Scribus is a free, open source application for page design and document layout.
The new version of Scribus 1.6.0 arrives as a new stable branch in which also They incorporate a large number of important changes, Such as new user interface based on Qt5, a modified file format, full table support, advanced text processing tools, and an expansion of supported import and export formats, as well as changes and improvements developed in the experimental branch.
For those of you still unaware of Scribus, you should know that this application provides capabilities for design and layout similar to those offered by commercial programs such as Adobe PageMaker, QuarkXPress, and Adobe InDesign.
Scribus supports most of the major graphic formats, plus SVG, font and image handling. Used for printing PostScript Level 3, including support for TrueType, Type 1 and OpenType fonts.
Main new features of Scribus 1.6.0
This new version of Scribus 1.6.0 represents continued progress in the development of this software for just over two decades.
New GUI
Version 1.6.0 integrates significant improvements, of which the user interface stands out, which has been redesigned, in addition to The transition from Qt4 to Qt5 has been completed.
The new interface has a improved canvas rendering on Hi-DPI displays, A new set of pictograms has been proposed, designed mainly in gray tones and the possibility of using a combination of dark colors has been implemented.
New import filters
The updates and improvements to import filters of Scribus 1.6.0 significantly increase the versatility to work with a wide variety of formats and file types, since filters have been added to MS Visio, CorelDraw, CGM, custom photoshop shapes (CSH), Micrografx Draw (DRW), EMF, SVM, WPG, and XAR. These filters expand the ability to import and work with files from different programs and formats.
For import, was added a filter for XPress tags which supports reading XPress tag files created in different versions of XPress, also one for ZonerDraw vector drawings and QuarkXPress documents and the import of PDF files was improved. Added a filter for Adobe FreeHand vector graphics and added a filter for importing images in KRA (Krita) format.
Rework and improvements to filters
The new version of Scribus 1.6.0 new filters were integrated to import text of documents in RTF and DOCX formats, in addition to the ODT file import filter being reworked, along with the rewriting of the import filters for Adobe Illustrator and OpenDocument, as well as adding support for exporting in PDF/X-4, PDF 1.6 formats and Microsoft XPS.
Support and connection improvements
In addition to this, the support improvements for new DTP formats, such as Adobe InDesign XML (IDML), Adobe InDesign Snippets (IDMS), Apple iWorks PAGES, Microsoft Publisher (PUB), QuarkXPress Tags (XTG), VIVA Designer XML, and Xara Page & Layout Designer (XAR), which significantly expands the ability to import and work with professional design files.
Also highlighted are connections to external tools, Well, in this new version the support for connecting to GraphicsMagick to import XCF files from GIMP and connection OpenSceneGraph to import 3D objects.
Support for SBZ
Scribus 1.6.0 has the support for the SBZ file format used in SwatchBooker, which adds the ability to use all Open Color Systems color palettes. This support expands the color options available to Scribus users and allows for smoother integration with other design tools.
Text Layout Engine Rewrite
Another highlight of this new release is the complete rewrite of the text layout engine, which not only increases stability, but also expands text processing capabilities. The ability to use advanced OpenType features such as ligatures and alternative glyphs is especially useful.
Of the other changes that stand out from this new version:
- Significant change in file format
- Expanded text processing capabilities
- Support for full tables
- Picture browser plugin
- Support for advanced gradients
- Function to add shadows:
- Separate disk image cache
- Working with multilayer SVG files
- Change background color for selected text
- Font Embed Code Rewrite
- Acceleration of features for writing on canvas and drawing text
Finally, if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can check the details in the following link
How to install Scribus on the different Linux distributions?
For those who are interested in being able to install this application on their system, they can do so by typing one of the following commands according to the Linux distribution they are using.
If they are users of Debian, Ubuntu or any other distribution derived from these. You can install Scribus directly from their official repositories. They will only have to open a terminal on their systems and type the following command:
sudo apt install scribus
In the case of users of Arch Linux, Manjaro, Antergos and other derivatives of Arch Linux They will be able to install this application from their repositories. Except that they will have to have enabled the software repository «Community». In some Arch derivatives it is not set by default. To resolve this we will have to edit our pacman.conf file. We do this by opening a terminal and typing:
sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf
Here they will have to scroll through the file with the navigation keys and they will have to search for the repository with a # symbol in front of »Community«. You will only have to delete the # once this is done, we will save the modifications with Ctrl + O and to get out they can do it with Ctrl + X. Then, in a terminal they must type:
sudo pacman -syy
sudo pacman -S scribus
In the case of those who are users of Fedora and derivatives, lThe Scribus desktop publishing application is available through all major software sources. You will only have to open a terminal in the system and type the following command:
sudo dnf install scribus
Finally, for those who are users of OpenSUSE in any of its versions, you can install this application by typing the following command:
sudo zypper install scribus
To The rest of the Linux distributions will be able to obtain this application by installing it from the Flathub repositories.
They will just have to have Flatpak support added to their system.
In a terminal they will have to type the following commands:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub net.scribus.Scribus
flatpak run net.scribus.Scribus