Creating a Newspaper

More than just a folder or flyer

What is a newspaper?

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features, editorials, and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. (wikipedia) Today very often in the tabloid format, looks like a bigger magazine.

Stuff you need before firing up the Scribus

It needs more planning than a two-page flyer.

• Lots of text. Thats the main content of a typical newspaper, a delivery medium for text.
• Photos, Graphics. You may take them from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Licence.
• A basic layout template. That is page size, masthead, headline, subhead and copy typography, the structure of the cover page and the inner pages
• A printer. Newspaper printing is done on special machines, large as houses. Check your lokal newspaper and online printers for a good price. There are lots of contraints: The most important: You will have to match the page size your printer can print. You may have to shedule a specific date when your print run is due, depending on printers capacity. These days, there are lots of time slots available.

What Scribus can do for you

• Putting everything together on a page
• Giving you a PDF file for the printing plant

Where Scribus can't help you (now)

• Managing the workflow
• Organizing all the content
• Cleaning the text for good typography

Create your workflow

To keep sane and happy, you need structure. That is a workflow.

• Do some page planning on paper
• Tell your authors how much space they have
• Ask them to not send you word processing documents. Text files are all you need. That is what you type in a simple mail.

(to be continued/expanded)