There exist many tutorials that show you how to use Scribus to create newsletters or flyers, essentially becoming a replacement for InDesign. In this series, however, we’ll approach it from the other angle, and examine an example that might apply better to writers. We’ll use Scribus as a replacement for something like FrameMaker to layout a book.

Installation

Scribus is a cross-platform application that can be installed on Windows, Mac OS X, or various flavors of Linux via their native packaging systems. The Scribus web site has installation instructions, but to summarize:

• Windows: Double-click the .exe files for Ghostscript, a font and layout package, as well as Scribus itself. Both are available via links from the Scribus web site–remember to install Ghostscript first.
• Mac OS X: Download and install Scribus from the .dmg file.
• Linux: Download and install Scribus and its dependencies from the site, or from your distribution’s repositories (Ubuntu users can simply apt-get install scribus).

Scribus Concepts

Once you’ve installed and started Scribus for the first time, clicking “OK” in the “New Document” dialog will leave you staring at a blank page. At this point, you are likely to be unimpressed: instead of a cursor, there is only vertical and horizontal rulers indicating your position on the page. Before you begin, there are a couple of concepts you need to know, and particularly how they relate to concepts in a word processor that might have identical names:

• Frames: A “frame” is an area where you can put content, such as text or images. In Scribus, all text must be contained within a frame. The same is true of most word processors, the difference being that OpenOffice or MS Word will create a default frame that takes up the entire page. Scribus makes no such assumptions.
• Styles: Like word processors, Scribus uses styles to describe text: its size, font, color, and emphasis such as bold or italics. Unlike most word processors, Scribus deals exclusively in paragraph styles. While text can be changed in terms of point size or font on a character basis, there is no equivalent to a “Character Style” (such as is found in OpenOffice) in Scribus.
• Master Pages: A Master Page is a layout for a page, describing frames, their placement, links, and other elements such as headers and footers. This is the equivalent of a “Page Style” in OpenOffice.

Writing in Scribus

Unlike a word processor (which opens ready for writing), in order to enter words into your new document, you first need to create a frame to hold your text. Press “t,” or select “Insert > Text Frame” from the menu. Once you do so, the cursor will change to a crosshairs. Click-and-drag a region to create a frame.

Once your frame is in place, make sure it is highlighted by clicking on its border (it should be bordered in red). Now, press Ctrl+Y, or “Edit > Edit Text” from the menu. This will bring up the Story Editor, a sort of word processor “lite” built into Scribus. Now, finally, you can enter some of your content.

Next Steps

Whew! That was a lot of work to type a sentence into a file. But, Scribus wasn’t really designed to be the program in which you would do your writing. In upcoming installments, we’ll learn how to:

• Import content drafted in other programs to be laid out in Scribus
• Layout a page with frames, and link the frames together to flow text.
• Create Master Pages that can be applied as templates
• Produce PDF output that is ready for the press

OpenOffice has been the de facto leader in Linux-based word processing (at least, according to the most recent Linux Journal Readers’ Choice Awards). It’s installed by default on most mainstream, modern Linux distributions. So, if you are a writer working on a Linux platform, you are likely to come across it. Let’s look at some improvements in the newly-released version 3.0, as well as some of the useful extensions that you can select to enhance it for your writing. Note that the newest version 3.0 is not installed on some distributions yet, notably the recent release of Ubuntu 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex. You can always install the latest OpenOffice using the binary installer on the web site, or, if available, packages for your distribution.

Notes

The concept behind the notes feature in OpenOffice is identical to the one in Microsoft Office. The main difference is: in OpenOffice (version 2.4.2 and below), the feature is all but unusable. Adding a note from the menu item (Insert -> Note) calls up a dialog box (as shown in the image below).

This dialog box is a nuisance to begin with, not least of the reasons being: 1) the text won’t wrap, so when you enter it it continues on one long line and scrolls to the right, and 2) there is no way to close it without using the mouse (the Enter key inserts a carriage return). Additionally, the note itself appears as a small yellow highlight that you must either mouse-over or double-click to view.

In general, I’m a fan of putting notes into what I’m writing (such as questions to answer or research to perform later), but I couldn’t stand using the feature, much less looking at it when it was finished.

But this feature now mirrors the notes feature in Office 2007, in that the notes are colored and displayed to the right of the right-hand margin. In other words, the notes feature now works great (see illustration below).

Enhanced PDF

A feature that many will find useful is the enhanced PDF options available from the “File -> Export as PDF.” Some of the more useful ones for writers are:

• Hybrid PDF: OpenOffice supports the “PDF/A-1″ standard, which generates for a “modifiable” PDF. When opened by someone who has a compatible program, the document can be edited. When received by anyone else, however, they can always view it as a “normal” PDF.
• Security: The dialog contains a “Security” tab, which allows the user to restrict printing, copying text/images, and/or making changes. Useful for making e-books and other documents like reports that should be read but not disseminated.

Other enhancements

Some other miscellaneous enhancements include the following:

• Mac OS X Support: ‘Nuff said. This time with a native (Aqua) interface–no need for X11. Although I’ve been pushing Linux, we like Mac as well.
• OpenXML (a.k.a. Microsoft Office 2007 format: ‘Nuff said. Now you can work with all of those “.docx” files (not to mention “.xlsx” and “.pptx”). I’ve tested this, and can attest that it works much better (but not perfect) in OpenOffice 3.0.
• New view controls: Also like Office 2007, the new OpenOffice.org features a slide control for zoom, which I’ve become very accustomed to using. You are able to view more than one page at a time while editing.

