Scribus Forums

Development => User Interface => Topic started by: a.l.e on January 26, 2025, 01:50:30 PM

Title: Displaying the chains of frames when using the linking tool
Post by: a.l.e on January 26, 2025, 01:50:30 PM
A few days ago I've created a ticket for the linking tool:

show the linking arrows for the newly created linked text frames (https://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=17140)

During the weekend, I've spent some time with the Scribus code, and tried to tweak the code to achieve the result I asked for.
I'm not there, but I have made some progress.

While hacking around, I've tried different combinations of what is being shown and how the tool behaves in different situations.
Personally, I have the feeling that Scribus does often not behave in a predictable way, but I have hard time sketching a better overall behavior.
This might also be related to the fact that I'm using the tool in contrived testing setups.

Here a description of the current feature:


... I hope that i caught all finesses of the tool...

Here my thoughts about the current state:


All this having been said, there are already a few behaviors that I'd like to see changed:


But for the further details, I still haven't found a sound behavior that would be fitting in every case.

Does anybody have further thoughts that could help improve the linking tool?
Title: Re: Displaying the chains of frames when using the linking tool
Post by: nitramr on February 18, 2025, 10:56:22 PM
InDesign has a nice implementation for text frame linking. They don't have a tool at all. The text frame linking/unlinking is integrated in the text frame itself on canvas. I also like the key modifier options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUP1kMsIYV0


Some time ago I made a concept of the text frame which is inspired by InDesign and other DTP software.

Scribus could have similar "slots" on the text frame to pull out and connect text frames. A more advanced implementation compared to InDesign and others could be to place the slots on different positions based on text direction of the text frame.

A text frame tool in Scribus could be used like a pen to draw a line from one text frame to another one to connect them. In example, if you have 3 text frames in 3 columns. You could draw a straight line from left to right to connect all 3 text frame in the order of drawing.
If the text frame tool is active, you see all connection on canvas. By clicking on a connection line, you unlink the connected text frames.

But the drawing approach is very similar to your proposal of text frame selection.