From Suzee Que Flickr photostream taged labels “Free to Use only, For your Art only, For your personal use only, not for Sale on a CD or Collage Sheet”.

Label with form field Highlighted

Label with text added > ready for printing

A very special thanks to  Suzee Que for making these great vintage labels designs available.  Please visit her photosteam at Flickr and check out some of her great artwork.

Specs: These full page sheet templates are downloaded as cross-platform PDF files, which are application independent. They will work on Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Solaris and other operating systems. There can be compatibility issues among different PDF Readers. For optimum performance and full use of all functions, we recommend you download for free Adobe PDF Reader version 9.

Fonts: If you want to change the font type, size or color, (as well as bold, italics, etc.) select Control +E if you’re using a PC or Apple + E on a Mac. A toolbar will appear giving you additional text properties. Select “More” in the font properties toolbar for paragraph alignment and more.

Tips: Printer settings vary from user to user. To test your label layout, first print the labels on plain paper and trace over the label sheet to test for alignment. One solution to alignment problems: select “More” in the font properties toolbar > then paragraph. Also, please make sure the highlight tab is on.

Sizes: Our WL-125, same size as Avery® 5162 or our  WL-150, same size as Avery® 5164

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-150, 4 x 3.33″, 6 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-150, 4 x 3.33″, 6 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-150, 4 x 3.33″, 6 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-150, 4 x 3.33″, 6 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

Download Different Info | Download Autofill (Use WL-125, 4 x 2″ label, 10 labels per sheet)

“Free to Use”, For your Art only, For your personal use only,  not for Sale on a CD or Collage Sheet”

Once again, a very special thanks to  Suzee Que for making these great vintage labels designs available.  Please visit her photosteam at Flickr and check out some of here great art work.

Visit Worldlabel.com for all your labels

Specs: This full page sheet template in PDF is cross-platform and application independent. They will work on Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Solaris and other operating systems. There can be compatibility issues among different PDF Readers. For optimum performance and full use of all functions, we recommend you download for free Adobe PDF Reader version 9.

Fonts: If you want to change the font type, size or color, (as well as bold, italics, etc.) select Control +E if you’re using a PC or Apple + E on a Mac. A toolbar will appear giving you additional text properties. Select “More” in the font properties toolbar for paragraph alignment and more.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL SHEET LABEL TEMPLATE / NOTEPAD

FOR USE AS A NOTEPAD

For all types of functions including a typewriter, sticky notes and more go to Tools > comments and markups. for typewriter > Tools > Typewriter > show typewriter toolbar.

FOR USE AS A TEMPLATE FOR FULL SHEET LABELS

Full sheet labels is one of the most popular size labels. There uses are widespread from drum labels, shipping labels to book covers, warning signs and any thing else one can think of or need. They are usually sold in a matte white paper with a permanent adhesive. Full sheet labels are also available with a removable adhesive, in colors, clear, waterproof for laser and inkjet printing, silver and gold foils, glossy materials and more. Our pricing for 100 sheets of full sheet labels in white matt is $10.45. As the quantity increases the price keeps getting lower and lower.

Our name badge labels (same size as Avery® 5395) in Matt White Paper is designed to be run through laser printers, inkjet printers and copy machines. Name badge labels are  white uncoated labels that utilize a premium face stock and provides a striking foundation for a clearer, sharper image. We use a specialized acrylic adhesive that is formulated not leave residue. But even better, we have glossy, clear, color and even gold and silver foil materials to help you enhance the beauty of your name badge. Maybe the event is outside, and if that is the case, we have weatherproof / Waterproof materials also.

Of course there is always a moment you in a hurry to make your own name badge labels. The simplest way is by using our fillable PDF templates, either in Autofill with same information, or inserting different information.

How to use PDF Fillable Label Templates:

Specs: These labels in PDF are cross-platform and application independent. They will work on Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Solaris and other operating systems. There can be compatibility issues among different PDF Readers. For optimum performance and full use of all functions, we recommend you download for free Adobe PDF Reader version 9.

Fonts: If you want to change the font type, size or color, (as well as bold, italics, etc.) select Control +E if you’re using a PC or Apple + E on a Mac. A toolbar will appear giving you additional text properties. Select “More” in the font properties toolbar for paragraph alignment and more.

