Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Scribus Cracks the Big Leagues in Print

Posted by michael on from the read-all-about-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In an interview on O'Reilly, The Scribus Team, who recently released Scribus 1.2 , reveal the first commercial adoptions of Scribus, GIMP, Inkscape, and Linux by commercial newspapers. Who said Linux could not make it in the print world ?"

7 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. More comfortable link.. by Karamchand · · Score: 4, Informative

    ..to a print edition of the quite insightful article.

  2. Google Cache by Hal+The+Computer · · Score: 4, Informative

    3 comments and it's gone.

    Here is a google cache of thier website.

    --

    int main(void){int x=01232;while(malloc(x));return x;}
  3. Painful as it is... by chill · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of the most useful filters I can think of would be an import filter for MS Publisher.

    I know quite a few small businesses that use this software and take it to press. Yes, most print shops moan about it, but they still accept the EPS files.

    Publisher is used because of convenience (it is there); ease of use for small setups as opposed to Quark or Pagemaker; and integration w/Word and Excel. It is an abomination, but it is still popular.

    A filter for Scribus could help me move a couple of shops off of Windows boxes.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  4. InDesign? by Allen+Varney · · Score: 5, Informative
    Peter Linnell: InDesign has progressed remarkably, but really given the resources Adobe has at its disposal, it should [be] no less than stellar.

    Uhh...? Is this to imply that InDesign ISN'T stellar? Every Quark and PageMaker layout artist I know who has tried InDesign CS has moved to it with a glad heart. It's a great program.

    So far it sounds like Scribus is setting the bar at beating PageMaker and Quark. That's great, but when Scribus also overtakes InDesign, that's when I'll cheer loudest.

  5. There's still a lot to be done in API:s though.. by k98sven · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's a lot to be done in the field of API:s.

    Basically, I'd like to see a good and definitive API for vector graphics. This is something still very lacking.

    Preferably, the API would handle:
    * High-quality printing
    * Export to PS,SVG,PDF
    * Bitmap rendering (for on-screen drawing)
    * Support transparency
    * Be well integrated with the font API:s.

    Basically, a unification of all 2d graphics things into one single device-independent API.

    Apple already has something similar to this in Quartz.

    Supposedly, Cairo is supposed to do this, but given that there is no real documentation or roadmap for it, it's hard to say how, when or if it will ever get there.

  6. resize an image by Craig+Ringer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Right click on frame -> show properties
    (The properties pallette is your friend.)
    Click on image tab of properties palette.
    Play to heart's content.

    Also note the "Scale to frame size" option.

    I'm referring to post-1.2 CVS but it should be the same in most versions IIRC.

  7. InDesign all day long by LazyPhoenix · · Score: 3, Informative

    I work for a 100k+ daily circulation newspaper doing ad design with InDesign 2 as a front end for our proprietary database workflow system (made half-assedly by DTI but that's another story).

    An earlier post knocked ID for being a cross between Illustrator and Quark, but that's a large part of what makes InDesign great -- the familiar Adobe-style UI, useful vector abilities from Illustrator, and it's not Quark!

    I'm constantly exporting files to PDF for customer proofing and haven't experienced any trouble with it's PDF creation, or it's ability to import a PDF image, and I'm using 2.0 not CS.

    I've not had the chance or need yet to use Scribus and Gimp in a production environment, but my toying with both have been positive. Gimp 2.0 seems, to a daily photoshop user, to be quite powerful and feature-rich, if not quite Photoshop. Scribus is still, from a new-to-it perspective, playing catch-up in terms of instant usability, but I love the inroads that linux and open-source in general are making towards having a competent toolset for professional designers. Not that I want to sit in front of the computer and do design at home after working all day, but hey, you never know...

    Saying that Scribus should work on Publisher support is nuts. We don't even allow Publisher files as graphics-standards submissions. In my experience, if it comes in designed in Publisher, it's gonna be the print equivalent of a GeoCities teenager's website: an eyesore.

    Scribus and GIMP should keep their eyes on the workflow and output needs of professional designers, and we'll see more /. stories about firms moving to OSS solutions.

    Speaking of which, does the GIMP have much functionality along the lines of creating web graphics slices along the lines Macromedia's Fireworks? That would seem a wise avenue to go down...