DeskTopPublishingonLinux

Introduction
DesktopPublishing(DTP)istheartofbringingtogetherseperateelementsinoneformat.Itcanbe usedtocreateflyers,postersandnewsletters

Applications
Thereare3mainapplicationsforLinuxtodoDTP.TowritetextuseOpenofficeorAbiwordandsave thefilesas.txtfiles.ForimageeditinguseTheGimpandsaveimagesas.jpegor.pngfiles.Tobring allthesetogetheruseScribus.

Philosophy
Theeasiestwaytocreateagoodpublicationistocreateallthenecessarypartsindifferentapplications beforebringingthemintoScribus.ItisadifferentapproachtoeditingaWorddocumentwheretextis usuallytypedinandformattedoneachpage.Ifyouarecreatinganewsletterwithmanypagesthis approachwouldbetimeconsumingandanychangeswouldhavetoberepeatedoverandoveragain Scribususestemplatesandparagraphstylestomakethiseasier.Youcancreatedifferentlayout templatesfordifferentpagesforexamplepageswithimagesoncoulduseonetemplateandpageswith justtextcoulduseanother.Thesecanberepeatedsoaddingthetextandimageseachtimeiseasy, ratherthanlayingouteachpagebyhandeverytime.Similarlywithparagraphstyles.Beforethe publicationiscreated,youdecideonhowthetypeshouldlook,soaheadlinewouldbeacertainfont andacertainsize,bodytextwouldbedifferentandsocouldimagecaptions. ThenwhenthetextisimportedintoScribusitisformattedusingtheparagraphstylesdefinedabove. Theadvantageofthisiswhenachangeneedstobemade.youdecideyouwanttoincreasetheheadline font.Ratherthanhavingtogotoeverypageandchangingthesize,youjustchangetheparagraphstyle andthechangesarethenupdatedthroughoutthewholedocument

OpenofficeHowto
OpenofficeisthefreeopensourceversionofMicrosoftword.Makesureanyarticlesyouwriteare unformattedandsavedas.txtfiles

ScribusHowto
Scribusisfreeandopensource.ItisonlyavailableforLinuxandMacOSX.Itiscollaboratively writtenovertheinternetbymanydifferentpeople.Itisquitesimpletouseaslongasyoufamiliarise yourselfwitheachfeature. Makethingseasierbycreatingafoldercalled'text'andonecalled'images'(orsomethingyouchoose) andkeeptextandpicturesinthem.Thismakescreatingandeditingthedocumenteasierandiscalled workflow

Preferences
WhenyoustartScribusyouwillpresentedwithmanypossibleoptions.Firstofalldonotpanic!Firstof allgotothe'Settings'menuandselect'Preferences'

Hereyoucanchangecertainthingstomakeitbetterfordesigningnewsletters.Select'General'andthen changethe'Units'settingto'Millimetres(mm)'.Thengoto'Display'andmakesuretheboxby'PDF 1.4transparencyfeatures'isselectedandfinallygoto'Tools'andchooseanicereadablefonttobe used,forexample'BitstreamCharterRegular'.Click'ok'andwe'rereadytogo!

Newdocument
Goto'File'andselect'New':

Hereyouchoosethesizeofthepage.Forthenewsletterweareusing'A5'soselectthatandclick'OK' HereisthelayoutandtheimportantfeaturesofScribus:

Beforeimportinganytextweneedtosetupsometemplatesforthepages.Thismakesiteasiertocreate morepagesthatdon'tneedtobeformatted.

Templates
Forthenewsletterweneedtocreate3templates:oneforapagethatsgoingtobeprintedontheleft, oneontherightandonethathasalayoutforphotography Todothisgoto'Edit'thenselect'Templates' Fromhereselect'New'thengivethetemplateaname,i.e'Pageleft'

Click'OK'andthenwecancreatethetemplate.Leavethiswindowopenwhilstthetemplateismade.

UsingGuides UseGuidestohelpwiththisthismakesiteasiertolayouttextandimageswell.Thereare2waysto dothis: 1>Dragthemoverfromthemarginstowhereyouwantthemtobe.Thisislessaccurate 2>Enterthemusingthe'Page>ManageGuides'menu.Thisisbetter. Forthe'Pageleft'templateweneedtosetupfourguides2horizontalguidesat16mmand183mm and2verticalguidesat40mmand137mm:

Clickonthe'LockGuides'checkbox(sotheguidescannotbemovedbymistake)andclick'Ok' Yourpageshouldnowlooklikethis:

Thenextthingtodoistoaddasmallbanneratthetopwhichwillbeusedthroughoutthenewsletter. Firstofalladdaboxbetweenthetopmarginandthetopguideandmakeitacolour.Todothis 1>Clickthe'addshape'icon 2>Drawarectangle 3>Gotothe'Properties'boxandclickon'Colours'andchoose'none'fortheborderand'Antique white2'forthefill.Seebelow:

