hi nik, sorry, i didn't read your mail to the end... i will probably do it soon... but so early in the morning, no way :-)
but i have already two comments: - frame styles will probably be implemented for 1.6 - probably, what you need are not frame styles but guides! if you shift click into a rectangle delimited by guides (and margins) the frame will take all the available place... so: set up a your columns in the master page as guides and use them! :-) (or, even better: create a grid of guides to format your magazine... yes, i'm swiss...) ciao a.l.e > Hi All, > > It's been a while since I posted to the Scribus mailing list, and in > that time I, and those to whom I recommend scribus, have been (very) > happily Scribusing away :o) > > One issue that I repeatedly come across is that of consistent frame > size and position settings. > > Whenever a new frame is created, a number of settings have to be > manually set - and often to predetermined 'correct' values. It would > be really helpful if this information could be entered once, and then > easily reused by reference. > > So I am wondering if there is a feature in Scribus already that I have > simply missed, or should I be submitting a feature request? > > As an example, for a newsletter project that I have been involved > with, we have determined that for the A4 pages we use, most frames > (and almost *all* text frames) should have widths in multiples of 65mm > - which comprises 60mm for the text, and 5mm for the gap between the > text and the left and right borders (ie, two 2.5mm gaps); and > therefore multi-column frames should have the column gap set to 5mm. > And from this along with desired gaps to page edges, comes the > 'correct' X-pos settings for most frames: 7.5mm, 72.5mm, or 137.5mm > (this gives us a total gap of 10mm from page edge to left edge of the > text). > > Hence for any frame (text or image) a single-column frame should be > 65mm, a double-column frame should be 130mm, and a triple-column frame > should be 195mm; and should have its X-pos set to one of 7.5mm, 72.5mm > or 137.5mm. > > I had the newsletter author trained to (mostly) set the frame widths > and positions correctly, resulting in nicely consistent pages. > Now two new volunteers have come in to produce the newsletter, and I > am finding it very difficult to get them to set the column properties > in any way consistently. > > Obviously what would be really useful is some feature that allows me > to set this information into the newsletter template in some way, so > the authors are relieved of having to: > > a) remember to manually set the correct width and position of each new > frame as they create it > b) remember what the actual settings should be: > i) frame width; > ii) text gap settings; > iii) column gap setting for multi-column frames; > iv) x-pos to be the 'correct' (and difficult-to-remember) value. > > I have looked for something like 'Frame Style' or 'Column Style' and > not found anything. I have also looked for a 'Default Page setup', and > in 'Document setup' but found nothing really that seems to help. > > So far the only thing I *have* found is that I can set the default > column gap in the 'Document Setup | Tools" tab. > > I *could* also place a full-height, three-column text frame on all of > the master pages, but while that would help with text columns, it > would create almost as many new problems as it would solve. > > So, have I missed some (newer) feature here? > I have most of my experience with the 1.3 series - is there something > in 1.4 or even 1.5 that I could use? > > If there is nothing currently that helps, then what do people see as > the 'most appropriate' way to implement such a feature? > > S1. Implement a new 'Column' style. > * Multiple Column styles could be created using the style editor; > * One of these styles could be designated as the 'default' - per > document, per master page, or both; > * The user can apply any Column style to any frame; > * Settings would include width, x-pos, text gaps, column gap, etc. > > S2. Implement a new 'Frame' style. > * Multiple Frame styles could be created using the style editor; > * One of these styles could be designated as the 'default' - per > document, per master page, or both; > * The user can apply any Frame style to any frame; > * settings available in these would include most of the properties > for a Frame; > - including parameters that are specific to particular types of > frame - ie a Frame style could have settings for both text frames and > image frames. > > S3. Implement a new 'Page Style' > * Multiple Page styles could be created using the style editor; > * One of these styles could be designated as the 'default' - per > document, per master page, or both; > * The user can apply any Page style to any page; > * Settings would include layout information such as standard frame > x-pos, width, as well as other page-oriented parameters. > > S4. Add additional settings to the 'Document Setup' data. > * The settings are only per-document. > > From the above, my preferred implementation is the Frame style - it is > the most flexible and powerful, and is the best fit to scribus' > current model (reusable settings for various things defined in 'styles'). > > The next best would probably be the Column style - it is basically a > cut-down Frame style with just a subset of properties for basic width > and positioning of any frame. > > After that comes the Page style - this also fits well into Scribus' > current model, but I'm not sure what other settings would be useful in > a page style (over and above what would be in a Frame style). > In addition, a page style would seem to be too coarse a tool - how > would one create a frame that did not comply with the page settings? > For example, an image frame centred between two text frames. > > Least appealing is the Document Setup option, since it can only set > values per document. > > Of course, a combination of more than one of the solutions could be > implemented, with Frame style plus additional Document Setup > parameters being a great option. > > What do others think? > > Thanks in advance for any and all responses, > > Cheers! > Nik > > ___ > Scribus Mailing List: scribus at lists.scribus.net > Edit your options or unsubscribe: > http://lists.scribus.net/mailman/listinfo/scribus > See also: > http://wiki.scribus.net > http://forums.scribus.net
