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Scribus => Beginner Talk => Topic started by: DBoydNL on May 13, 2025, 05:19:11 PM

Title: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: DBoydNL on May 13, 2025, 05:19:11 PM
I have switched to Scribus from Pagemaker, PagePlus, and Publisher. I am familiar with most DTP features. I find a number of things very non intuitive in Scribus. Like: how to I bold print or italicise only one word or sentence in a paragraph?
I have the front and inside covers as pages 1&2 and the same at the back, so that I can PDF the file easily and send it to the Online Printer. Consequently, my actual first page is numbered as page 3. I know how to fix this in all the no longer available (to me) DTP programs, but not in Scribus.
I have several pages that have a full (A5) picture as a background, which obviously looks really cool. Problem is, that covers up the page number in the Master Page and no amount of "move to front" seems to change that. I have solved that for now, by copying and pasting the page number on the master page to the actual page. That works, but there hopefully is a better way... I would also like to have several pages just have a background color, but I can't find tha option anywhere.
I have several pages where to keep the text legible against the full page background pic. I filled the text frame with white and set it to 60% transparency. Problem is, that turns the black text to grey (60% tranparancy). I have solved this by placing a white 60% transparent box behind the text frams (with no fill) and that works, but again: this is a workaround, not a solution.
Working with Styles is a disaster. I have not figured out a way to conveniently apply them and have them work consistently.

Why do the verification Captcha's have a line through them making it impossible to see the difference between an O and a G? I am logged in, why do I still have to verify myself with a verification letter system, and "I am not a robot" checkbox, answer a verification question (whick I had to look up and isn't listed on that site!!!), AND select several pictures from an array to post a question???

David
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: a.l.e on May 13, 2025, 07:52:26 PM
first: sorry for the "agressive" captcha.

sadly, we get much spam and i fear that without it, it would be worse.

on top of that, you're asking lot of questions... let's try to give some answers


does it help?
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: utnik on May 13, 2025, 08:15:27 PM
hi dboydnl

Quote from: DBoydNL on May 13, 2025, 05:19:11 PM...how to I bold print or italicise only one word or sentence in a paragraph?
either by direct formatting (in the 'text properties' palette) or (usually better) by applying a character style...

Quote...my actual first page is numbered as page 3. I know how to fix this in all the no longer available (to me) DTP programs, but not in Scribus.
try 'file' → 'document setup' → 'sections'.

QuoteI have several pages that have a full (A5) picture as a background, which obviously looks really cool. Problem is, that covers up the page number in the Master Page...
two (or more) layers will help. place the page numbers on an upper layer and they will show in front of the image.

Quote...I would also like to have several pages just have a background color, but I can't find tha option anywhere.
just place a colored shape in the background. (if it's always the same color, i would use a separate master page...)

QuoteI have several pages where to keep the text legible against the full page background pic. I filled the text frame with white and set it to 60% transparency. Problem is, that turns the black text to grey (60% tranparancy). I have solved this by placing a white 60% transparent box behind the text frams (with no fill) and that works, but again: this is a workaround, not a solution.
there you really need a second element (like your semi transparent shape). but again, if it's always the same shape, i would work with a special master page wich contains this shape...

QuoteWorking with Styles is a disaster. I have not figured out a way to conveniently apply them and have them work consistently.
i recommend to see some basic tutorials or read a manual like this one (https://www.archive.flossmanuals.net/scribus-2/styles.html). (it's not really up to date, but it would solve many of your problems...)

...and ... yes, this captcha stuff seems to be annoying. thank god it's just for newbies in this forum...

utnik

edit: ale was faster...
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: DBoydNL on May 14, 2025, 12:29:27 PM
Hi Utnik,

Yes, thank you, that helped quite a bit.
Can you tell me where and how to create layers? One problem I am having, is that I installed Scribus in Dutch, so wihout clear directions on where things are in the menu's, I get lost in some less than logical translations. I also "get lost" because the icons are so friggin' tiny!  :o  I had come up with a work-around to copy the (covered up page number) from the master page and just paste it in the actual page with the full page background. Is that what you meant, or can I create layers on the master page and have the page number and the blue circle around it, and have it appear on the page regardless of what graphic is on the entire page (and if so: how?)?

Could you give a bit more guidance on the matter of bold or italizing word(s) or sentences? I really mis the always present in other DTP's and Word processors: Bold / Italics / Underline buttons.

Do I understand the website correctly, that if I write page content in Word, applying Styles for Headings, Subheadings etc. that I can simply import that into Scribus and all my formatting will be retained and work? I tried that with some Publisher files, and Scribus made a mess of it. Will it even import the Style (names)? Can I insert graphics into Word,and have those end up in the right place in Scribus?

Is there any way to link graphic files that I have placed in a Picture Frame? If I change a graphics file in my Graphics Editor, replacing it in the directory, I would like Scribus to update that graphic when I open (or update?) the Scribus file.

David

I will check out the manual, thanks.
 
