Open Source Corner
DeskTop Publishing Revisited
by Stacey C. Falconer
There are word processors, and there are page layout programs. I tend to be rather jaded towards page layout programs, having been a contributing editor at Big Blue and Cousins for several years.
"Page layout programs are used by layout editors to carefully position blocks of text and graphics, and often come with vector drawing tools. They excel at this type of manipulation, plus exotic things like the spacing between characters (called kerning), the distance between two lines of text (called leading), and are used to prepare complex printing documents that are sent to a commercial printer, or published 'in house'."
Word processors are very good at checking grammar and spelling, excel at complex office operations such as mail merging, and usually integrate with other related programs such as spreadsheets and databases. I suppose the key term here is the word 'office': word processors excel at working with office documents. I'm a poor speller, so I like to check my articles with a word processing application first.
Page layout programs are used by layout editors to carefully position blocks of text and graphics, and often come with vector drawing tools. They excel at this type of manipulation, plus exotic things like the spacing between characters (called kerning), the distance between two lines of text (called leading), and are used to prepare complex printing documents that are sent to a commercial printer, or published 'in house'. Unfortunately, open source page layout programs such as Scribus have no spelling and grammar checkers.
So I was surprised the other day when I was using Abiword, an open source word processing application, to find that it had image and text frame layout capabilities. Normally I've considered word processing applications as being very primitive in their page layout capabilities.
I like to carry Abiword around on a USB drive since it is compact and easy to transport, and it allows me to run it from practically any MS-Windows computer without having to install it. Abiword has both spelling and grammar checkers, and can import and save to many different file types.
I decided to explore the application in greater depth, and found that it had many of the same layout functions that usually belong to page layout programs.
I discovered that Abiword had the ability to insert separate text and image frames, and was able to resize them. This came as a big surprise, since the word processors I was familiar with would usually only allow you to set margins and insert in-line graphics. I think I've probably become quite jaded to word processing programs having used complex page layout programs such as Adobe's PageMaker and InDesign, and Scribus which is open Source, and covered under the GNU General Public Licence.
Further exploration showed me that Abiword can create and apply complex paragraph styles, though it lacked some of the more exotic page layout functions such as kerning (the spacing between the letters of a word) and leading (the distances between each line, and pronounced as in 'lead pencil'). Abiword comes with a large selection of paragraph styles.
I found I could do similar frame building and manipulating using several other open source applications: Kword, Open Office Writer, InkScape, and Karbon14. Kword and Karbon 14 are Linux only applications, and InkScape and Open Office are cross-platform applications that can be run in MS-Windows.
There is a big difference though. Some of these applications: Kword, Open Office, and Abiword are word processing environments, whereas InkScape and Carbon 14 are vector drawing programs like Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand (now also an Adobe product). These are complex programs that combine vector graphic objects with text boxes and bitmap images. They have a lot more in common with page layout programs than they do with word processors, but are usually restricted to a single document page.
So, would I use a word processor like Abiword or Open Office for laying documents like a newsletter? Probably not. I would use them for creating newsletter copy and simple, multi page documents that probably don't incorporate any bitmap or vector graphics.
If it was a single page document with complex elements such as drop caps and images, and required additional kerning and leading, I might choose to use the application Inkscape. An advantage to using a vector layout program like Inkscape is that you can reduce the text to vector outlines and thus eliminate any font matching problems at the printers. As stated above, It lacks the multi-page capability of page layout programs like Scribus, but has kerning and tracking capabilities.
For newsletters and complex multi-page documents, I'll stick to Scribus, and continue using word processing programs only for their grammar and word processing abilities. Scribus has most of the clout of the big expensive commercial page layout programs. No doubt, many of you are already familiar with word processing environments, and would find it easier to use these programs for their image and text frame layout capabilities. I realized though, that if I wanted to become skilled at laying out pages using a word processor, I'd have to spend a huge amount of time and effort re-learning how to do the same tasks that I've become proficient at using page layout programs. In the meantime, I won't preclude the possibility of further exploring the page layout capabilities of Open Office and Abiword.
The following website is a good place to browse for open source applications: osalt.
The following open source applications are cross platform, and can be used with MS-Windows, Linux, and other UNIX type operating systems:
The following KDE desktop open source applications are only available for Linux/BSD and UNIX type operating systems:
I am a real newbie at Linux but so far I am pleased with most of what I am finding. On the positive side, Linux "Ubuntu", one of the most recent distributions, comes with built in features for handling images and disk creation. All the removable media I have inserted into my computer is instantly recognized by the operating system. It tells me when I have a flash drive in the USB port or a CD in the drive. If I put a blank CD or DVD in the burner, it knows what kind of disk it is and it can burn either one. In addition to the bundled programs, there are thousands of software packages that can be added for free. These additional programs are downloaded and installed, but require a slightly different procedure than the Windows install. Still, it is fairly easy to do.
On the negative side, there is a learning curve to becoming familiar with a new operating system. Finding where things are and building a new filing structure takes time. One of the annoyances is the fact that some suppliers of computer peripherals do not want to release the source for their drivers. This means that a certain printer or scanner, for example, may not work without considerable "work around" techniques.
