Get Started With Scribus:3
A magazine or a publication design is not about text and images on the page. It is about empty, white spaces on the page. The text and images merely punctuate this emptiness. These 'breathing' spaces are important, much like gardens, parks, and other open-air sites are important to any high-density metropolis. So launch Scribus, go to the File menu, and click on New. For the rest of the tutorial, I will use the following convention to describe menu choices: File > New.
New Emptiness
- Click on the 'Default Unit' drop-down box, and choose 'Millimetres (mm)' rather than the default 'Points'.
- Click on the drop-down menu of 'Size' and choose 'Custom' for the page-size of our magazine. Enter the above dimensions for width and height. Note the level of precision beyond the decimal-point to the right, offered by Scribus.
- Enter the above values for margin guides, that marks off the actual printing area, inside the physical paper.
- Select Page Layout > Double Sided so you can view pages side-by-side, as in a realworld magazine.
- Select 'First Page is: Right Page' Our first page will be the cover for our magazine.
- Click 'OK' to view your first blank page in Scribus.
Before v 1.3.3, the requestor looked slightly different. Notice the different layout of the Margin Guides area, also that Facing Pages is now selected by checking 'Facing Pages', and Right Page is selected by unchecking 'Left Page First':
