Recent posts

#31
General Discussion / Re: Is there a way to make a "...
Last post by AdmFubar - November 01, 2025, 10:08:57 PM
would adding an outline to the font achieve the medium look you want?
#32
General Discussion / Re: Tables
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 08:05:56 PM
Quote from: Nermander on November 01, 2025, 07:33:54 PMYou could import the PDF page into a separate "help layer", adjust the opacity and create your content on top of it. When you are done you can just delete the "help layer".

That's a good idea.
#33
General Discussion / Re: Tables
Last post by Nermander - November 01, 2025, 07:33:54 PM
You could import the PDF page into a separate "help layer", adjust the opacity and create your content on top of it. When you are done you can just delete the "help layer".
#34
General Discussion / Re: Is there a way to make a "...
Last post by Nermander - November 01, 2025, 07:31:26 PM
Scribus can't make any fake versions at all of fonts. Not even bold or italic.
#35
General Discussion / Re: Potential new users incomi...
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 06:12:35 PM
Well, the news dropped. Canva merged Designer, Photo, and Publisher into one app just called "Affinity." They made is completely free, with an optional subscription to get AI features. A lot of people are very skeptical about this, claiming (as is usually the case) that when something is free, YOU ARE the product.

I watched the Canva keynote out of curiosity, and when they announced Canva AI (available both in the online Canva suite and Affinity), almost nobody applauded. The hosts on the stage had to coax the audience into applauding.

Canva is doing major damage control trying to convince creatives that they're not the product and they're doing this for the good of the creative community.

We'll see what comes of this mess.
#36
General Discussion / Is there a way to make a "fake...
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 06:06:56 PM
As part of the RPG book recreation I mentioned earlier, I need to use the font Optima. I have two versions installed on my machine. When I go into Apple Fontbook it shows Optima and Optima LT Pro.

When I look at the licensing in Font Book, it says that embedding is allowed as long as the font is only used for previewing and the document can't be edited. There's no specific clause for commercial distribution. Optima, however clearly states that there "No restrictions" for embedding.

So, I'd rather use Optima. But the problem is, Optima only comes in the usual Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic, and I need to use Medium to properly recreate some of the book. Optima LT Pro has a medium, but also has funny wording that makes me question whether I can distribute a commercial product with it.

Is there some way in Scribus to make a "fake medium" version of the font?

Might there be an option to only outline some fonts and embed others?
#37
General Discussion / Re: Tables
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 05:59:17 PM
I'd also like to give a shout out to the open source font Perun, as a nice replacement for Univers. It's not 100% glyph compatible, so you'll need to check your document. But considering what Monotype charges for embedding of Univers in a PDF or ePub, it will save you thousands a year in licensing costs.
#38
General Discussion / Re: Tables
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 05:56:02 PM
Quote from: a.l.e on November 01, 2025, 05:37:35 PMIn the current state of Scribus, tabs are probably the best solution.

If you show a few samples of tables you want to create I can explore if it's possible to write a script that creates some sort of lines around text frames...

These tables don't have any lines in them. Here is a sample page. I already did the first table using a tab paragraph style and some creativity.



As you can see, other than the first table, the rest are pretty basic.

Here is what I did with it:



The annoying part is I'm working off a PDF, and not a physical book. So I have to print out the pages with tables and get a ruler and measure them, which is time consuming and a waste of paper and toner.
#39
General Discussion / Re: Tables
Last post by a.l.e - November 01, 2025, 05:37:35 PM
In the current state of Scribus, tabs are probably the best solution.

If you show a few samples of tables you want to create I can explore if it's possible to write a script that creates some sort of lines around text frames...
#40
General Discussion / Tables
Last post by PastaShock - November 01, 2025, 03:25:28 PM
From previous discussions on here, I have learned that table support in Scribus still something that needs development work.

Well, I am not a developer, and I'm not willing to learn and step up and add to the table support in Scribus. So, I will not criticize the table support in Scribus, or make silly demands. Instead I will ask for workarounds.

I'm recreating some existing RPG books from the 80s as a fun little side project. Most of these books have lots of tables in them, and I'm just trying to find out if there may be an easier way to do tables than what I am doing.

I first tried to use the table support built into Scribus, but I could not get it work for my needs.

Next I tried an external tool. I found a website that let me make a table by pasting a Markdown table and then exporting it to SVG. That did not work too well. And the table wasn't searchable when I created the final PDF.

I tried to make a table in LibreOffice Calc and then export it. But I could only export as a PNG or JPEG. I was going to to put the Calc table in a Writer file and then try to import that, but haven't gotten that far.

What I'm doing now is using paragraph styles with tab stops. I have one style for the table header, and one style for the table data. This lets me easily reposition columns just by editing the styles.

Is there a better way to do tables that I might want to try before I really get far into the book?

I'm debating writing a Python script that just prompts for the number of columns and rows, and the width of the row, and creates a Paragraph Style with the tab stops in the proper spots. That would save me some time.

Any wisdom on how you do tables would be greatly appreciated.