DOWNLOAD AUTOFILL | DOWNLOAD DIFFERENT INFO

Other Templates for name badges:

Openoffice.org name badge template

• MS Word Template
• PDF Template
• EPS Template

Akkana Peck’s Gimplabels is a set of scripts for the Gimp image editor that make creating labels and business cards a snap. A .tar package is available on the Web site, but the contents are simply a Gimp script named labels.scm and the utilities needed to rebuild labels.scm. Gimplabels was originally written for an older version of the Gimp, so if you are using the current revision (2.6) and it doesn’t work, try the rebuilding instructions inside the package. You should be able to install the script by copying it to the /scripts/ directory inside your Gimp configuration folder (i.e., /home/username/.gimp-2.6/).

When installed, Gimplabels adds new functions to the File -> Create -> Misc menu and to the Filters -> Combine menu. Under File -> Create -> Misc you will discover two options: Labels -> Rect Label and Labels -> CD Label. Both of these scripts create a new image for you in the exact dimensions required for the particular label you are creating.

The Rect Label script offers a list of several dozen common label templates in pop-up menu. The CD Label script allows you to choose either standard (5-inch) or mini CD (3-inch) formats. Both scripts allow you to adjust the background color and the size of the new image if you need to tweak for an exact fit. Currently, only US letter sized paper is supported.

To make rectangular labels, you create the new image as described above, then, once you’ve drawn your label, you run the second script: Filters -> Combine -> Make label page. This script takes the label image you have been working on, duplicates in the proper number of times, and lays out a new image populated for a full sheet of the selected label. You’ll notice that the same drop-down list of label templates is available here; you can run the second script on a different label template than the one you designed with, but this is not recommended.

To make CD labels, start with File -> Create -> Misc -> Labels -> CD label. This will create a new image suitable for use as a CD label: a disc with the proper diameter, with the center punched out. As with rectangular labels, once you have completed your design work, Gimplabels can automatically convert it into a label sheet. Select Filters -> Combine -> Make label page. The tool can compose label sheets compatible with Neato, Stomper, or other name-brand label sheet layouts.

Advanced usage and settings

The “Create label sheet” script has a few options, but you should familiarize yourself with them in case you need to fine-tune the settings. For example, the “Printer fudge factor” scales the image slightly to account for the fact that different brands and models of printer have slightly different printable areas.

The “From:” and “To:” settings allow you to generate an image that only prints on part of the whole sheet. So if you only need for labels, set the script for “From: 1″ “To: 4.” Next time, you can print “From: 5″ “To: 8″ or whatever number is appropriate. Note that you have to specify a continuous sequence, starting in the upper lefthand corner. There is no way to skip a label in the middle.

Gimplabels works part of its magic by depending on the GUI label designer gLabels. gLabels’ database of known templates is the source of the list that appears in the label creation and label sheet scripts. These are usually stored in /usr/share/glabels/templates. If you update gLabels and acquire a new template, you will have to run an auxiliary setup script in order for Gimplabels to re-scan the directory and pick up the new template.

This script is called make-label-fu.py, and is included in the Gimplabels .tar package. It needs Python and PyXML to be installed. Run it from a command line with “python make-label-fu.py”. You do not have to run make-label-fu.py or even have it installed on your system — at the project’s home page you can also choose to download just the labels.scm script by itself. gLabels has a very complete set of templates, so updating the database is probably not something to worry about unless you know of a specific new template that has been added to the list.

Gimplabels is about as easy as it gets; no guesswork is involved when creating the new image to the exact specifications required, and the script composes the sheet without your intervention — all you have to worry about is designing one label the way you want it.

BY NATHAN WILLIS

Other resources:

gLabels – EZ label creator for Linux

http://oplnk.net/~ajackson/software/maillabels/

Glabels

Openoffice.org Labels Templates

Printing Avery Labels in Linux

LabelNation

Visit Worldlabel.com for all popular size labels

Use Worldlabel.com Product number WL-125 (same size as Avery® 5163) to print.

Visit here For Halloween Address labels

Specs: These PDF Halloween labels are cross-platform and application independent. They will work on Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Solaris and other operating systems. There can be compatibility issues among different PDF Readers. For optimum performance and full use of all functions, we recommend you download the free Adobe PDF Reader version 9.

