GSoC 2009 Better Masterpages by dhan0

                     BETTER MASTER PAGES FOR SCRIBUS

ABSTRACT

Scribus is the only professional-grade Open Source Desktop Publishing Software which supports many professional publishing features. Master pages form an important integrated part of Scribus. Presently editing of master pages is not very flexible and its not possible to edit the master page 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 master pages.

MOTIVATION

Scribus makes desktop publishing possible with free and open software. Master pages are important professional requirements. Users may want to change only some features of the master page in the current page without changing the actual master page or creating a new one, which is not only an unattractive prospect but also time consuming. Completion of this project enable users to handle master pages 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. Quick Access to Master pages

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

2. Master page Listing

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

3. Preview of Master page

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

4. Options for Editing Master pages efficiently

For this purpose, there is a listing of the master page(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 master page applied on the current page as and when required and also an option to revert back to the original master page whenever needed. To achieve this there should be a dialog box, which would appear on clicking on the current-applied master page one wishes to edit, which will be containing the objects on the master page with options to edit/remove them temporarily and apply it to the current page without modifying the actual master page.

DELIVERABLES

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

2. Master page Listing and Preview for better master page selection.

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

TIME LINE

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

May 23 - June 10,2009 - Implementing first part of the project.

June 10 - June 13,2009 - Discussing with mentor about the same and fix bugs, if any.

June 13 - July 1,2009 - Implementing second and third part of project.

July 1 - July 3,2009 - Discussing with mentor about the same and fix bugs, if any.

July 3 - 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

First Name  : Dhanashree

Name  : Nellayi Prasad Dhanashree

Email Id  : dhan0110@gmail.com

IRC nick  : dhan0

Location  : Kerala, India

Timezone  : GMT + 5:30

blog URL  : csianthoughts.wordpress.com

I am Dhanashree N P , a second year (fourth semester) student of B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering 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 involved in any Open Source development projects so far but I am looking forward to do that as a student of GSoC 2009 with the Scribus.