Portable Scribus – a powerful, free (portable) desktop publishing tool

Posted on January 30, 2008 at 6:38 am

You really do have to love open-source. Open-source software is free and can often replace costly commercial apps, which is the case with Scribus, an open-source desktop publishing and page layout application that puts professional-looking documents within the reach of non-professionals like me, and maybe you. I’ve chosen to feature the portable version of Scribus because it is a lot simpler to download and install than its full-sized cousin. It works within the Portable Apps suite, featured in an earlier post on this blog.

Portable Scribus, like Scribus, is a fantastic tool for creating all kinds of great-looking documents: everything from magazine pages to newsletters, invitations, brochures, calendars, you name it. Learning how to use Scribus is made easy by virtue of the simple tutorials available and the large community of Scribus users who freely give their tips and advice.

Typical word-processing applications like Microsoft Word have a very limited ability to combine and manipulate a variety of page elements like text and graphics. If all you need is a simple document with an uninteresting layout, then Scribus is overkill. But if you want your document to look like it was designed and created professionally, word-processors will let you down. That’s when you need an application with the power of Scribus. As the illustration above demonstrates, Scribus has what it takes to put true desktop publishing within your grasp without the huge cost of its commercial brethren.

One of the coolest things about using Scribus is the boatload of user-designed templates that are available for you to download, like the one below. You can also upload and share your own.

When you download the compressed Zip file, simply extract the downloaded folder to your thumb/flash drive within the Portable Apps directory. Note: You should install Ghostscript before installing Scribus. Ghostscript 8.60+ or newer is recommended. This is important for EPS,PS import and print preview.

This is a guest post written by Barry Mahfood from Barry’s Best Computer Tips.

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One Response to “Portable Scribus – a powerful, free (portable) desktop publishing tool”

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October 25th, 2008 at 5:46 am