GSoC 2009 Better Masterpages by dhan0

                     BETTER MASTERPAGES FOR SCRIBUS

ABSTRACT

Scribus is the only professional-grade Open Source Desktop Publishing Software which supports many professional publishing features. Masterpages form an important integrated part of Scribus. Presently editing of masterpages is not very flexible and its not possible to edit the masterpage features on a normal page as and when required, which is a major drawback. This project aims to incorporate options in Scribus for having better masterpages.

MOTIVATION

Scribus makes desktop publishing possible with free and open software. Masterpages are important professional requirements. Users may want to change only some features of the masterpage in the current page without changing the actual masterpage or creating a new one, which is not only an unattractive prospect but also time consuming. Completion of this project enable users to handle masterpages and the related operations efficiently with ease and flexibility which will be widely accepted in the desktop publishing world.

PROJECT

The project aims at incorporating the following features in Scribus

1. Options for Editing Masterpages efficiently

For this purpose, there is a listing of the masterpage(s) used in the current page (or the set of pages in the present work), as the case maybe. It also includes an option to edit the objects in the masterpage applied on the current page as and when required and also an option to revert back to the original masterpage whenever needed. To achieve this there should be a dialogue box, which would appear on clicking on the current-applied masterpage one wishes to edit, which will be containing the objects on the masterpage with options to edit/remove them temporarily and apply it to the current page without modifying the actual masterpage.

2. Masterpage Listing

Listing the available masterpages under the Page option in the menu bar so that user can easily select the masterpage of his/her choice easily

3. Preview of Masterpage

Incorporating a 'preview' option in the "Apply Master Page" dialogue box which appears on doing Page -> Apply Master Page which would give the preview of the current page on applying a selected masterpage or of the masterpage that one tries to apply on it.

4. Quick Access to Master pages

A quick access option 'Master Page' to be provided in the status bar and all the masterpage related operations to be listed under the same.

DELIVERABLES

1. Options for efficient masterpage editing of the current page.

2. Masterpage Listing and Preview for better masterpage selection.

3. Quick access option 'Master Page' to list all masterpage related operations under the same.

TIMELINE

Upto May 23 ,2009 - Familiarize completely with Scribus source code and get clarifications if any and refining the ideas proposed.

May 23 - June 20,2009 - Implementing first part of the project.

June 20 - June 23,2009 - Discussing with mentor about the same and fix bugs, if any.

June 23 - July 13,2009 - Implementing second and third part of project.

July 13 - July 15,2009 - Discussing with mentor about the same and fix bugs, if any.

July 15 - Aug 1,2009 - Last part of project.

Aug 1 - Aug 3,2009 - Discussing with mentor and fix bugs, if any.

Aug 4 - Aug 14,2009 - Final review of code and documentation.

ABOUT ME

Name  : Dhanashree N P <dhan0110@gmail.com>

IRC nick : dhan0

Location : Kerala, India

Timezone : GMT+5.30

blog : csianthoughts.wordpress.com

I am Dhanashree N P , a second year (fourth semester) student of B.Tech Computer Science and Engineeering at the Government Engineering College,Thrissur. I have been coding in C++ for the last 4 years and C for the 2 years. I know basics of Python and SQL.And I have started learning Qt. I have also started reading the source code of Scribus.

I have done coding in C++ as a part of academics for project in the school. I am a member of Free Software Users Group, Thrissur and had used Scribus for designing a 3-fold brochure for a seminar conducted by the group.I haven't yet involved in open source development projects so far and I am looking forward to do that with the Scribus as a student of GSoC 2009.