Fonts: If you want to change the font type, size or color, (as well as bold, italics, etc.) select Control +E if you’re using a PC or Apple + E on a Mac. A toolbar will appear giving you additional text properties. Select “More” in the font properties toolbar for paragraph alignment and more.

Different Info |  Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different Info | AutoFill

Different Info | AutoFill

Designing a sheet of labels is a straightforward process with Scribus: you import the proper template, lay out one label the way you want it, then duplicate your creation to fill the rest of the slots on the template. To get the best results, however, you will need to make use of some specific Scribus features: layers, text styles, and export options.

Start by downloading a template of the label or card sheet you need. Scribus can import EPS and PDF (among other formats); EPS is simpler, so if in doubt, try it first. Within Scribus, create a new document of the appropriate page size (paying particular attention to landscape/portrait orientation). You can set the margin guides to zero for all four sides when creating a new document; you won’t need regular page margins because the template already dictates where the content will go. Once Scribus opens your new blank document, visit the “Page” menu and check the “Snap to Guides” option — this will keep everything orderly when making multiple copies of your layout.

Now choose “File” -> “Import” -> “Get Vector File” from the menu bar. Choose the template you downloaded in the file browser; the mouse cursor will change to a folded-newspaper shape to indicate that wherever you click on the page, the imported file will be placed. Click in the upper-left-hand corner of the page. You are likely to miss the absolute corner by a few pixels; just open up the Properties window from the “Windows” menu. This important palette allows you to view and adjust all sort of content properties in your document. The “X, Y, Z” tab features geometry: you can manually set the X and Y position of the template to 0 for a precise fit.

Next you should add some horizontal and vertical guides to help keep things in position. Create a new guide by clicking in the rulers above and beside the workspace and dragging in to the image. By zooming in, you can very precisely position your guides to exactly fit the label locations of your template. Finally, choose “Windows” -> “Layers” from the menu bar. The Layers window allows you to create and shuffle multiple layers in your document, just as many image editing programs do. The just-imported template is in the default layer “Background;” click on the plus button to add a new layer — in which you will create your content without fear of accidentally bumping the template out of the way.

DESIGN!

Now you can get to work, adding text, lines, shapes, and images to your label design. Text, naturally, is the most important part of the design: if it is not readable, the postal service will not deliver mail, contacts won’t be able to read your phone number, employees won’t know what is stored in what file, and so forth. Nevertheless, Scribus can make your cards or labels look good in addition to being functional.

Let’s start by working with images. Choose “Insert” -> “Insert Image Frame” from the menu bar, or click the “Insert Image Frame” icon on the toolbar. You can click and drag the image frame anywhere on the page. You can grab the side or corner handles on the frame and resize it. Right-click on the frame, and from the context menu choose “Get Image,” then find the image file you want to insert.

Once you have selected your image, look at the Properties panel. In addition to the “X, Y, Z” tab, the “Shape” and “Image” tabs give you some important options. Shape allows you to change the shape of the frame (e.g., rectangular, round, etc.) and set text-flow, so that text content flows automatically around the outside of the image instead of overwriting it. Image gives you more exact control over the size and dimensions of the image display; here you can precisely adjust the positioning of the image within the frame (such as to crop off the top), adjust the horizontal and vertical scaling, and change the DPI setting — an adjustment that will only affect the final output, of course, not the preview that you work with in Scribus itself.

Lines and shapes are just as important as images in many professional designs. You can have Scribus create a wide variety of line styles, and adjust their width, endpoint behavior, and color. Shapes are graphical elements like lines, not layout elements like image frames. The vast majority of the time, you will use shapes to insert solid-color or gradient rectangles, but Scribus can render all sorts of polygons, stars, arrows, and flowchart-like graphics as well.

To make a simple gradient, click on the “Insert Shape” toolbar button, then draw a rectangle on your label. You will notice that it is solid black, unlike the transparency of an empty text or image frame. Here again, you can turn to the Properties palette to adjust the shape to fit your needs. In this case, the “Colors” tab comes into play; from there you can change the line and fill color of the rectangle. The drop-down box allows you to switch between solid color and seven varieties of color gradient.