Extensions

In addition to built-in functionality, one of the great things about OpenOffice is that you can add “extensions” for additional features. There are a number of these specifically targeted at or useful for writers, as follows:

• OpenOffice.org2GoggleDocs: This great extension does exactly what the name implies. It’s worked great for me, as I’ve drafted some of my fiction in Google Docs, and later opened (and saved) directly from OpenOffice Writer.
• txt2tags Extension: There is also an extension for using txt2tags mark-up within OOo Writer.
• Writers Tools” Extension: Dmitri Popov’s Writer’s Tools have been reviewed and profiled a number of times.

All in all, the new version 3.0 of OpenOffice closes a lot of the holes from the previous versions. It’s powerful, available on all platforms, and best of all, free. So download it and try it out–you literally have nothing to lose.

Image by mark van de wouw via Flickr

Joining Stephanie Siavetti as my guest while I straighten out my move and get the site prepared for NaNoWriMo (I’ve got about 10 or so interviews with former NaNoWriMo participants to post already, and more coming!) is Aaron Peters. Aaron is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and a free-software enthusiast. He has worked with Linux as a hobbyist since 1998, beginning with Slackware, Caldera, and Mandrake. He’s finally settled on Debian and Ubuntu for the last five years, all the while tinkering with programming in Python and Java. Aaron spent three years teaching English in Japan, and has held positions in international trade, consulting, localization, and web development, and currently works for an e-commerce development company in Allentown, PA.

I asked Aaron to take over the sit for a week or two because of his extensive knowledge of open source software, including incredible apps for writers like Scribus, the open source print layout app (a free software version of InDesign) and OpenOffice.org, the free office suite that has just released it’s 3.0 version. Aaron is also planning to post about using Linux, the free operating system, for writing. I’m hoping to pick up a few tips from him on setting up my own writing workstation using Linux, if I ever get all these boxes unpacked…

There is still at least one more post from Stephanie, and starting next week you’ll see some of my NaNoWriMo posts, but for the next little while, I’m giving Aaron full run of the site. Please join me in welcoming him!

But for the most part, I’ve tried to recommend free or, as much as possible, low-cost software and services — and when possible, open-source software. There are a number of reasons for this, which add up to something like a philosophy:

1. Writers, especially beginning writers, often can’t afford expensive software. There are programs out there that promise to help you write better, faster, and clearer copy — for a price. And it’s usually a high price — some of these packages run over $200 US! If you’re just getting started, it might be months (or even longer) before you see any financial return, let alone enough to make back the cost of these programs. Why spend so much when there are plenty of free programs that do the job as well?
2. A lot of software for writers seems “scammy”. Writing isn’t easy; good writing even less so. I’m deeply suspicious of software that promises to make writing a novel or screenplay easier. Organizing notes, handling formatting, etc — these are things I expect software to do well, not make writing easy.
3. Open source software is free in more than just cost. There’s a saying in the open source/free software world: “Free as in speech”. Writers above all people have a responsibility to support efforts to protect freedom of speech (and the most to gain from those efforts), including the freedoms that are embodied in open source software — to look at and modify the code. Even if you can’t modify your software, there are programmers who can, and open source software gives them the freedom to do so. (Actually, I’d like to find more open source software specifically for writers, so if you know of anything, drop me a line.)
4. Free tools are often as good or even better than their paid alternatives. If there’s a paid program that’s really the best for its purpose, I’ll recommend it. But where free programs do the job as well, I see the cost of the paid alternative as unwarranted.
5. I can’t afford it. I’ve written largely about products I use, or would use, and cost is a factor in whether I decide to use something. I can’t afford a hundred or more dollars to evaluate a program — and even less to evaluate all the programs available for writers.
6. I don’t do the kinds of writing a program supports. For example, since I’m not a screenwriter, it’s hard for me to be fair in evaluating a program intended for screenwriters. When hundreds of dollars are on the line, it’s even harder.

There are programs that are worth the money, and I cover them when I can. There are also programs that are industry standards, like FinalDraft A/V for screenwriting. My feeling is that if you’re at the stage in your career where you need to use FinalDraft, you’re probably pretty comfortable with the technical aspects of the software — and you can probably afford (and probably need) the support material (books, classes, etc.) you need to use the software. A blog post probably isn’t going to cut it for you.

All that said, if there’s paid software that people really need to know about, let me know. Most paid software offers evaluations, and the 30 days or so they let you us the software for free is enough time to figure out most of the basics. I can also try to get a review copy from companies that don’t offer demos, though that’s a hit-or-miss prospect.

Finally, I’d be happy to post your reviews, if you want. If there’s a piece of software that you’d like to see get some attention, write a short review and I’ll consider posting it to the site (and I’ll give you credit). The ultimate goal is to help writers find out about technology that can help them, so if there’s something I’m missing that would help you or your fellow writers, I’m more than willing to figure out how to add that to the site.

Job Profiles’ list contains several pieces of software I use on a daily basis, quite a few I’ve written about or plan to write about here, and more than a couple I’d never heard of before like the WordIt word processor and the Graviax Grammar Checker. Definitely worth checking out.