Nextselectthe'InsertTextFrame'boxanddrawaboxontopofthebanner.Doubleclickonitandtype insometextlike'MyNewsletter'.Clickonthe'Properties'boxandthen'Text' Changethefontsizeto17ptbyclickingonthearrowbuttons,andalsoadjusttheKerning(thespaces inbetweentheletters)to13pt.Thisisthetopbannerwhichcanberepeatedthroughoutthenewsletter' Seebelowfordetails:

Nextwewanttoaddabanneratthebottomwhichwillcontainthepagenumbers.Scribuscontainsa niftywayofdoingthiswhichautomaticallyaddsthepagenumberwhenanewpageiscreated. Todothiscreateasmallbanneratthebottombetweenthebottommarginandguide.Inthisadda textframandwhenyoudoubleclickonthetextframeinsteadofaddingtextpressthefollowingkey combination:Ctrl+#(i.epress'ctrl'and'#'atthesametimenot'ctrl''+'and'#').Thisisashortcutthat tellsScribustoinsertapagenumberautomatically.Itshouldlooksomethinglikebelow:

Youhavecreatedyourfirsttemplate!Saveitbyclicking'Close'onthe'EditTemplates'windowand youwillendupwithablankpage.Nowyoucanapplythetemplatetothispagebyclicking 'Page>ApplyTemplates'andselectingthe'pageleft'fromthemenu. Thepagewillupdatetoreflectthechanges.nowwecanstartlayingoutthetext

AddingText
Clickonthe'Addtextframe'iconandclickanddragaboxfromthetopleftdownthatcoversthearea intheguides.Clickonthe'Properties'windowandselect'X,Y.Z'Inheregiveitanamei.e'Firstpage text'thenselect'Shape'.Inherewechoosethewaywewantthetexttobedisplayed.Forthisnewsletter choose2columnswithagapof5mm. Ratherthanenterthetextdirectlyintothisboxitiseasiertohaveitreadybeforeandtoimportit. SelecttheTextareaandrightclickthemouse. Fromthismenuchoose'Gettext'andinopenthefolder'txt'bydoubleclickingonit.Thenselectthe file'diary.txt'andclickok.Thetextwillthenappearinthebox.Therewillbealittleredcrossatthe bottom.Thismeansthatthereistoomuchtexttodisplayinthefolder.Thismeanswehavetoadda newpage.Itwouldbeeasiesttoclick'Insert>NewPage'butitwouldn'tbecontainanyofthebanner elementsandpagenumberssowewillneedtocreateanewtemplatefortherighthandpages. Clickon'Edit>Templates'andinthetemplatesboxclickon'duplicate'.namethetemplate'pageright' andyouwillhaveacopyofthelefttemplatereadytochange.Allthatneedstobechangedistomove theguidesandthebannerssothelayoutworkswellwellprinted. Click'Page>ManageGuides'andchangetheverticalguidesto11mmand108mm.Theguideswill thenshiftovertotheleft. Nextusingtheselectiontooldrawaboxaroundthetopbannerandtext(thisensuresthatyouselect bothoftheelementsandthendragthemoversotheyfitinthespacebetweentheguides.Dothesame withthebottomelements.Yourpageshouldnowlooklikethis:

Click'Close'onthe'Edittemplates'buttonandyouwillbebackatthefirstpagewiththetext.

Addingpages
Clickon'Page>Insert'andthenyoucaninsertthenewpageusingthenewtemplate('pageright').Thiswithall thecorrectformattingandwiththerightpagenumber:

Linkingtextacrosspages
Thetextisstilltobigtofitonjustthefirstpageandforanewslettertoworkwelllongarticlesneedto workwellacrossmultiplepages.thewaytodothisistolinkthetextframes. It'seasy! Insertanewtextframeonthesecondpagelikeyoudidonthefirstone(Makesurethatwhenyouinsert theframeitfitsintheguides,andthatyoumakeit2columnswithagapof5mmusingthe 'Properties>Shape'box Whenyouhavedonethisselectthetextcolumnonthefirstpageandthenclickonthe'LinkText Frame'button:

ThenafterthisselecttheTextFrameonthesecondpage.Thetextwillnowflowintotheframe:

FormattingText
Toformattextyoufirstneedtodefinesomestylesoftextforexampleabigboldfontfortheheadline/ titlesandaslightlysmallerfontforasubheadlineandasmallerfontforthemainbodytext.Todothis goto'Edit>ParagraphStyles' Click'New'thenfornamechoose'Headline'andFont:BitstreamCharterBold,Size:15pt'andclick 'ok'.Addstylesforsubheadline(BitstreamCharterBold,Size:14pt)andBody(BitstreamCharter Regular,Size:12pt).Click'Save'then'OK'intheStyleswindow.

