Scribus 1.3.5 released [LWN.net]

August 19, 2009

This article was contributed by Nathan Willis

The popular open source Desktop Publishing (DTP) application Scribus has been bumped up to version 1.3.5, after two years in development. The new version incorporates substantial tool improvements, new import filters, native rendering for content created with external tools like LaTeX, the ability to create PDF presentations, and a native build for the Mac OS X platform.

Source code and binary packages are available from www.scribus.net for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and OS/2 (yes, seriously). Distribution-specific installation instructions are provided for Debian and Ubuntu, SUSE, Red Hat and Fedora, CentOS, and Mandriva. The only major dependency change is Qt4, up from Qt3 in previous versions. The official release notes indicate that Qt 4.5.0 is the minimum supported version.

Scribus developer Peter Linnell described the upgrade to Qt4 as one of the most important advances in the new release, particularly because it made the native OS X package possible. The DTP world has a significantly higher percentage of Mac users than the overall desktop market, so the availability of an easy-to-install .DMG disk image should open doors to many more users.

File formats and application compatibility

Scribus: The Official Manual

Gregory Pittman and Christoph Schäfer are Scribus developers and co-authored this manual, published in May by FLES Books. Much of what is included in the manual is available through the online documentation or built-in Scribus help, but in book form this is an especially effective guide to using and understanding Scribus. As a manual, it is both well-written and, more importantly, well-organized. Scribus is large and complex application, designed to create complex documents. Understanding all that is does, how, and why, is not something you can pick up by playing around with it for a few minutes.

The book combines reference material, real-world tutorials, and, wisely, explanations of DTP itself. The illustrations are appropriately sized, which makes a world of difference. If you have ever gotten frustrated by trying to make a multi-page OpenOffice.org document look the way you want it to, this book may have the answers you are looking for.

In my experience, most people who try Scribus for the first time run into stumbling blocks not from Scribus itself, but caused by their unfamiliarity with DTP programs in general. DTP is a different beast than text editing or word processing, and the different metaphors and conventions can be a legitimate source of confusion. Ideas like Frames, Master Pages, and Pre-flight Verification seem strange to the uninitiated, but a clear explanation of them instantly makes a DTP application like Scribus more useful. Like understanding why photo editors have a fist and what appears to be a lollipop labeled "burn" and "dodge," respectively, knowing the background of DTP will help anyone appreciate Scribus in a new light.

Scribus: The Official Manual is not an evangelistic effort; it is just a useful guide to a powerful piece of open source software. But for those who are curious about Scribus or about DTP in general, it is worth checking out.

The central idea of a DTP application is that it is used to assemble and lay-out the output from other applications — text, photos, vector artwork, etc. — so file format compatibility is critical. Scribus can already read a wide variety of file formats (the list at the Scribus wiki has not yet been updated, but it gives a rough idea); new to this release are Adobe Illustrator (.ai), Xfig (.fig) and Windows Metafile (.wmf).

Scribus 1.3.5 also allows documents to use PDF and Embedded PostScript (EPS) files as images, saving an import or file conversion step. Unlike a word processor, Scribus does not import external content such as image files into its own documents; rather, they are linked in from the original sources. Consequently, the Scribus developers are reticent to use the term "embedding" for images and other content. Since PDF and EPS files can themselves contain raster image data, not converting them for embedding saves space, memory, and (for lossy image compression) a generation of conversion.

Scribus 1.3.5 boasts improvements in solid color handling, including usability improvements that make it possible to replace any color throughout a file, and the ability to import color palettes from other sources. Scribus can import color palettes from external sources, including proprietary systems such as Pantone, and can extract palettes contained within images, such as Illustrator files.

Tool improvements

The new release also adds several tool options for manipulating page contents and for working with large documents. Shapes, which had previously been fixed, can now be edited using path tools like those found in a vector graphics editor. A new line editor allows the creation of custom line styles, and more default shapes and lines are available. All items in a page, including text and image frames, can be manipulated with standard transformation tools: scaling, translation, rotation, and skew.

