On Wednesday 07 April 2010 06:12, Drew Jensen wrote: > On 4/6/2010 5:18 AM, Lars Nooden wrote: > >>> ... Please tell me which DTP is using a standards based file format?
Scribus > >> ... being an open source project, the source code is freely available, > > > > Yes, but the question is about the format not the program. Source code > > is not the same as documentation or, in this case, documentation of a > > data format. > > Well, my point that the internal file format for Scribus is singular in > implementation, if not fully proprietary. Nor do I know of a publishing > system that is not so. Scribus file format is XML based with a DTD and text editor readable (probably after unzipping) since about 1.3.2.[1][2] > Then there is the external data formats and here, as Lar's has already > gotten to below, they do use standards. > > PDF is IMO the primary file format used by Scribus. Scribus IMO supports > pdf more deeply then does OpenOffice.org. Nope, but export to ISO standards based PDF/X3 is supported. IIUC it has an internal postscript level 3 printer driver. [snip] > I suppose the reason I replied at all was more this. > > There seems to be a steady stream of folks asking about MS Publisher, > and the response is usually just, go get Scribus - which is of course > true, sort of. > > Scribus is a pretty good tool, I use it from time to time. > > But I would venture to say that for most purposes not involving sending > a file to a commercial printer Scribus is over kill, because all the > office suites have moved to include features historically found in DTP > systems, OpenOffice.org is right up there at the front of the pack in this. That is what i did originally, along with the statement that most of what the average publisher user does is available in a modern word processor. What they are really asking for is usually behaviour like Publisher, or .PUB file reading capabilities. > One feature of MS Publisher that is a problem, with a quick 'just get > Scribus' answer, is that MS Publisher sold itself as a web page > publishing tool. Now, I never used it for that.(please let's not get > into how bad it is in this thread!). If they are looking for that, then > Scribus is certainly not where you send them. OpenOffice.org again > offers this feature native - (again please let's not get into how bad it > is in this thread! *chuckle*) No comment other than Word and Writer also have this useless "feature". > So if they just ask about MS Publisher I would suggest first ask Why - > if it is for the web features no need to suggest Scribus. If for press > ready documents then Scribus, otherwise I would suggest they take a long > look at what you can do with this office suite. I would also argue that PDF export handles much of the press ready document requirement. Modern printing houses want to print your copy and thus accept pretty much anything you can throw at them. Most Publisher users incorrectly look down on Word given what they use Publisher for (Incorrect advice at purchase time usually). And to retrain to use OO.o though sensible is often put in the too hard basket partly due to this snobbery. [1] http://docs.scribus.net/ [2] http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/File_Format_for_Scribus_1.3.x -- Michael --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.org
