[Tfug] Desktop Publishing Software

[Paul Lemmons]

-------- Original Message  --------
Subject: [Tfug] Desktop Publishing Software
From: Claude Rubinson <rubinson at u.arizona.edu>
To: TFUG <tfug at tfug.org>
Date: 10/29/2007 03:33 PM
> Hi all,
>
> Yesterday, in a fit of religious fervor or insanity (it can be
> difficult to distinguish between the two) I volunteered to edit a new
> newsletter for my church.  For some reason, the fact that I've never
> done anything like this before and have little-to-no aesthetic sense
> didn't give me pause.
>
> So, I come asking for recommendations on appropriate software for the
> task.  This is completely new territory for me, so I'm not even sure
> what questions to ask.  I think that I've opened Scribus once but
> that's about it.
>
> In descending order of desire, I'm looking for something that has the
> following characteristics.  But, in general, any pointers, tips,
> suggestions or recommendations would be great.
>
> - A solid f/oss project that will be around for a while.  If I'm going
>   to invest my time in learning a new software package, I want to know
>   that it's not going belly up.  I tend to have more faith in packages
>   that have been around a while.
>
> - Something graphical.  I know that may seem odd coming from me but my
>   limited aesthetic sensibility suggests that I'll do better if I can
>   actually see the results immediately.
>
> - Good documentation and/or responsive user-base.  I want to be able
>   to get good answers when I go looking for them.
>
> - Preferably, something that has a decent Windows and/or Mac port.  I don't
>   expect that I'll be editing this newsletter for too long and it
>   would be great if whoever takes over didn't have to reinvent the
>   wheel.
>
> - If it were scriptable, that would be great.  It may be the case that
>   we might want to move some of this material onto our website at some
>   point in the future.  I would be great if we could write a script
>   that would automatically generate the newsletter for people who
>   prefer to receive a hardcopy.
>
> I appreciate any help or direction!
>
> Claude
>
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>   
Welcome to the insanity wagon. I am in exactly the same boat (church 
publication, no ascetic sense, Linux user). I use Scribus. It meets all 
of your requirements. On a scale of 1 to 10, though it would probably 
get about a 7.8. Some of that, however, may be ascribed to the fact that 
I am not a natural at building publications. It does get the job done, 
though. My biggest complaint is that there are not enough templates and 
keeping a publication up to date is hard work :)

In conjunction with Scribus I find myself in The Gimp a lot too. Artwork 
is never exactly as I would want for the pub and Scribus comes with 
none. If you have a good clip art source, that can help a lot and save 
you many hours. People do not read things without pictures :)

-- 
Sometimes I wonder.  Were our faith able to stand upright and look around, would it be looking down at the mustard seed or standing in awe of the height and breadth of it.