BandiPat a ?crit : > It would be so much simpler for the user, old or new, to be able to go > to the Insert menu heading and select Columns. A window opens, ok, how > many and what gap? Whamo! They appear on the page like magic, 2 or 3 > or 4 equal size columns (text frames) spaced correctly on the chosen > page size. Now I can link them, adjust their size or remove one to my > liking! What could be easier or more intuitive? While users of Quark > or anything else are struggling to "draw" them on their page, I'm > already typing and finishing my page.
Hi Pat, I am sorry to step very late into this lively discussion... I am on vacation and away from this speedy world. :) Just a few comments. In my view, Scribus offers a very easy way for handling the guides on a page, including column guides. We had a taste of it a little earlier during Spring in the previous CVS and I know Riku is currently working on this to make it better. It might not show at the moment but things are on their way. And Quark (at least up to 6.5) doesn't have as many useful options in that particular field. Multicolumns text frames *are* a reality in Scribus. There is *no* need to link those columns when they are created in a single text frame. Text flows from one column to the other seemlessly. Quark users don't struggle that much and neither do Scribus users to create a text box/frame. You can decide at document creation to have auto text frames created with as many columns as you need. And these will automatically link to the next page when you create them and add text to it. There where some interesting discussions about how to make this feature better in the bug tracker. Among all the things that need attention, the Master Page with editable text frame might be in the top 10 or so (in my view). So, basically, one could put an empty frame on a Master Page and then create pages and then insert text /pics into those frames. At the moment, and unless I missed some nice things, this is not possible, yet. Scribus is the only program afaik that allows the user to toggle between column gap and column width although I must acknowledge not many people might have noticed because the option is a bit hidden in a pop-up field. So if you want 3 columns of 14 picas in a 45 picas text frame, you don't have to ask yourself what is the correct value for the gap. Scribus will calculate this for you and will draw your 3 columns when you press Enter. I must humbly say that from a professionnal perspective, Scribus is a pretty straightforward application and the learning curve was at least for me (and for quite a few others) close to nothing. But I know some goodies are too well hidden. The bug tracker is helpful to state those. Having said that, I agree things could be made clearer from the start but this is not, in my view, a Scribus issue. I conducted a few workshops for beginners (and I mean, real beginners) with Scribus and found that people would easily understand the *frame* way when you insist on that in the very beginning. Frame for text, frame for images. It's going to sound much too simple but isn't that just what it is? As simple as that. Basically, your first "frame" is the page itself so Scribus asks for that first. Then, you draw your content frames and... put content into them. And you have control over each step. Lots of control. When people got that, the rest comes easy and there is not even a need to explain the differences between a DTP and a WP application. At least in the first few courses! On the tutorial, I must say something. Of course, it is outdated. It was done more than 2 and a half years ago... But large parts of this tutorial are not aimed at Scribus itself and for that reason I still consider this piece as a very useful one provided the reader has a "generous" look at it, not looking for particular things but looking at graphic design as a whole. (You can object to this that this is then not really a *tutorial* and I have to agree but only to a certain extent!) Scribus can accomplish all that's written in that tutorial and do even more or in a more easy way. It is up to us to update the screenshots and clarify the steps to achieve something, in accordance to what Scribus is capable today. But let's face it. When the tutorial talks about layout, margins, text frames, make things stand out, etc. it is dead on. Text on a path, text frames in polygons, even most of the PDFs options are covered. It might be useful to state that while you will not find exactly things the way they are shown here because things have evolved over the last 2-3 years, you can achieve all that is written here, provided you take the time to understand what's written and then look for the features in the new GUI... Not that difficult, after all. Isn't it a little like switching from Quark to InDesign... to Scribus? :) I hope this helps a bit. Louis > > regards, > Pat
