About this book
This book concerns the software program Scribus. There were a number of objectives which the authors set for themselves:
- To allow a quick overview of the program for both novices and those experienced with layout who professionally make use of PDF (Portable Document Format).
- To present a sensible approach to the various features of a PDF, so that a proper workflow is utilized, with a rapid, flexible creativity, and yet which assures a professional final result. This manual approaches the task in a progressive way, so the reader is encouraged to follow the sequence of the sections.
- To permit French-speaking users (see below) to have access to a manual in their native language. This facilitates comprehension of professional concepts which at times are complex, as part of the development of a community of French-speaking users of Scribus.
- To offer a documentation which is not only immediately available, but due to its location in a wiki environment, allows for its own progressive development as needed.
The bulk of this work of 200 pages was accomplished in a Booksprint lasting 5 days, which occurred during a meeting in Strasbourg on July 6-10, 2011, thanks to the sponsorship of l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (www.francophonie.org).
This comes about from the popularized experiments of the Floss Manuals Foundation as part of a framework of creating multilingual manuals on free software and other free materials, where the methodology of the Booksprint results in the creation of high-quality books in a very short time. Floss Manuals Francophone is an organization stemming from the 1901 Act, whose objective is the organization and facilitation of writing in or translation of documentation to the French language.
A group of six co-authors (trainers, designers, developers, and printers), coming from North America, Europe, and Africa worked together in order to represent the various kinds of French-speaking users.
The co-authors at the Booksprint were:
- Camille Bissuel (France)
- Magaouata Dan Bourgami (Niger)
- Louis Desjardins (Quebec, Canada)
- Cédric Gémy (France)
- Thibaut Hofer (France)
- Alessandro Rimoldi (Switzerland)
In addition, there were two facilitators:
- Elisa de Castro Guerra (France)
- Anne Goldenberg (Quebec, Canada/France)
Collaboratively written, this book on beginning to use Scribus derives its inspiration from the values of freedom. It is available on the Floss Manuals site in a variety of formats: printed book, web pages, PDF and ePub, this last one permitting the easy review on an eReader or other portable electronic display. Published under the dual licensing of GPLv2 and Creative Commons-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA 3.0), this manual may be read and copied freely. Otherwise, the content of the electronic version is expected to evolve as the software advances. To view the most recent version, you are encouraged to regularly visit the Francophone section of Floss Manuals (http://www.fr.flossmanuals.net/scribus).
Please do not hesitate to help improve this manual by making your comments to us in the francophone list at Floss Manuals. If you have decent writing/editing skills and are knowledgeable about Scribus, we encourage you to register on the site so that you might suggest new chapters or edit existing material. You will find at the end of this work a list of those who have contributed to this work up to its current version.
You are reading the version revised and enhanced as of December 1, 2011.
About this translation
The main goal of this English translation was to try to capture the flavor and spirit of the original but at the same time try to write as if it might have been originally written in English.
It's also understood that this translation from the original French may contain some alterations, corrections, or enhancements to try to improve the comprehension and accuracy of the material.
Gregory Pittman (US), 2013