How to change line size to points without changing Ruler?

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WinchesterLyon

Hi, I'm new to Scribus. Can someone tell me how to change the unit size for "Lines" (it's in inches) to points?

AdmFubar

in the main menu drop down, File/Preferences, in the window that opens look for Document Setup, in the General tab, Page size, there is a drop down menu for the units to use.
Using Scribus 1.5.8 & 1.6.3, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.5
Advanced hobbyist

WinchesterLyon

Quote from: AdmFubar on April 24, 2025, 04:04:48 AMin the main menu drop down, File/Preferences, in the window that opens look for Document Setup, in the General tab, Page size, there is a drop down menu for the units to use.

Thank you for your help, but I only want the unit for Lines to change to pt (points). I do not want the Ruler or anything else to change.

a.l.e

i guess that the stroke should just be in pt.

or does anybody want it to be in the document unit?
i've checked libreoffice and a couple of DTP alternatives and all seem to be using pt...

if anybody sees a reason for having it in the document unit, are there other measurements where the unit by pt or the document unit?

and as a short time solution, you can always type the value as "1 pt" and it will be converted into the document's unit.

WinchesterLyon

I had the same issue last time I tried Scribus and couldn't figure out how to change it to pt. So, I just didn't use it. It's strange, since no one uses inches as measuring unit for strokes. I've been using a online point-inch calculator since I re-installed (tools I never had when I tried it in 2008), but it would be great to have a fix for it.

a.l.e

@WinchesterLyon in Scribus you can always (or at least really mostly) type the value with a unit and Scribus will convert it to the current unit used for that value.

You can also do calculations...

And use variables...

pagewidth-3in.gif

a.l.e

I've created a ticket asking for using pt as the unit for the line stroke:

https://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=17506

Please comment in here or in the issue tracker if you don't agree with it.

AdmFubar

I didnt know about the available variables to use in adjusting values, nice.. is there a list somewhere?

I think the being able to set stroke unit independently from the document would be useful. Lets not limit it to just point, all units should available.
Using Scribus 1.5.8 & 1.6.3, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.5
Advanced hobbyist

a.l.e

@AdmFubar The question is: which units are you actually using?

It does not make no sense to add an option, if everybody is always using points and for the few rare case they use something else they can easily type the unit in the input box.

Personally, I don't think that I've ever seen a stroke being defined in something else than pt and all the software I looked at, define it as pt.

AdmFubar

Quote from: a.l.e on April 24, 2025, 11:20:37 PM@AdmFubar The question is: which units are you actually using?

It does not make no sense to add an option, if everybody is always using points and for the few rare case they use something else they can easily type the unit in the input box.

Personally, I don't think that I've ever seen a stroke being defined in something else than pt and all the software I looked at, define it as pt.
Maybe if that option was available there would be more users of it.

Where I worked, I did labels for products, the labels were metric sizes, and the labeling software would allow you to use metric measurements for all elements in the label, including fonts. Made layout  much easier, at least I thought so.
Using Scribus 1.5.8 & 1.6.3, 1.7.0 openSUSE 15.5
Advanced hobbyist

Nermander

Aren't points just 1/72 inch? Then to get 2 pt width you could just write "2/72in" (sure, it gets converted, but at least you can enter points).

a.l.e

Let's try to get a few things straight:

  • Scribus has the concept of document unit, which the user can choose and change at will.
  • The document unit is used for showing "length" measurements to the user (afaik, behind the scenes, Scribus uses one single unit for all measurements; probably points)
  • Scribus has measurements which are shown in pt instead of the document unit
  • Everywhere you you can type a measurement, you can type any unit and Scribus will convert the value into the unit its currently using for that specific field

The fundamental questions behind this thread are:

  • Which values should be in the document unit and which one in pt?
  • Should there be other units that are "exceptions" for some measurements ("everything in mm, but height, because in canada we use inches for height" ... well, at least for how tall are people and how much snow is lying around...)?
  • Should the user be able to pick the unit in use for specific fields?

As you might already know, I'm for software that behaves well and I prefer to keep the customization options to a minimum.
Of course, sometimes, different workflows have different needs and we should make the work as easy as possible (you might have guessed: having dozen of settings is probably not "as easy as possible").

Let's create a basis, for better judging what can be done to improve the current situation.

Here is a list of fields that are not shown in the document unit but in pt:

  • font size
  • line height
  • space above and below a paragraph
  • baseline grid spacing and offset

You're welcome to complete the list.

Other units used by Scribus are:

  • degrees (for the rotation: should we have radiants, too?)
  • percentage (some like the opacity do not really have an alternative, but others like the offset to the baseline could also be defined in other units)
  • number of chars (shortest word to hyphenate: why not in mm?)
  • number of lines (orphans and widows: the feature does not work, but it would not be wrong to define it in mm)
  • minutes (interval for saving)
  • pixels (grab radius and snap distance)
  • dpi (minimum resolution of images)

Personally, after having had quick tour of Scribus for compiling the list above, I would suggest two actions:

  • use pt for the stroke (as already suggested above)
  • use the document unit for the baseline offset

On the other side, I still don't see the need for letting the user configure which unit is to be used where (since for the cases when other units are needed, one can let Scribus do the conversion for the specific case)