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: prcek on May 14, 2025, 01:53:47 PM
Layers are in dockable toolbox window (or how it is called)
It can be shown/hidden by Windows->Layers (F6)  - Vensters -> Lagen
There is a [ + ] button to add a new layer and arrows to move it up/down in the layer stack.

I'm beginer as well, so take my answers with a grain of salt, please.

It seems to me that layers are global to document so it does not matter if they're applied in Master page or somewhere else.

Bold/Italic - I personally define a bunch of paragraph/character styles and use styles for it. They're hierarchical and can inherit everything from "default" and overwrite just "bold". So in case I later decide to use a different font I can change just the default and don't have to reformat the document or if I need to switch highlighting from bold to italic I just edit my "highlight" character style and don't need to go over everything again.
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: DBoydNL on May 15, 2025, 10:42:20 AM
I will have to work on that whole "layer" thing.

I updated a graphic file, and when I switched to Scribus the graphic was updated, so I guess linking graphics is standard?

I really miss the Bold / Italics / Underline buttons. I can't imagine why the programmers didn't include them. Those are pretty much standard in... well: EVERY OTHER PROGRAM! Also: why, oh why, are the icons/buttons on the taskbar so horribly tiny? And why do some of them not have a "card" to identify what they are for? The edit text tool/screen is horribly tiny too. Selecting styles per paragraph is next to impossible to do "on the fly".

On the Style management screen, there is a button that has been translated from presumably "Apply" ("Toepassen" in Dutch). That makes it seem like pressing that button is going to apply the style to the preselected text or paragraph. It took me 20 minutes to realize that it intended as "Apply Changes to this Style". Perhaps in English it is "Apply changes" (which is still unclear, but not quite as bad). In Dutch that would be "Wijzigingen Toepassen" which is WAY too many letters for a button. But this button name is entirely misleading.

I formatted a Word file with specific Styles for each different paragraph. When I selected that text file for a Text Frame, none of those styles imported correctly and I had to manually reformat the entire 4 page document. Ugh!
I am wasting so much time conquering things that are not intuitive in Scribus. As said, I have used 3 different DTP programs, and NONE of them were this difficult to figure out. I know: read the manual. Problem is, I am on a deadline.

David
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: a.l.e on May 15, 2025, 10:53:04 AM

Indeed, depending on how a person is used to work, getting into Scribus can be painful. Sorry for it.
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: DBoydNL on May 16, 2025, 02:05:50 PM
I have a basic understanding of layers, but once again Scribus defies understanding.
My problem is still with the full page (A5) background pics that cover up the page numbers I put in the Master pages (right and left). I got to the layers toolbox and just barely understand what the tiny icons are when they don't show an immediate result on the page.
Howeverver, PERCEK's advice stops short of telling me step by step how to create a layer in the master page that will appear on top of the picture that I have on the page. To answer a previous comment, yes every page with a full page background has a different background picture, so I can't put that picture on the master page.
So right now the page number is in a layer called "Blz. nr." Now what?

David
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: Nermander on May 16, 2025, 03:27:29 PM
What version are you using? If I recall correct, in older versions of Scribus the Master pages were always behind the layers on the normal pages. But it may have been that this only was Levels, not layers. (The difference is that layers can be turned on/off, locked etc, while levels just is the order of the objects from top to bottom.

This was corrected though, but I am not sure in which version.

So in recent versions the layers are the same in Master Pages as well as normal pages, so the background image just needs to be on a layer below the page number.

Note that what layer an object ends up on depends on which layer is selected when you create the object. You can move an object to another layer by right clicking and select Send to layer.

I have to confess I have no idea how levels and layers interact, if the levels are specific to each layer or if they are global... I haven't used them that much.
Title: Re: Page numbers and other beginner questions
Post by: prcek on May 16, 2025, 04:05:34 PM
I'm using 1.6.4 (App image on Linux)

The tiny icons in the layers dock window have a tooltip when one positions mouse over them.

My workflow to get the page number over a background image:

* Run Scribus, create an empty document with a single page (I'm using single page document layout)
* [Edit -> Master Pages] - I'm editing "Normal" master page
* With "Manage Masterpages" window opened
  * click "+" button in Layers window - it adds a new layer, it is possible to rename it by doubleclicking on the layer name. It is also possible to move it up and down in layers stack by buttons with up/down arrows in the Layers window (almost next to "+")
    * with this new layer selected [Insert -> Text Frame] - create a text frame for page number
    * right click on the frame, [Content -> Edit text with Story Editor]
    * in Story Editor [Insert -> Character -> Page Number]
    * in Story Editor [File -> Update Text Frame and Exit]
    * click "End Edit" button in the left bottom corner - ends Master Page editing
* In Layers window select "Background" layer
* [Insert -> Image Frame] - create frame for image
* right click on the frame, [Content -> Get Image] - select image file to insert into frame
* click the "+" button and add another layer above Background, but under the layer with page numbers
* select the last created layer
* [Insert -> Text Frame] - create frame with main text, put text into it

When creating next page
[Page -> Insert] <Enter> and you get a new page with number in the correct layer, but without image, you need to select the Background layer, add image frame with image , then the content layer add text etc.