Scribus Project Group Scribus 1.4 Aqua Review

As a self-publisher of printed music materials and a former editor with 3 music publishing companies, I am familiar with several DTP programs, including PageMaker, QuarkXpress, InDesign, Pages, and Ragtime. I learned about Scribus about 2 months ago and decided to try using it partially because my current operating budget would not allow me to upgrade my copy of PageMaker to InDesign, and because several of my publishing projects are being released through the GNU Free Document License--which means that using as many open source products as possible helps those who want to use the materials in their own projects.

Scribus is available in the 1.3.3.9 version for Linux variants and for Windows, and in the 1.4 version for Mac users. This presents a difficulty from the start, as anything saved in the 1.4 format becomes unreadable by previous versions. Downloads are easy and fast for broadband users.

Scribus has a familiar interface for anyone who has used DTP programs in the past. Support for a wide number of page sizes is available. Importing graphics is quite easy, and using the Properties tab to adjust the layout is fairly intuitive. An additional program, GhostScript (also free) is necessary for PostScript use, very common with commercial printers. Scribus works especially well with Inkscape, a vector graphics program simiar to Adobe Illustrator, with Gimp, a bitmap graphics program similar to Photoshop, and with OpenOffice.org, a productivity suite similar to Microsoft Office. Inkscape, Gimp, and OpenOffice.org are also free, open-source software that pack a professional-level punch that shouldn't be ignored when money is extremely tight. With programs this powerful available legally for free, there is absolutely no reason for someone to attempt to pirate the commercial software (not that there was any reason to do so before).

Working with text in Scribus not as easy, though. Scribus allows altering the text either through the Styles tab in the text editor, or through the Properties tab. Unfortunately, these two approaches don't play well with each other, and can produce unpredictable, erratic results. Some attributes, such as line spacing by specific point sizes, can only be reliably changed through the Properties tab, but the general consensus on the support forum is to make all of your changes through the Styles tab in the text editor.

Scribus documentation is available on their website through a wiki, and additional support is available through an active email forum. Some of the programmers are members of the forum, so the support level is quite high for an open-source program as this.

Scribus' website contains documents specifically aimed at commerical printers which addresses practically all of their issues with the program. Since the programmers want to have a powerful product that can compete on a feature-by-feature basis with the big boys on the block (Adobe and Quark), they quickly resolve any issues that relate to preflight and prepress.

Scribus Aqua is the Macintosh port of the product and works well within the Mac environment. (Mac users experienced with using Fink to build and install X11 programs from source code can also use that approach if desired.) With the exception of the text difficulties mentioned earlier--difficulties that the programming team is working on solving--the program allows me to create beautiful sheet music packages (along with Finale and Lilypond, the two music engraving programs I use) that rival the professional look and appearance of publishers such as Alfred Publications, Warner Bros. Publications, FJH Music, Hal Leonard, and others.

For single page ad and brochure work, it is as capable as ALL of the major DTP programs. For longer, text-heavy books, you may find that it may take another version upgrade or two before those issues are completely resolved. Let me state that while text handling is difficult, it is not impossible, and after some experimentation, workarounds are possible that do not affect the workflow too much.

If you already use a DTP program, download Scribus and work with it for a while. You just might find yourself discovering that sometimes the best things in life really are free.