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Scribus

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Scribus
Developer(s)The Scribus Team
Initial release16 June 2001;23 years ago(2001-06-16)
Stable release
1.6.1[1] / 7 January 2024;7 months ago(2024-01-07)
Repository
Written inC++(Qt)
Operating systemLinux/UNIX
Mac OS X 10.5-10.8 (up to 1.4.8)
Mac OS X 10.9 (64-bit, up to 1.5.3), Mac OS X 10.10-10.12 (64-bit, up to 1.5.4), macOS X 10.13 (64-bit, up to 1.5.5)
Windows 2000 (32-bit, up to 1.5.0), Windows Vista (64-bit), Windows 7
OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation (up to 1.5.0)
ArcaOS
FreeBSD (up to 1.5.0), PC-BSD (up to 1.5.0), OpenBSD (up to 1.5.0), NetBSD (up to 1.5.0)
Solaris (up to 1.4.8)
OpenIndiana (up to 1.5.0)
GNU/Hurd
Haiku
Available inMultilingual
TypeDesktop publishing
LicenseGNU LGPL 2.1,MIT,3-clause BSD,Public domain
Websitewww.scribus.net

Scribus(/ˈskraɪbəs/) isfree and open-sourcedesktop publishing(DTP) software available for most desktop operating systems. It is designed for layout,typesetting,and preparation of files for professional-quality image-setting equipment. Scribus can also create animated andinteractive PDFpresentations and forms. Example uses include writing newspapers, brochures,newsletters,posters, and books.

Scribus is written inQtand released under theGNU General Public License.There are native versions available forUnix,Linux,BSD,macOS,Haiku,Microsoft Windows,OS/2(includingArcaOSandeComStation) operating systems.

General feature overview

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Scribus supports most majorbitmap formats,includingTIFF,JPEG,andPSD.Vector drawingscan be imported or directly opened for editing. The long list of supported formats includesEncapsulated PostScript,SVG,Adobe Illustrator,andXfig.Professional type/image-setting features includeCMYKcolors andICCcolor management.It has a built-inscripting engineusingPython.It is available in 60 languages.

High-level printing is achieved using its own internal level 3PostScriptdriver, including support forfontembedding and sub-setting withTrueType,Type 1,andOpenTypefonts. The internal driver supports full Level 2 PostScript constructs and a large subset of Level 3 constructs.

PDFsupport includes transparency, encryption, and a large set of the PDF 1.5 specification including layers (OCG), as well asPDF/X-3,[2]including interactive PDFs form fields, annotations, and bookmarks.[3][failed verification]

The current file format, called SLA, isXML.Old versions of SLA were based on XML. Text can be imported fromOpenDocument(ODT) text documents (such as fromLibreOfficeWriter),OpenOffice.org XML(OpenOffice.orgWriter's SXW files),Microsoft Word'sDOC,PDB,andHTMLformats (although some limitations apply). ODT files can typically be imported along with their paragraph styles, which are then created in Scribus. HTML tags which modify text, such asboldanditalic,are supported. Word and PDB documents are only imported as plain text.[4]

ScribusGenerator is amail merge-like extension to Scribus.[5][6]

Forthcoming Scribus 1.6 (by way of Scribus 1.5 development branch)

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Scribus 1.5.1 added PDF/X-4 support.[7]

Initially, Scribus did not properly supportcomplex script renderingand so could not be used withUnicodetext for languages written in Arabic, Hebrew, Indic, and Southeast Asian writing systems, even though it supported Unicode character encoding.[8][9]In August 2012, it was announced that a third party had developed a system to support complex Indic scripts.[10][11][9]In May 2015 it was announced that the ScribusCTL project had started to improve complex layout by integrating the OpenType text-shaping engineHarfBuzzinto the official Scribus 1.5.1svn branch.[12]In July 2016 it was announced that the text layout engine had been rewritten from scratch in preparation for support of complex scripts coming in Scribus 1.5.3 and later.[13]In December 2016 Scribus announced they got support for OpenType advanced feature in 1.5.3svn, as well as complex script and RTL direction.[14]

Scribus 1.4.7 did not have OpenType alternative glyph support, so ligatures, for example, were not inserted automatically;[15]this became available from v1.5.3.

