/main/proposal

(it's not tested and might contain errors)

The minimal Scribus document for the element that are already defined would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<scribus version="2.0" scribus="1.8.0.svn">
  <configuration>
    <document language="en_UK">
      <page unit="mm">
        <size name="ISOA_A04" />
        <margins top="10" bottom="10" left="10" right="10">
      </page>
      <layout pages="1" first-page="left" direction-horizontal="ltr" />
    </document>
    <colors>
      <color name="black" space="rgb" r="000000" g="000000" b="000000" />
    </colors>
  </configuration>
  <styles>
    <paragraph>
      <style name="default" id="0">
      </style>
    </paragraph>
    <character>
      <style name="default" id="0">
      </style>
    </character>
  </styles>
  <content>
    <page id="1">
    <page>
  </content>
</scribus>

And the schema is something like:

grammar {

  start = element-scribus

  element-scribus = element scribus {
    element-configuration,
    element-styles,
    element-colors,
    element-fonts,
    element-sections?,
    element-content,
  }

  # common elements

  element-page-size = element size {
      (
        attribute name { text } |
        (
          attribute width,
          attribute height,
        )
      )
  }

  element-shape-sides =
    attribute top { text },
    attribute bottom { text },
    attribute left { text },
    attribute right { text },

  # start of configuration / content

  element-configuration = element configuration {
    element-document,
    #...
  }

  element-document = element document {
    element language {
      attribute name { text }
    },
    element page {
      attribute unit { text },
      element size = element-page-size,
      element margins {
        attribute top { text },
        attribute bottom { text },
        (
          ( attribute left { text },
          attribute right { text } ) |
          ( attribute inside { text },
          attribute outside { text } ),
        )
      },
      element printer-margins {
        element-shape-sides
        attribute preset { text }
      }?,
      element bleeds {
        element-shape-sides
      }? # if not defined, all zeros
    },
    element layout {
      attribute pages { "1" | "2" },
      attribute first-page { "left" | "right" }
      attribute direction-horizontal { "ltr" | "rtl" }
      # attribute direction-vertical { string } # not implemented yet
    },
    element saving {
      attribute compressed { boolean }?,
      element auto-save {
        attribute automatic a:defaultValue="false" { xsd:boolean }?,
        attribute keep-backup a:defaultValue="false" { xsd:boolean }?,
        attribute countdown a:defaultValue="false" { xsd:boolean }?,
        element target-path { text }?
      }
    }?,
    element undo {
      attribute enabled a:defaultValue="true" { xsd:boolean }?,
      attribute history { text }?
    }?
  }

  element-style-base = element style {
    attribute id { text }
    attribute name { text }
  }

  element-style-paragraph = element-style-base {
  }

  element-style-character = element-style-base {
  }

  element-style-table = element-style-base {
  }

  element-styles = element styles {
    element-style-paragraph+,
    element-style-character+,
    element-style-table*,
  }

  element-colors = element colors { element-color+ }

  element-color = element color {
    attribute name { text }
    atribute space { "cmyk" | "rgb" } # TODO: add the missing spaces
    (
      (
        attribute r { text },
        attribute g { text },
        attribute b { text }
      ) |
      (
        attribute c { text },
        attribute m { text },
        attribute y { text }
        attribute k { text }
      )

  }

  element-fonts = element fonts { element-font* }

  element-font = element font {
    attribute id { text },
    attribute name { text },
  }

  element-sections = { element-section* } # if no section is defined, use the default values

  element-section = element section {
    attribute id { text },
    attribute name { text }?,
  }

  element-page = element page {
    attribute id { text }
    attribute master-page a:defaultValue="false" { xsd:bool }?
    element size = element-page-size
  }

  element-content = element content {
    element-page+
  }
}

The README file next to those two files has a few more (but still not many) details.

p.s.: it's my first experience with Relax NG, but if it works out to be a good choice for us, i think we need a collaborative effort to document the current .sla format with it.
a boring but probably needed step for ensuring that the new format covers all the needs of the old one...
#7
Code / Re: Proposal for new SLA file ...
Last post by a.l.e - January 25, 2025, 10:05:33 AM
à propos default: the file format could have a section with the defaults to be applied to its element, rather than repeating the defaults for each element.

on the other side, i guess that a specific file format version should the defaults stored with the code, not in every file created by scribus.


yes, the file format should be versioned and avoid using the scribus version for this task (of course, in the UI we will probably reference a scribus version! we don't need to expose the internal details)

whenever possible, scribus should have code for converting between between each "contiguous" version (with automatic warnings about things that might not work as expected).
#8
Text and Typography / Re: Not Sure What Font to Choo...
Last post by Nermander - January 23, 2025, 08:11:42 PM
Choosing a font is always difficult because there are so many. But fortunately (if you see it that way), many fonts are not really good fonts.

I once found someone who had typset the same text in like a dozen (I think it was more close to 20) different fonts. I think I even have a printout somewhere of the first page from each of the documents.

There is sometimes a difference between what looks good and what is easy to read. It is often said that good typography is "invisible" (you just read the text easily, without noticing the typography).
#9
Free discussion / Re: Own text frames
Last post by a.l.e - January 23, 2025, 02:01:43 PM
oh, ah!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_USA_(shape).svg

can be helpful.

you can load into a scribus document and convert to a polygon and, then, to a text frame.

usa-shape.png

as utnik wrote, this type of gimmick often leads to a rather deceptive result...

but, with a bit of effort, in this case i think you can create a shape that can be recognized as the one of the USA and still show the text in a meaningful way.
#10
Free discussion / Re: Own text frames
Last post by Barbora - January 23, 2025, 01:17:11 PM
Hi!
I was thinking the text in the shape of the map, just borders if you know what I mean (I'm sorry my english is not really good). But thanks for all replies, I will definitely try them when I come home.