When you have designed one label to your satisfaction, copy and paste it into all of the other slots of the template. The best thing to do is to select all of the graphical elements at once, then hit Crtl-G to group them together. Thus when you make copies, you can move the copies together without accidentally getting any elements misaligned via a stray mouse click. The guide lines you created earlier will make sure everything is aligned perfectly.

TEXT WITH STYLE(s)

With the background and graphical elements of your design done, create a new layer in which to edit the text elements of your work. Make sure that your text layer is the topmost layer.

For basic text, all you have to do is insert a text frame: choose “Insert” -> “Insert Text Frame” from the menu bar. To edit the contents of the frame, click on the “Edit Text” button or choose “Edit” -> “Edit Text” from the menus. What pops up is the Story Editor, a light-weight word processor that makes it easier to work on the copy inside even if it is to be displayed in a small font or wrapped around some irregular graphics.

More importantly, the Story Editor allows you to use paragraph styles. You can highlight individual words or phrases and change their typeface, size, and character style in the Story Editor, but for text that you will re-use — as on a sheet of labels or cards — using paragraph styles makes making adjustments far easier.

The left-hand column of the Story Editor is a drop-down menu where you can choose the style of the adjoining paragraph. Left-click on it and choose “Edit Styles” to bring up the Style Manager. If you only plan to use one font element, you can stick with editing the Default Paragraph Style, but if you have a company logo, address, and potentially other text that you want to keep distinct from one another, use the “New” button to create a style for each.

Now, instead of altering the font size, spacing, color, and other details of the text in the Story Editor, change them in the Style Manager, then select the updated style in the drop-down box in the Story Editor. You can quickly see the advantage of this approach if you drag the Style Manager out of the way of the document window and use the “Apply” button to make changes to the selected style: your changes will be updates instantly in the document. Thus you can systematically increase or decrease the font size until it fits, adjust the colors, or test out different type faces, all with a few simple clicks.

It might not seem like a tremendous advantage while you work on a single label, but try this: select all of the text frames, and make duplicates of them for the rest of your sheet. Now you can see how much simpler it is to use styles: change the paragraph style once, and all of the copies are updated.

EXPORT LIKE AN EXPERT

Once your text is in and formatted to your satisfaction, pause and think for a second about printing. When printing a sheet of cards or labels, you don’t want to print the outlines of the PDF or EPS template that you imported in the first step. In some instances you might want to print both the graphics and the text, but in other situations you might not. Return address labels, for example, will all be the same. For other labels you might want to print the graphics all at once (perhaps on the nice, full-color printer), then print one or two labels at a time with different text.

Luckily, because you placed your template, graphics, and text in different layers, Scribus makes it simple to do so. Bring up the Layers window. There are five checkboxes next to each layer in the list, allowing you to individually control whether the layer is shown on screen (helpful for tweaking highly complicated documents), printed, locked or unlocked (to prevent accidental changes), subject to “text flow” around objects from other layers, and displayed in full or in wireframe mode. Uncheck the “Print Layer” box for the templates layer, and the outlines will not be printed. To print a stack of labels with the graphics but no text, uncheck the text layer. Later, you can re-check text and un-check graphics to print addresses without doubling-up on the graphics.

Clearly, if you only want to print a single label, you will have to have more fine-grained control than at the layer level alone. For each object in the document (frame, shape, or even group), you can individually disable or enable printing via the “X, Y, Z” tab in the Properties window. The toggle button depicts a printer, just as it does in the Layers window.

Finally, when you do print from Scribus, you should know about a few of the program’s helpful options: the Preflight Verifier, Collect for Output, and PDF compatibility. The Preflight Verifier is a built-in “sanity check” that scans your document and alerts you if there are any suspicious problems, such as empty image frames, objects that stick out beyond the page, and text that overflows from its text frame. You can always choose to ignore these errors and print anyway, but they are helpful for catching accidents.

Collect for Output (found under the “File” menu) creates a folder for your document and copies all of the graphics and other external sources into that folder so that they remain together. This is especially helpful for working with teams, but it can also be used to make sure that you do not open a document one morning to find that an important logo was deleted from some different folder and you now have no backup.

