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We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser. Home / Editorial / The Low End Designer Scribus: Another Alternative to Quark, InDesign 2004.11.17 Another alternative to the big boys of design - and this one is free. This week the Low End Designer is taking a break from the beloved Macintosh to have a quick squint at what the open-source world of Linux has to offer designers. In terms of software, these are interesting times for designers. Not only has Adobe ramped-up development of InDesign, but Quark has come back with XPress version 6.5 - and a new entrant has come into the field in the form of MLayout. All good news. In the software field, competition is a healthy thing that brings lower prices and more features. But there's more. Linux Eats Adobe's Lunch The last place one would expect to find professional-level design applications is in the open-source world, but with a lot of hard work and collaboration, a free, powerful layout application has finally arrived: Scribus. Adobe has been busily gobbling up as many of Quark's customers as it can, but it may be facing some competition soon. Not only is Scribus easily capable of even midrange design work, given time it looks like it will be a credible challenger to Adobe InDesign and Quark XPress. At present, it is lacking some niceties such as Word file import, Quark import and Pantone support, but none of these will pose a problem to a designer on a budget. This week we're testing it using Linux. Heresy, you say. Well, yes, but in a week or two we'll be checking it out under Mac OS X. Using Scribus The first step in DTP is do define the shape and size of your page, along with some common parameters: margins and columns. As Scribus cannot import Quark or InDesign documents, it is necessary to set the pages up manually. The developers themselves say, "DTP file formats are very complex internally - probably the most complex on a PC. Creating import/export filters is a task far more complex than importing a spreadsheet or simpler word processing file formats." This is something of an impediment, but it is not an uncommon problem. Adobe InDesign can open files from Quark 4, but not Quark 5 or 6. Quark cannot open any InDesign files whatsoever, nor can version 6 "save down" to version 4! Showing a degree of forward thinking and openness to competition that neither Quark nor Adobe display, Scribus uses open standards for its native file format, meaning that Scribus files may eventually turn out to be openable in other layout applications. When testing Scribus, I set up a 297mm x 386mm document; this page size slightly squatter than most tabloids and roughly analogous with the size of the UK's Independent newspaper. The margins are set unevenly in order to create a box of 265mm x 340mm - this is the minimum printable area on each page. On some pages, items can be outside this central rectangle, on others it would result in items not being printed. Within this central rectangle, I went on to define the main layout. Scribus handles columns in a slightly different manner from other DTP apps, but it is efficient and very useable. Earlier editions of Scribus could not handle multi-columnar text frames; the designer was forced to use text frame linking, a technique for running text from one frame to another that is more usually employed when spreading text across two separate pages. Adding text or images is a simple case of drawing a frame on the page and importing the relevant plain text or image file. Color Management Color accuracy is one of the major advantages of the Macintosh as a print production platform - and one of Linux's major disadvantages. For years now the Mac OS has included Apple's own color management software, ColorSync. Color management standards are dictated by the International Color Consortium and now Linux has a compatible solution in the form of LittleCMS. Some users may not need to install LittleCMS, but for professional output it is a must. With LittleCMS installed, PDF files produced in Scribus should be printed just as they appear on screen. Without it, you'll be guessing how any given color will come out in print. Once the design was finished, it was a simple case of export to PDF - you don't expect the local bureau to support Scribus, do you? In a few weeks time, Low End Designer will be running a Mac OS X test of this application. Stay tuned. Low End Designer Mailbag From Bob Russo I bought ThinkFree a couple years ago after a positive review in Mac Addict Magazine. I was looking for an alternative to buying Office X since switching completely to OS X. It was horribly slow and unable to correctly open and often would crash on many Word documents. I found that using Office 2000 running in Classic was better. I went back and forth with ThinkFree's technical support. They asked me to send them an example of a document that would crash the application, which I did. They didn't have any answer except to wait until ThinkFree 3.0 was released. Was it ever released? I don't know, I had to buy Office X. Bob, Thanks for your comments - I think we'll be advising against ThinkFree Office until we've seen some of these problems fixed! J. From Dan Wilson I thought the article about Quark Killers on LEM was really interesting. I used to be a Quark user, but I migrated over to InDesign. Adobe had a very attractive upgrade price for Photoshop users. One layout app you overlooked is PageStream. It was originally developed for the Atari ST in 1986, then ported to the Commodore Amiga. I was a beta tester for version 3; at the time, it included a Quark import feature which worked well. PageStream is a full-featured layout app, and it's available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Amiga. Dan, Thanks for the email. I have looked at Grasshopper's website and requested a copy of PageStream for review. Nothing as yet, but if I get it I will certainly share my experiences with LEM readers. The ST had some good layout apps - hardly surprising, since the ST was more-or-less a Mac-clone. I remember Calamus from the ST days also, but getting it to run on a Mac is unnecessarily complicated, requiring MagiCMac, the TOS emulator. All the best, J. Letters sent may be published at our discretion. Email addresses will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style. Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com At present, it is lacking some niceties such as Word file import, Quark import and Pantone support, but none of these will pose a problem to a designer on a budget. This week we're testing it using Linux. Heresy, you say. Well, yes, but in a week or two we'll be checking it out under Mac OS X. Using Scribus The first step in DTP is do define the shape and size of your page, along with some common parameters: margins and columns. As Scribus cannot import Quark or InDesign documents, it is necessary to set the pages up manually. The developers themselves say, "DTP file formats are very complex internally -- probably the most complex on a PC. Creating import/export filters is a task far more complex than importing a spreadsheet or simpler word processing file formats." This is something of an impediment, but it is not an uncommon problem. Adobe InDesign can open files from Quark 4, but not Quark 5 or 6. Quark cannot open any InDesign files whatsoever, nor can version 6 "save down" to version 4! Showing a degree of forward thinking and openness to competition that neither Quark nor Adobe display, Scribus uses open standards for its native file format, meaning that Scribus files may eventually turn out to be openable in other layout applications. When testing Scribus, I set up a 297mm x 386mm document; this page size slightly squatter than most tabloids and roughly analogous with the size of the UK's Independent newspaper. The margins are set unevenly in order to create a box of 265mm x 340mm -- this is the minimum printable area on each page. On some pages, items can be outside this central rectangle, on others it would result in items not being printed. Within this central rectangle, I went on to define the main layout. Scribus handles columns in a slightly different manner from other DTP apps, but it is efficient and very useable. Earlier editions of Scribus could not handle multi-columnar text frames; the designer was forced to use text frame linking, a technique for running text from one frame to another that is more usually employed when spreading text across two separate pages. Adding text or images is a simple case of drawing a frame on the page and importing the relevant plain text or image file. Color Management Color accuracy is one of the major advantages of the Macintosh as a print production platform -- and one of Linux's major disadvantages. For years now the Mac OS has included Apple's own color management software, ColorSync. Color management standards are dictated by the International Color Consortium and now Linux has a compatible solution in the form of LittleCMS. Some users may not need to install LittleCMS, but for professional output it is a must. With LittleCMS installed, PDF files produced in Scribus should be printed just as they appear on screen. Without it, you'll be guessing how any given color will come out in print. Once the design was finished, it was a simple case of export to PDF -- you don't expect the local bureau to support Scribus, do you? In a few weeks time, Low End Designer will be running a Mac OS X test of this application. Stay tuned. Low End Designer Mailbag From Bob Russo I bought ThinkFree a couple years ago after a positive review in Mac Addict Magazine. I was looking for an alternative to buying Office X since switching completely to OS X. It was horribly slow and unable to correctly open and often would crash on many Word documents. I found that using Office 2000 running in Classic was better. I went back and forth with ThinkFree's technical support. They asked me to send them an example of a document that would crash the application, which I did. They didn't have any answer except to wait until ThinkFree 3.0 was released. Was it ever released? I don't know, I had to buy Office X. Bob, Thanks for your comments -- I think we'll be advising against ThinkFree Office until we've seen some of these problems fixed! J. From Dan Wilson I thought the article about Quark Killers on LEM was really interesting. I used to be a Quark user, but I migrated over to InDesign. Adobe had a very attractive upgrade price for Photoshop users. One layout app you overlooked is PageStream. It was originally developed for the Atari ST in 1986, then ported to the Commodore Amiga. I was a beta tester for version 3; at the time, it included a Quark import feature which worked well. PageStream is a full-featured layout app, and it's available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Amiga. Dan, Thanks for the email. I have looked at Grasshopper's website and requested a copy of PageStream for review. Nothing as yet, but if I get it I will certainly share my experiences with LEM readers. The ST had some good layout apps -- hardly surprising, since the ST was more-or-less a Mac-clone. I remember Calamus from the ST days also, but getting it to run on a Mac is unnecessarily complicated, requiring MagiCMac, the TOS emulator. All the best, J. Letters sent may be published at our discretion. Email addresses will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style. <This article is available in a printer-friendly version.> Low End Mac Reader Specials Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94, New 2008 iMac 2GB $46. MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO 2GB $44 / 1GB $23--Free shipping available. Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here. OWC: Mercury Elite FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA up to 2.0TB TOP-RATED Solutions offer High Performance, Reliable storage for all your data storage needs. 500GB $159.99, 750GB $199.99, 1.0TB from $299.99 Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac. Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs. Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you. New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $88 / 4GB $138 / 8GB $274 - Click to Maximize your Macs... Jason Walsh is a journalist and designer living in Ireland who has worked in design for several newspaper groups, including Mirror Group Newspapers. Walsh was art director at Gorgeous, a women's lifestyle glossy, and the East Belfast Observer, a weekly local paper. Recent Low End Designer Columns The top Mac design applications of 2004, 01.10. What are the best Mac design programs released or updated in 2004? Scribus: Free DTP on the Mac, 12.21. "The question is, all other things being equal, is Scribus up to the job of professional DTP? The answer is yes, with a few caveats." Preparing for Scribus: Working with X11 and FinkCommander, 12.10. Two free tools that help get *nix software installed and running under OS X. ThinkFree Office: Slow, unpolished, yet useful, 12.01. Despite the name, this isn't free software, and it really calls for a higher end Mac, but it does the job. More in the Low End Designer index. Links for the Day Mac of the Day: PowerBook 170, Oct. 1991 - At 25 MHz, the PB 170 was at the top of the original PowerBook line. List of the Day: The iPhone List Low End Mac's forum for discussing and supporting Apple's iPhone. August 30 in LEM history: 99: The truth about USB speed - 00: Could Eazel kill the Mac? - Mac OS 8.1 on a IIci and LC III - 01: Beyond MHz and GHz - Getting a handle on email - Thanks for the IBM PC, Dad - Apple's anniversaries - 02: Mac OS X v10.2 - iBook video out - 04: Things that freak out my students - 06: Nvu and SeaMonkey can't replace Home Page - 07: DVD-RAM support Recent Content on Low End Mac Looking for a Content Management System That's as Easy as Mac, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 08.29. Low End Mac needs to move to a content management system, but the few we've tried just don't cut it for people used to the simple elegance of the Mac. First 3 Million Mac Quarter, Skinny on Mac mini Pricing, Mac-like gOS, and More, Mac News Review, 08.29. More plan to buy Apple products than ever before, complete reset can fix MobileMac synch problems, Apple boosting computer and smartphone share, and more. New 'Books Likely in September, 17" PowerBook Display Fault Site, SSD Security, and More, The 'Book Review, 08.29. Also 6 ways to speed up your MacBook, next generation MacBook Air CPU, MacBook Air Update, LapStrap carrying solution, rise and fall of ultraportables, bargains from $220 to $2,699, and more. iPhone 3G Reception 'Completely Normal', AT&T International Data Plans for iPhone, and More, iNews Review, 08.29. Also longer life for iPod earbuds, an alternative to MobileMe, new cases and apps for iPhone, AppStoreGems website launched, and more. Best Power Mac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.29. Used 450 MHz AGP, $75; 500, $99; 800 QS, $199; 1.25 GHz MDD, $375; 450 MHz dual, $179; 867 dual, $300; 1 GHz dual, $395; 1.42 dual, $575. Best iBook G3 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.29. Used 300 MHz clamshell, $150; 500 CD, $150; 800, $200; 600 CD-RW, $240; 900 Combo, $300; 14" 600, $360; 900, $400. Best iPod nano Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.29. Used 2 GB iPod nano, $89; refurb 3G 4 GB, $99; new, $140; refurb 8 GB, $149; new, $179. 10 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 08.28. A look at Internet Explorer, Radon, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Flock, and Camino running in Leopard. Clone and Boot: Another Advantage of the Mac OS, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 08.28. Unlike Windows, Apple makes it possible to clone a bootable drive (Classic Mac OS or OS X) and use it with another supported Mac. Best MacBook Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.28. Used 1.83 GHz, $799; 2.0 black, $875; refurb 2.1 GHz, $899; 2.4, $1,099; black, $1,299; new 2.1, $1,019 after rebate; 22, $1,094; 2.4, $1,219 a/r; black, $1,394 a/r. Best iMac G5 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.28. Used 17" 1.6 GHz Combo, $499; 1.8 SuperDrive, $530; 2.0, $600; 1.9 iSight, $625; 20" 1.8 GHz, $580; 2.0, $650; 2.1 iSight, $700. Best classic Mac OS Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.28. System 6, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5.1, $4; Mac OS 7.6, $13; 8.0, $13; 8.1, $48; 8.5, $25; 8.6, $20; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $20; more. CrossOver Strikes Out, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 08.27. Running Windows apps on a Mac without paying for Windows is great in theory, but actually getting Windows software working is another story. MacDrought: 4 Months with No New Macs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 08.27. The most recent Mac update was over four months ago, and the Mac mini has been unchanged for over a year. Resurrecting a Dead Pismo, Spotlight Search Tip, and EasyFind a Good File Finder, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 08.27. Lots of tips on bringing a comatose Pismo back to life, a Spotlight file name search tip, and EasyFind as an alternative to Spotlight. Best Intel iMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. Used 17" 1.83 GHz, $625; 20", $599; 2.16, $749; 24", $950; refurb 20" 2.4, $999; 2.66, $1,299; 24" 2.4, $1,299; 2.8, $1,549; new 3.06, $2,094 after rebate; more. Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. Used 1.25 GHz Combo, $600; SuperDrive, $650; 1.33 Combo, $640; 1.5, $680; SD, $725; 1.67, $730; hi-res, $800. Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. 500 GB Time Capsule, $294; 1 TB, $468; AirPort Extreme Card, $39; 802.11n Base Station, $166; 802.11g AirPort Express, $60; 802.11n, $98. More links in our archive.

Mac of the Day: PowerBook 170, Oct. 1991 - At 25 MHz, the PB 170 was at the top of the original PowerBook line. List of the Day: The iPhone List Low End Mac's forum for discussing and supporting Apple's iPhone. Email Lists Consumer  advice, reviews  guides, deals Apple History Best Used Mac Buys Used Mac Dealers Video Cards Macspeak About Low End Mac Contacts The Low End Designer ©2004 by Jason Walsh. Entire Low End Mac site copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to the webmaster.   LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.   Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.   Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.   PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.   Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Computer. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, and PowerBook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.