Category:FAQ

Other languages: Polski (pl) Portuguese (pt_BR)

Work in progress
a.l.e: i'm trying to reformat this FAQ as a list of question *and* answers. if i don't succeed, please revert to the last version before the 13 december 2008.

Linux

 * If you don't need anything fancy, use your packet manager to install Scribus.
 * If you want to be more up to date than your distribution is, you can add Scribus own repositories. They are available for Debian, Fedora, Red Hat, Suse, and Ubuntu (links needed)
 * If you want to test the newest feature (or if there are no binaries for your platform) you can compile the source code you get from sourceforge (link) or from the svn server (link)

OS X

 * The stable version is only available through Fink or Darwinports (links?)
 * Snapshots of the development version are availabe on Sourceforge (link)
 * At the moment, there is no way to compile yourself Scribus for OS X

Windows

 * Binaries are available on Sourceforge (link)
 * It's not easy to compile. The BUILDING_win32.txt explains how to do it.

Stable version
1.3.3.12 is the stable version: use it for your normal work.

Development version

 * 1.3.5svn: use it if you want to try out Scribus or if you need new features which aren't available in the stable version (link to a page which describes how to protect yourself when you're using the development version)
 * 1.3.4 is an old development version which should have disappeared few weeks after its release but is still downloaded and used after almost two years: DON'T TOUCH IT!! Please use the stable version or a recent development version.

Document type

 * A book:
 * Currently, Scribus isn't very good at managing documents which are longer than 30 pages. You should split your work in several Scribus documents and join the pdf afterwards (link)
 * You can set the value for the first page number (more)
 * You can't automatically create a table of contents over several files.
 * A booklet:
 * A flyer: Create a file of the size of the whole flyer and use the guides to separate the different "columns".

Installation

 * Where can I get Scribus builds for Solaris?
 * Building Scribus on Windows

Usage

 * How can I make a document of 100+ pages? – Scribus is getting slower and slower
 * How can I make a booklet using Scribus? – perhaps the most FAQ
 * How can I launch Scribus in my language?
 * Where can I get a monitor profiler for Linux?
 * How can I execute scribus on a remote machine and display it on the local machine?
 * How do I do text flow between frames in Scribus?
 * How can I move a Scribus file to another computer along with its images?
 * How can I execute a Python script from within Scribus?
 * Can I use a commandline interface with Scribus?

PDF issues

 * For whom is PDF/X-3 really desired?
 * How can I preserve transparency while exporting to PDF?
 * How do I prevent fonts from looking ugly in the exported PDF ?

Fonts

 * What is the difference between good and bad fonts?
 * Where can I get good fonts?
 * How can I see what fonts Scribus is loading

Other

 * How can I contribute to Scribus?
 * Is it necessary to ask or answer questions in English on the mailing list?
 * What are some good references to learn about layout and design?
 * Why Scribus doesn't support QuarkXpress and other major publishing applications