Scribus 1.3.5 Beginner's Guide by Cedric Gemy, Packt Publishing.USA,2010. 11 chapters, with quiz for each chapter ! and index, pages 348.
Exceptionally well written and worth the price, I recommend for purchase and use, It is not only useful as a Scribus guide but also as a companion for learning about desk top publishing
Gemy plans to do the following "Scribus is intended to make printed documents, we will explain, when necessary" and he successfully meets the target.
A page layout program now needs to meet the needs of multilingual users apart from English. Asian languages need the ease of Scribus, Gimp, Inkscape to create layouts for the burgeoning young populations. Open software meets this need admirably and this book will help in creation of such layouts.
In Detail:
Chapter 1, is about Getting Started with Scribus, with an introduction to the main Scribus window, nearly all the icons are described which is helpful.
Chapter 2, is an exhaustive detailed mini tutorial for Creating a First Layout, and introduces main Scribus functionalities and logic.
Chapter 3, is on Mastering Pages and it does exactly that.
Chapter 4, details using Text in Scribus, for text that can be written within Scribus or that which can be imported. This is exceptionally well written.
Chapter 5, covers Formatting Your Text and includes the methodology as well as typographic preciseness.
Chapter 6, discusses Special Frames for Complex Content Management, also explains creation of tables in Scribus. Render frames, are also covered.
Chapter 7, deals with Drawing Advanced Frames and Shapes, conversion of frame types, use of several kinds of shapes, mixing and distorting them using Bezier drawing and modification tools.
Chapter 8, covers Importing Images, formats and their specifications, image resolutions, clipping paths, and use of layers to set the page design.
Chapter 9, is an important chapter on Applying and Managing Color, the use of flat colors, gradients and patterns (with or without transparency) creation of a custom swatch, creating spot colors and Color management.
Chapter 10, tells you how to print Your Layout, the various PDF options for a print-ready file and the use of Scribus verifier to evaluate your layout,
Chapter 11, helps in Customizing the Creation or Viewing Process in Scribus and has examples on extending the functionality of Scribus with Python scripts
Read more on Packtbook website https://www.packtpub.com/scribus-1-3-5-beginners-guide/book
