On Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:09:33 +0400 Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre.prokoudine at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Peter Nermander wrote: > > > So, once again, why should Scribus be the "hub"? Wouldn't it be > > better with a SLA export from Libre Office Writer or Calibre? Or a > > SlaTex? > > Please read my other reply :) > > Alexandre Prokoudine > http://libregraphicsworld.org I will argue against the "typeset once" principle, at least as far as Scribus is concerned. The text content can be moved from format to format. It is the typesetting, the decision making on line breaks, page breaks, hyphenation, kerning etc. that is relatively non-transportable. So at the lowest level of portability we can import raw text into Scribus. At the next level we can import some macros from e.g., ODT or whatever. But Scribus is not structured to export macros. It produces a typeset document. And styles may or may not be used to produce that document, simple or complex. So as the old Vermont farmer told the tourist, If I wanted to get to Montpelier I sure wouldn't start from here. We all love Scribus. But it was designed from the start to produce finished documents, not some intermediate form that can be adapted to various formats. To do that you need to develop an intermediate form, like dvi. As it happens dvi today only translates to ps and pdf documents. But it could be translated to html or one of its variants I suppose. There is another problem. If I am writing a book to be sold in pdf form for people to view on their screen and print out locally, I design it very differently from a book to be printed 5.5 x 8.5 or viewed on a Kindle. The page dimensions will be different (or maybe nonexistent) the word count will be different, the use of urls will be different and so on. So when I take my e-book listed below and recreate it as a print book I will rewrite it completely. I think a case can be made for using docbook or dvi as a starting point for a multiuse document. But I am pessimistic about the whole project. A hammer is not a saw. -- John Culleton Free list of books for self-publishers: http://wexfordpress.net/shortlist.html Police Procedural and Expose: "Death Wore Black" "Create Book Covers with Scribus" http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html