Support for other programs and formats

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Scribus cannot read or write the native file formats of other desktop publishing programs such asQuarkXPressorInDesign;the developers consider that reverse engineering those file formats would be prohibitively complex and could risk legal action from the makers of those programs.[16]

Due to licensing issues, the software package does not include support for thePantone color matching system (PMS),which is included in some commercial desktop publishing applications. Pantone colors can be obtained and incorporated within Scribus without licensing issues.[17]Scribus is shipped with more than 100 color palettes, most donated by various commercial color vendors, but also including scientific, national, and government color standards.

Forthcoming Scribus 1.6 (by way of Scribus 1.5 development branch)

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Support for importingMicrosoft Publisheris incorporated into version 1.5,[18]and QuarkXPress Tag files, InDesign's IDML, as well as InCopy's ICML formats were added to the development branch.[19]

Scribus 1.5.3 onwards contains more than 300 color palettes.

German Organisation freieFarbe e.V. built last HLC Colour Atlas for real colours based on CIELAB. This free Colour Palette is also available in Scribus 1.5.4+.[20]

Scribus 1.5.6 supports native pdf export with embedded open type fonts and pdf 1.6.Python 3is now default in scripts.[21] Scribus 1.5.7 improves undo and redo action. Qt 5.14 is new base for compilation and 3rd party components have newer versions. Next version is 1.5.8 as perhaps last step before 1.6.0.[22]

From view of developers Version 1.5.7 is stable. There are no new Versions in pipe with Backports for the 1.4 tree with the near end of QT4 support in most systems.

Scribus 1.5.8 supports full Python 3 support also for MacOS and modern UI features like Dark Mode.[23]

Books

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Books about Scribus are available in several languages,[24]as is a manual for using Scribus 1.3 in desktop publishing.[25]

Significant users

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Janayugom,aMalayalamdaily newspaper inKerala,India,migrated all desktop publishing to Scribus andGimpin November 2019, saving over 10 million Indian rupees (approximatelyUS$130,000).[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Scribus 1.6.1 Released".scribus.net.
  2. ^"Scribus PDF/X-3 Overview".Archived fromthe originalon 18 July 2011.Retrieved22 May2011.
  3. ^"1.5.0 Release - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  4. ^https://wiki.scribus.net/wiki/images/9/93/Scribus-specs-152.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  5. ^"berteh/ScribusGenerator".25 April 2021 – via GitHub.
  6. ^"ScribusGenerator".ScribusGenerator.
  7. ^"1.5.1 Release - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  8. ^"0003965: Metabug: Support for non-latin languages - Mantis Issue Tracker for Scribus".bugs.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  9. ^ab"0001547: Support for Indic Scripts - Mantis Issue Tracker for Scribus".bugs.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  10. ^DAKF (15 August 2012)."Indic Unicode support for Scribus is developed".scribus mailing list.Retrieved11 October2012.
  11. ^"Complex Script Functionality".Scribus Wiki.Retrieved11 October2012.
  12. ^"ScribusCTL project started".Scribus News.Retrieved9 December2015.
  13. ^"1.5.2 Release".Scribus Wiki.Retrieved22 July2016.
  14. ^"New Text Layout Engine with Full OpenType Support".Scribus News.Retrieved8 December2016.
  15. ^"0001413: Support for OpenType alternate glyphs - Mantis Issue Tracker for Scribus".bugs.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  16. ^"Why Scribus doesn't support QuarkXpress and other major publishing applications - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  17. ^"How to legally obtain spot colour palettes for use in Scribus 1.3.3.x and later versions - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  18. ^"Scribus 1.5.0 Release Schedule - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  19. ^"File formats that should be supported by Scribus (wish list) - Scribus Wiki".wiki.scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  20. ^"HLC Colour Atlas Released – Scribus".scribus.net.Retrieved11 September2018.
  21. ^"1.5.6.1 Release - Scribus".w.scribus.net.
  22. ^"Change Log - Mantis Issue Tracker for Scribus".
  23. ^"Scribus 1.5.8 released – Scribus".
  24. ^"Books about Scribus".Scribus wiki.Retrieved16 June2016.
  25. ^Pittman, Gregory; Schäfer, Christoph (2009).Scribus: Open Source Desktop Publishing: the Official Manual.FLES Books.
  26. ^"Free, open-source software will offer solutions to IT startups: Pinarayi".The New Indian Express.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related toScribus.
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of:Scribus

Tutorials

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Articles

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