Scribus is a full-featured open-source desktop publishing program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

Scribus is powerful software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best result. There is an enthusiastic and friendly community around Scribus that assists beginner and pro alike through their mailing list, IRC channel, wiki, contracted support, and the bugtracker.

Time to make the switch the Scribus?

If you have been a loyal Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress purchaser for many years, then finally asked yourself "WHY??", please know that you are not alone, and that there is a way out. Many of us have been spending top dollar on these products mostly because we thought there was no other choice, not because we thought it was actually worth it. If you're sick of paying good money just to upgrade your software for a couple of new features, then it's time for you to join the migration to Scribus! That goes double for those of us who forked out to upgrade Publisher only to have it not open documents made in previous versions, or have paid top dollar for the latest InDesign only to have it crash every time it starts!

How does Scribus compare to the Industry Heavyweights?

Do a quick search online and you will see many reviews and comparisons. While opinions can naturally vary, you'll soon see a pattern of general agreement: Scribus compares very favourably to Adobe InDesign, and is much easier to learn than QuarkXPress (which is notoriously hard to learn). Considering Scribus does not cost hundreds of dollars like those two, you could say it compares extremely well. How does it compare to Microsoft's product? MS Publisher doesn't even come close! It may have a lot of users, but outside the home environment Publisher is not really considered a serious player in the DTP world (which is why you will rarely, if ever, see it in any comparison of DTP programs). Serious entry-level page layout apps like Serif’s PagePlus come off second-best to Scribus, especially in terms of features. When compared with InDesign and QuarkXPress, you'll see widespread agreement that not only is Scribus easier to learn to use, but that there is hardly any feature missing that even serious desktop publishers would miss. For the home user, it's more than enough. Check out the pics below this introduction for a peak.

What else is great about Scribus?

You may have heard of the Windows phenomenon of "bloatware" (which also affects the Mac), where programs are getting bigger and slower to load without any apparent reason. Have a look at the "system requirements" of each version of InDesign, QuarkXPress and even Publisher and you'll see what I mean. Scribus will not only take up less space than these programs, but also run much smoother (than InDesign and QuarkXPress; on slower computers Publisher may work slightly faster since it is a less serious app).

One other feature of Scribus that can't be overlooked is the default support for saving files in the PDF format. If you forked out even more hundreds for Adobe Acrobat just to add the ability to print to PDF files, you will be amazed.
Just click the PDF button on the toolbar and you can save your work as a portable document.

Another plus is that there is a thriving Scribus community, so you can always get help, tips or new ideas. Just join the forums or search online for tutorials.

Also, because Scribus is open source, and the developers are striving to keep evolving the product, it means you have a say in what future versions will be like. Just make your suggestions for new or improved features and you may see them implemented in the next release.

Will it open my old Publisher files?

Since I am bound to get asked this by home users previously content with Publisher, the answer is that no program other than Publisher can open .pub files, or is allowed to convert them. This is because Microsoft has not allowed information about the format to be open. The common advice is to save them as .pdf files in Publisher and open them in Scribus, or to just copy and paste the elements from Publisher to Scribus. As for users of InDesign and QuarkXPress, you already know that you can't import between the two, and unfortunately Scribus can do no better due to the copyright of each format.

What's on the CD?

As you can see, Scribus really is a godsend for those sick of the usual (expensive) alternatives. And since it doesn't cost a fortune, it is worth giving it a try today. Please note that Scribus, like all open source software, is free to download; what you are paying for here is to have multiplatform copies of the installer on a CD, to save you searching for and downloading them. Also, you get documentation, templates and extras, not to mention a staggering amount of fonts! Check out the full list of stuff on this disc below:

Scribus 1.3.3.12 for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008
Scribus 1.3.3.12 for Linux/Platform-Independent (Source)
Scribus Aqua 1.3.4 for Mac OS X
Scribus 1.3.3.11 for OS/2 (Source)

Ghostscript 8.62 for Windows
Ghostscript 8.62 for Linux/Platform-Independent (Source)
Ghostscript 8.54 for Mac OS X

7557 Fonts
Multiplatform fonts in a wide variety of themes, from all the basic fonts to literally thousands of crazy ones. There are bound to be many that you will like, no matter what your tastes are. Most are in .ttf (true type) format, while the rest are .otf (open type format). Windows and Linux users shouldn't have any problems with the .otf format; neither should Mac OS X users, as it now supports .ttf and .otf fonts. Click here to see a sample of some of the fonts you get.

Scribus Templates
A bunch of templates like DVD booklets, CD labels, cookbooks, popular Avery labels, magazine layouts, letterheads, garage sale posters, and much more. You can use them to create these things, or as learning tools to see how to get things done in Scribus.

Scribus Colour Profiles
Some colour profiles, like a wide gamut RGB profile optimized for digital camera use with 6-7 color ink jet printers, and Adobe ICC Profiles (widely used ICC profiles, which are good for using with commercial print softproofing). (Note: these come in .rpm format for use with some Linux distros, but any decent archive manager [especially in Linux] should be able to open them like a .zip, so you can extract the files from within).

Scribus Installation Instructions
I've included as much documentation as possible, to leave nothing to chance. For Windows and Linux it is pretty straight forward (install Ghostscript first, if you haven't already got it), but for Mac OS X there are a few options, so I have tried to supply as much info as I could.

Fondu
A set of programs to interconvert between mac font formats and pfb, ttf, otf and bdf files on Unix/Linux. Dealing with mac fonts is hard on other operating systems because mac fonts are stored in the resource fork, and other operating systems do not support this concept. Fondu will extract the resource fork from either a macbinary file or a binhex file. Ufond will create a resource fork inside a macbinary file. (Note this comes as source, various Linux .RPMs, & a Mac OS X installer).

Please don't forget to include Postage when paying.

Please note that I've naturally scanned all Windows files thoroughly for viruses. I also do a file integrity scan on all CDs before sending them off, to ensure no files are corrupt.

Upon receiving payment, you will be notified, and your item will be shipped within 2 working days (the following working day in most cases). I will endeavour to make sure it is securely packed and at your door as soon as possible.

Please note that recycled protective packaging may be used in the packing of this item, in an effort to lower the impact on the environment.

Also note that I assume no responsibility for items that don't show up. I will, of course, do my part in tracking down items that were Registered. However, I haven't had any lost mail coming or going internationally or within Australia (still, insurance and/or registering can be arranged for your piece of mind).

Thanks again, and HAPPY SHOPPING!