Scribus 1.5 is becoming the best open source DTP program

Attack of the Clones

The inconspicuous feature Symbol created a sensation during testing. The developers designate an object as a symbol inside of a document that should serve as a template for other objects related to this object.

Once an object has been declared to be a symbol (right-click on the item, Convert | Symbol ), it becomes possible to make an arbitrary number of copies of the original (select Windows | Symbols from the top menu to access the catalog you create). Modifications to the original symbol are automatically propagated. Therefore, if you change the color of the master, then the color in all of the copies will automatically change accordingly (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Symbols define the instance of a particular shape. Copies attached to the symbol automatically change with the original.

The Weld function makes it easier to handle objects that you would like to move but without needing to group them. Grouping can lead to loss of ability to edit individual objects in a group. The Weld function merely creates a logical connection among several objects. The objects can then still be individually edited. If necessary, you can free one of the objects from the objects that have been welded together.

The Undo-Redo mechanism has also been improved through reworking and rewriting. Likewise, the function for snapping an object in place, which allows an object to be placed according to the placement of other objects rather than merely the presence of grid lines, has been improved.

Changes in the Format

Most of the changes described thus far are readily apparent when you look at the program. Changes have also been made under the hood.

One of these is in the format for document itself. Scribus has been using its own XML format by the name of SLA for years, but this is not a well-known fact among users. However, users have become aware that version 1.5 includes various changes to the SLA format, which have many practical side effects.

The format used for Scribus 1.5 offers the possibility of directly integrating bitmap images. Previously, these could only be integrated via links. When the file was opened on another computer, the images had to be in exactly the same position in the file system. The alternative was to engage in a long click session, which manually corrected the paths to the individual images. This process was also dependent on the user always transferring the documents together with the images from one place to another.

The flip side of the many innovations made to formatting is that the documents created with the new version of Scribus are no longer compatible with those of older versions. However, the new Scribus 1.5 can still open documents created with older Scribus versions. It remains to be seen whether the format function will change again with version 1.6.

The developers have promised that all of the functions will be kept so that documents from version 1.5 can be opened. It is not clear that they will be successful in meeting this goal. What is clear is that Scribus 1.5 is not intended to be a stable version.