This is a classic case of open source assuming that everyone is a UNIX or LINUX geek. They were easy to find, but the instructions were either missing, utterly cryptic, or wrong. Finally, I finally found an easy Mac version, but why in the hell wasn't it mentioned at the various websites for GhostScript and Scribus! Most versions are a pain to install, having to run UNIX scripts and finding out that additional pieces are needed part way through the install forcing one to start over. Just try to find an easy to install version of GhostScript. At first, it needed GhostScript to import EPS and PDF. At first, it looked pretty good - nice logo decent layout, but it all went waaaaaay downhill from there. I really wanted to like this program, but now have mostly disdain for it. If you need to create printable PDFs and you do not want to invest in expensive software like Adobe InDesign, then this is worth looking at. You might be more pleased with Apple's Pages. If you do not bring your files to a professional printer often, then this software might not be for you. Scribus has a strong development community, which offers continuous support since many years. Of course, we all would like to see every month a new final release, but the available resources are limited. But, as true for many open source projects, its development cycles could be shorter. It is really impressive what Scribus brings you for nothing. Scribus is open source and comes for free. I printed a lot of flyers and smaller books with it and was always impressed by its feature set.ģ. But when you start to manage it, it is of real value. As with any professional software it has its complexity and learning curve. It is a disadvantage as you cannot expect a native Mac OS X user interface.Ģ. It is an advantage as you can move its document files across different operating systems and the result will still look the same (try this with a MS product). This is its main advantage and its main disadvantage. Scribus is cross-platform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X). To really understand its value we must look at it pros and cons.ġ. It really needs to from install all the way to advanced work. But hopefully by the time that switch becomes reality, it will have improved. Scribus would be the best choice for sparse DTP needs. Still, I will keep working at this one, as one day I hope to switch to Linux fully and slave other OSes. well, just bad compared to programs of a similar focus. Constantly switching panes to set different things in just one paragraph, section, and/or page was tedious at times. Things that should be simple, such as inline / inlayout editing, are not. While Scribus is not that bad, I would not call it good and would not recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with DTP. I have used many moderate to top of the line DTP applications, all the way to the nightmare that is the industrial strength InDesign CC. I give high marks on that last part, but as to the rest. to some success on some minor projects for output to PDF. Pros: Fantastic product for free impressive range of pro-style featuresĬons: Takes a little learning help guides a little lackingĬonclusions: May not be the choice if you're in the publishing business, but otherwise could be a real economy.I have finally installed and used this one. Overall though, it's a credible alternative for anyone needing light to medium desktop publishing. There are a few niggles, such as the fact you'll need to install open source software GIMP if you want to resize images "within" Scribus itself. It has serious print production tools such as pre-flight checks that simulate exactly how your project will transfer from screen to page at a commercial printers' facilities. That said, the clean approach does make good use of the available space.Īs well as having all the features you'd expect in terms of layout and design, such as automatically flowing text through a series of frames, which can be in different shapes, it's clear this isn't just a toy for producing posters for a child's birthday. It's relatively simple to use, though it may take a while to adjust to the fact that there aren't any toolbars or menu bars displayed by default, so you'll need to switch them on as you need them. Today Adobe InDesign is the clear choice for those with serious cash to splash, but Scribus offers a genuinely viable open source option. Back in the day, anyone who wanted desktop publishing tools had to choose between the expense of dedicated software such as Adobe Pagemaker or QuarkXpress (which could be a costly mistake if you picked one that you didn't get on with) or the sheer frustration of trying to produce decent layout in Microsoft Word.
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