Hi Peter, On 11/9/06, Peter Nermander <m8130 at abc.se> wrote: > Yes, and I know Word is primarily directed towards > word processing.
Though I haven't tried with the very recent versions, I was writing software use-case documents using MS Word 2000 around two years back - using the number-outline format - 1.1, 1.2.3, etc. Word would go haywire whenever the level of outline went above 3 and when I deleted and inserted another outline item. I was very much frustrated with the experience and tried to import the same into OO writer but then OO didn't understand the Word outline format like it does its own native one - that led me to switch to OO Writer - completely and for good. And that was straight word-processing stuff. You feel the real pain when you pay for the software and you end up in such a situation. > But really, when working in the classroom, isn't the > text typing far more important than precise positioning > of frames and manual kerning? Is somebody really > going to teach 5th graders manual kerning? My point was about teaching kids the "design" - the layout - clicking and drawing frames is a snap in Scribus - filling the same with text (insert text menu item - lorem ipsum stuff) is also a breeze. Then resizing frames and using various options such as fit to frame, etc. to "learn about optimizing the overall 'look' of the layout" - instead of typing. Kerning is also straight and simple. My point was teaching design & layout - not typing. Considering Scribus is free - probably the only one! - it's the best software to teach "Page Layout Design" to kids in a classroom. NOT focussing on typing and inserting "Lorem ipsum .." stuff using Scribus will enable them to focus on design/layout aspects rather than typing and they will see the clear difference between word-processing and page-layout design. > It's been said over and over again that Scribus is no > good for writing the text, and if the kids are going to write > the text in one program, why not let them use > the same program also for the layout? Again, this way they will get more focussed on word-processing and learn the same - instead of "page-layout/design". Page-layout in Scribus is very simple and can be taught very easily - at least, that's my humble opinion. Just don't ask them to "type" - make use of "Insert Lorem Ipsum ..." Scribus feature and Scribus' readily available page-layout design features. Of course, there are other aspects to page-layout as well. But I think if you want them to learn page-layout then show them how to explore a page-layout software instead of a word-processor. I was just reading about In-Design and Adobe software - they also have a separate word-processor - InCopy - and it looks like they are marketing a combination of InCopy/InDesign and databases. They don't say that it's good for text - they are more focused on design. -- Best regards, Asif