ApplyingStyles
Toapplystylesselectthetextframethenclickthe'StoryEditor'icon:

Thiswillopenupthe'StoryEditor'whichiswhereyouapplystylestothetextyouimported

Eachpieceoftexthasadropdownmenuontheleftwhichletsyouchoosethestyleforit. Sofortheline'DiaryofanAsylumSeeker'selectHeadline.For'May21,2005and'Black Commentator'choosesubheadlineandfortherestchoosebody. Clickthegreentickorchoose'updatetextframeandexit'Nowthetextyouenteredwillshowthe formatting Thesubheadlinelooksabittoobig,sochangethefontsizeto13ptusingthe'Edit>ParagraphStyles' menu.thetextwillthenautomaticallychangetoreflectthis.Imagineifyouhad17pageswith subheadlinesonratherthanhavingtochangepageafterpagemanuallyyoucaneasilychangeitusing styles.

DropCapitals
OftenitlooksgoodifsomeparagraphsfeatureaDropCapital:

Onewayofdoingthisistoflowthetextaroundaninvisibleboxandtheninserttheletterontopof that. Todothatchoosethe'Insertshape'buttonanddrawaboxcoveringthefirstfewlettersacrossanda coupleoflinesdownontheparagraph.Makesureithasnooutlineorfillusingthepropertiesbox. ThenintheShapemenumakesurethethecheckboxfor'TextFlowsAroundFrame'isticked:

Thetextshouldnowflowaroundtherectangle:

ThendrawaTextframeontopofthis,inserttheletterMandmakeitfontsize:50ptItshouldnow lookliketheexamplebelow:

TheotherwaytodothisistocreateanewParagraphStylecalled'DropCaps'.Applythe'body'style toablockoftextusingthestoryeditorthenselectthefirstletterandapplythe'DropCaps'styletoit. Thisiseasiertousebutislessflexible,i.etheexampleabovewouldnotbepossibleastheletterisfalls outsidethetextframe.

InsertingPictures
Allthatsleftnowistoinsertimages.ScanandprepareyourimagesusingTheGimp(seeworksheet) andimportthemintoScribususingthe'InsertPicture'icon:

Insertashapebiggerthanwhereyouwanttoinsertyourpicture.Usethepropertiesboxtomakesure thatthetextflowsaroundtheframe.ThendrawanInsertPicture'boxinsidethis.Atthemomentthe boxhasabigredcrossthroughit:

Selectthepictureboxandrightclickwiththemouseandchoose'Getpicture'

Choosetheimage'Example.jpg'intheimagesfolderandinthePropertiesboxselect'Shape>Scaleto FrameSize':

Theimageshouldnowappearonscreen. Sothisisthebasicwaytobuildupanewsletter!Tocarryoninsertmorepagesusingthe'Page>insert' andyoucanchoosethetemplatetoapplyandwhereyouwantthepagetobeinserted.

Otherfeatures
Ausefulfeaturethathasn'tbeenusedsofarisLayers.Theseenableyouto'stack'layersofitemsontop ofeachother.Itcancomeinusefulwhenyouhavelotsofelementsonapageasyoucanputdifferent onesondifferentlayers,andthenselectthelayeryouwanttoworkonintheLayersbox.Thiscanhelp withselectingitems.Toaddalayermakesuretheboxisvisiblebyclickingonthe'Tools>Layers' menuandclickonthenewlayersbuttonhighlightedbelow:

Whenyoumakethenewlayerdoubleclickonitinthelayersboxandgiveitaname.Thelayer highlightedinblueisthe'activelayer'whichmeansthatanythingyoudrawandinsertonitwilllbe editable.Ifanotherlayerishighlightedthenyouwon'tbeabletomoveoreditstuffonanotherlayer.

MakingaCover
TomakeacoverinsertapagebeforePage1.Don'tapplyatemplatetoit. Drawabigimageboxinthemarginschoose'Getpicture'andselect'Example02.jpg'andgetitto'Scale toFramesize'likebefore. Using'Properties>colours'youcanchangetheopacityoftheimage(meaningitgoesseethrough). Trychangingitto30%andseehowitlooks:

Addingtitles
Nextaddatextframe,makeitalightcolourlike'AliceBlue'andthenclickonthe'Editcontentsof Framebutton'andaddsometext:

Aftertyping'MyNewsletter'(orwhateveryoulike!)pressreturntostartanewlineandtype'for everyone'andthenchangethefontsizeandcoloursuntilitfits.Ifthe2linesarecrowdedovereach otheradjustthe'Customspacing>Linespacing'valueupordown.Thisiswhereyoucanstretchthe textusingkerning.

SavethefileasaPDFandyouhavethebeginningsofanewsletter!Clickonthe'ArrangePages'box andselect'facingpages'toviewhowthenewsletterlooks:

Furtherhelpandinformation Checkoutthescribuswebsitesformorehelp: http://docs.scribus.net/ http://www.scribus.org.uk/