The image manager underwent a substantial rewrite; the previewer can now display detailed information on each image used in a document, and can jump to where an image is used in the document — particularly useful in large documents. Furthermore, Scribus can now launch an an external image editor from within the image manager, and can apply its own non-destructive image effects to an image inside the Scribus document. This last feature allows changing color curves or saturation levels without altering the original image. As developer Christoph Schäfer explained, it can be used to create duotone, tritone, or spot-color images, feats no other open source graphics application can yet do.

Scribus's "scrapbook" feature allows the user to store frequently-used items (text, images, or other content) in a floating palette for convenient reuse, either in the same document or saved and reopened for use in another document. Scrapbooks have also been upgraded in 1.3.5; now multiple scrapbooks can be open simultaneously, scrapbooks can automatically store items copied with the "Copy" command, and scrapbooked items can be pasted into a document in their original coordinates from the right-click menu.

Totally new

Two entirely new features make their debut in Scribus 1.3.5, "render frames" and PDF presentation effects. Render frames allow Scribus to incorporate content from documents that must be rendered into final output form just like it does for text or images. This includes mark-up languages like TeX / LaTeX, graphic elements produced by Gnuplot or POV-Ray and even musical scores generated by LilyPond.

In each case, time, space, and accuracy are preserved by having the external document rendered by the appropriate tool only when necessary, and at the appropriate resolution. As Schäfer observed, "Think about musical notation. Without render frames, you'd have to create a PS file with LilyPond, import it into Scribus and hope that all goes well. With render frames, you insert the markup into the editor, render it and see the result immediately."

In addition to the pre-configured renderers, adding support for new types of render frame documents is as simple as editing an XML description file. The Scribus documentation provides a reference for developers who wish to add support for a new type of content.

The PDF 1.5 specification added support for transitions and other animation effects between pages of a document to better facilitate using PDF as a presentation format. Scribus 1.3.5 now supports these presentation effects, so users can create full-fledged presentations that are usable on any platform with a modern PDF viewer. The effects are exposed in the application's PDF export tool, so they are not visible when creating a document, only when exporting it to its final presentation form.

Development

Linnell and Schäfer said that the plan is to accelerate the development schedule now that 1.3.5 is out of the door. This release took longer than expected due in part to the difficulty of migrating the code from Qt3 to Qt4. "We can sympathize with the KDE folks on what it takes to port Qt3 to Qt4," Linnell said. "Qt2 to Qt3 took a weekend."

Once a few remaining issues with the Qt migration and the associated refactoring are finished, the plan is to rename this branch 1.4, and return to a more traditional odd-for-development, even-for-stable release numbering scheme. The 1.4.x code may receive minor updates, but not significant new features — a 1.5.x tree already exists in Subversion.

Linnell and Schäfer had a few comments about the direction of future releases, but not much is definite. Linnell mentioned better non-Latin character support as an oft-requested feature, in particular for Indic and Arabic languages, plus features to enable easier management of extremely long documents like books. Schäfer added the possibility of UniConvertor integration, which would add support for more document formats including CorelDraw.

This release contains two changes that could widen Scribus's appeal. First, it is difficult to ~~under~~overestimate the impact a native OS X release will have on the Mac community. Although a lot of open source software has been available for the platform via MacPorts or Apple's X11, a fully native application with no arcane dependencies and native menu and interface widgets can make all the difference. Second, the PDF presentation effects addition offers intriguing possibilities — PDF is more likely to be watchable on arbitrary machines found in the field than is an OpenOffice.org presentation, and it is significantly smaller than a PowerPoint file.

Apart from those new possibilities, Linux DTP enthusiasts will find much to like in this upgrade. The addition of render frames opens the door to a lot of new typesetting uses, and the new image, path, and transformation tools bring Scribus additional editing power that in prior releases would have required dropping into external image editors. Scribus has always been one of open source's best-kept-secrets, not approaching the high profile of Firefox, GIMP, or even OpenOffice.org with the mainstream. Scribus 1.3.5 continues the tradition of strong, stable releases and will hopefully bring more well-earned attention to the project.

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