Creating a newsletter

this page is a work in progress!!

This article is mostly based on this thread from the Scribus mailing list: Using Scribus for a newsletter

I think you're still having an issue with "master pages" and "templates". As Jan stated -- don't save each page, but one document with all the pages you need. My little magazine (more of a "fanzine" or fancy newsletter) is 24-26 pages. Don't create a template. Create your newsletter instead, then use the last issue as a template for the next. Or delete the text (except the ads and other elements that will remain the same) then save that as a template. This is what works best/easiest for me, but by all means find what works for you and do that! Forget about the terminology though and how you think things "should" be done. Once you start using Scribus you'll learn your way around and may change the way you do things as you learn -- nothing's set in type.  ;>

Ads don't change much, but they do on occasion. I always use the last issue as the next issue's template. Just remember to save the "last" as the "next" before making changes or you could overwrite the "last" one. When you do this it's easy to select and cut and ad, then paste it on another page, or move it about a page -- whatever is necessary. Don't get caught up in the terminology! I've never found a real use for "templates" as the above works much better. I have on rare occasion used a "ready made" template for some project, but for the most part I ignore that "feature". The only good thing about a template is that it can be locked so that items can't be changed. Once you open a template as a document, things can be changed, and then you save as a document, leaving the original template unchanged. This keeps you from overwriting your template, but that's all. Remember, a "master page" only has items that will be on every single page of the document. A "template" is a skeleton of the entire document, so you need to make it all first. Then open a new document using the template. The master page you created for the template is saved with the template.

Frank Swygert

Frank is spot on here, Joe. You can easily totally forget about templates and Master Pages, and just create your first newsletter. If later you want to create a template from your newsletter, or create one or more Master Pages from your newsletter, fine, but it seems you need to know much more about how to use all the other elements of Scribus than worry about templates and master pages.

Gregory Pittman