I've translated Scribus into Welsh, and as part of that I have also translated and updated the tutorial by Yann Cecco. While doing that, some useability things came up, and I just want to check that I have them correct, in case I mislead new users. I am using an rpm of version 1.0, based on a build of 14 July 2003, made by Lenz Grimmer for SuSE 8.2, so if some of these points have been picked up in the most recent version, my apologies.
1. Changes to Preferences do not seem to "take" over program restarts. For instance, the default fill for a polygon frame is black, and the default measurement unit is picas, but if I change these to white and mm respectively, close the app, and reopen it, they are back to the original black and picas. Is this a "feature", or more likely to be something to do with the rpm or something I have failed to spot? 2. I cannot see any way of editing the default "Normal" style - is this possible? 3. Does Scribus support UTF-8? I am assuming not, because some of the Welsh words in the translations that used utf8 characters (eg a w or y with a circumflex) are shown as a ?, and text import containing such characters also fails to show them. If it does support UTF-8, what might I be doing wrong? 4. Some of the interface seems not to be caught in the .po file - eg I can remember off-hand kerning, intervall (sic), and the colour names (although the last may be a KDE thing). Is there any way to trap these? 5. The Measurements panel is now much more versatile than it used to be, but by the same token hasn't it outgrown its name? Would it not be better to refer to this now as a Properties panel? 6. It would be nice to migrate some stray items into that panel. For example, the only way to uncheck text flow around a line, or to enter a 0 degree angle for it to ensure a horizontal, is to right-click on it and choose Modify. From the point of view of consistent user interface, both options should be in the panel. 7. A keyboard accelerator to show/hide frames (eg Ctrl+F) would be really handy. 8. The Save As PDF option is terrific, but it doesn't alert the user to an existing file of the same name. 9. I take it that it is not possible to put a border around text frames. (The workaround I have used, though, is simple - create a polygon frame of the same shade, but 1mm bigger all around, and move it behind the text frame.) 10. Is it possible to set a gutter around image frames? I think not, but what I have done as a workaround is set the image to fit in the frame, adjusted the frame to the desired size, set the image to scale freely, slightly enlarged the frame, and moved the image within the frame to give a border between its edge and the text. 11. I take it that it is impossible to do certain things like rotate to a grouped frame? 12. Clicking on the magnifying glass allows a mouse-click to zoom in on the document. Would it be possible to have left button zoom in and right button zoom out? At the moment, shift+button zooms out. I also noticed that zooming too far leaves Scribus twirling its wheels for a long time, so it might be sensible to place a limit on the levels of zoom possible. I hadn't used Scribus for some months, and I have to say it is both more stable and more useable than the previous versions I tried - I think it is shaping up to be a must-have Linux app, and I applaud the development team. -- Best wishes Kevin Donnelly www.kyfieithu.co.uk - Meddalwedd Rydd yn Gymraeg
