Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 16:10:32 +0900 From: Srot BULL <pwd8jmr22w@me.point.ne.jp> To: "Jeremy C. Reed" <reed@reedmedia.net> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Need advice on an application for creating a Newsletter Message-ID: <40FF6868.4070601@me.point.ne.jp> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.43.0407211609181.379-100000@pilchuck.reedmedia.net> References: <Pine.LNX.4.43.0407211609181.379-100000@pilchuck.reedmedia.net>
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Jeremy C. Reed wrote: > On Thu, 22 Jul 2004, Srot BULL wrote: > > >>Now here is my problem, I have been incharge (on/off) for the >>publication of our Newsletter (we call it Bulletin Board), I have had >>experiences on Adobe's expensive applications...Photoshop and >>PageMaker...What would be the best way (application in the ports) for me >>to start with...? I have tried Scribus from the ports but, it is like >>using PageMaker with a Distiller inside, please do not get me wrong I >>have nothing against Scribus...I just want to learn new ideas... >>Besides, the publication only have 4 pages with 2-4 images per >>page...and I will have to print some copies and email some (text) and >>maybe upload in our website. >>I have search the internet...DocBook, XML...(did not have the courage to >>read all because, there were just too many and I still do not know if I >>am in the right track... >>I was thinking of using Vim as my editor (close to vi, would really help >>me learn both)...but after that, I do not know what to do next... >>Anybody using FreeBSD for small DTP here? Mine is just 4 pages...If you >>could reply with some links where to start? Would be a big help for >>me...I hope I have not wasted your time with this long posting... > > > Depends on how you want your newsletter to look. Well, I would want it to look as simple as possible, The cover page would contain some logos, images, 1-2 main articles, and the rest of the pages would look like colored newspapers...I hope your getting this... > > kword is a lot easier and faster for generating a simple newsletter than > scribus. Like scribus, it supports the concept of having text frames which > can be resized and moved and linking the text together. > > Tools like inkscape, sodipodi, xfig, sketch, kontour, and tgif are not > useful for desktop publishing for newsletters because you can't easily > enter text with frames that can be resized while having text flow > automatically between text frames. (A common problem is resizing the text > frame also squishes/stretches the text.) It is possible that some of these > vector editors now have improved text frame support; please let me know. Back when I was using KDE, I did tried to use koffice for a while but due to lack of knowlegde in how to make things work (specially japanese input, in a totally english environment)...I had to give it up...koffice was just too slow and kept on hanging... AbiWord and Gnumeric handled japanese input pretty normaly...o.k. this is just me, a newbie trying to share my experience...I knew kword could handle test frames or it was designed for text frames...but my configuration was just poor that I had to abandon it... > Another alternative is lyx. But doing newsletter-style layout can be very > difficult. (Formatting a brochure in lyx using latex took me days but only > minutes in scribus.) I do use lyx to generate reports, courseware, > and book-type material. I should definitely take a look at this one... > > Another alternative to look at is passepartout. and this one too... > At one time, I was looking for a mailing list that focused on open source > desktop layout publishing. Does anyone know of a good one? > Anyone who could share as some links would be a great help... Thank you very much for your ideas... At least I can start somewhere... Srot BULL
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