If you are printing directly to a printer, your output will be handled by PostScript, but Scribus can also export documents as PDFs, with a wide range of options. Specifically, you can choose the amount of image compression, which can affect final output quality, and you can specify font embedding. If you embed the fonts in your document into the PDF, you can be sure of its final printed appearance, but you will increase the size of the file itself, perhaps significantly. Luckily, with PDF you don’t waste any paper, so a little trial and error can help you perfect your design and layout.

By Nathan Willis

Other resources:

gLabels – EZ label creator for Linux

http://oplnk.net/~ajackson/software/maillabels/

Glabels

Openoffice.org Labels Templates

Printing Avery Labels in Linux

LabelNation

Visit Worldlabel.com for all popular size labels

Free Halloween labels in fillable PDF label templates printable on your laser and inkjet printer. Each design available in two different type templates, each label cell for different information and autofill. The autofill will allow you to place your info in one label cell, hit tab and the complete template will populate with that info.

Use Worldlabel.com Product number WL-875 (same size as Avery® 5160)  to print.

Specs: These Wedding labels in PDF are cross-platform and application independent. They will work on Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Solaris and other operating systems. There can be compatibility issues among different PDF Readers. For optimum performance and full use of all functions, we recommend you download the free Adobe PDF Reader version 9.

Fonts: If you want to change the font type, size or color, (as well as bold, italics, etc.) select Control +E if you’re using a PC or Apple + E on a Mac. A toolbar will appear giving you additional text properties. Select “More” in the font properties toolbar for paragraph alignment and more.

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Different info | Autofill

Worldlabel.com is a large manufacturer of blank custom labels for laser printers as well as inkjet for both personal and business applications. If you cannot find the labels you’re looking for at World Label or anywhere else, contact us now! We can easily create any label configuration you require with both permanent or removable adhesives. No Matter how complicated, no matter the quantity. For address, shipping, specialty product labels, bottles and more.

Clear, glossy, weatherproof, waterproof custom laser and inkjet labels in any size on any size sheet for laser and inkjet printing.

Unicor is one company that ordered quite a complicated laser label sheet, each label needed to be perforated and at the same time feed threw the laser printer smoothly. They also required 5 different custom color sheets.

Testimonial From Unicor:

“The labels are great, just what I ordered. The go effortlessly through my printer and tear easily when needed. It is a quality product and I do intend on letting the other factories printing these tickets know who you are.

“On the down side I could have requested a couple of more options to suit my needs that I didn’t think were important at the time. I should have had a few holes punched in the center that they use to tie the bundle tickets to the bundle of shirts, I am getting a hand punch so this can be done. And I should have requested a strip be left off the sides, when the operators tear off the operation ticket after sewing the bundle it makes it difficult to remove the paper backing at the end of the day to place the labels on their production sheets. Both problems I can work around but I would like to know if these two options would be available for future orders.

“Once again, I love the labels, and look forward to doing some more business when my stock gets low. Thanks.”

You, too, can order any shape or size custom labels on 8.5″ x 11″ label sheets, available for laser or inkjet printers from Worldlabel. Please note, for any custom label configuration there will be a 100-sheet order minimum. Visit our contact page to learn more.

“I’ve always loved to save and collect things,” Ford said. “I’m big into Route 66 memorabilia, for instance.”

Labels, however, are his first love. Unfortunately, the currently blighted economy has soured that relationship somewhat.

“There was a time when I could make a living buying and selling labels,” Ford said, “but that’s a lot harder now. It’s not really a priority for a lot of people.”

Yet if many of Ford’s fellow enthusiasts are putting their label collections on hold, he’s still heavily involved. And over the years, he’s learned a lot about negotiating this curious shadow economy.

Dwayne Rogers of Chico, CA, who bills himself as Labelman, puts it this way: “As with most collectibles, supply and demand sets price. With labels, I have to add that demand is the major factor, with supply being much less a factor.

“Decorators are always looking for the best images – and, to some extent, collectors, also. A supply of 5,000 labels with a great image of a cat will disappear into the hands of collectors and dealers very quickly, driving the price up, while a supply of 1,000 plain labels with text only will last a very long time and prices will seem to stay the same.”

Because labels generally accompany large quantities of a product, they never travel alone. That is particularly the case with the agricultural labels that Ford tends to pursue.

“They were usually packaged in bales of 1,000 or so,” Ford said. “A lot of the labels in collections now were found in old packing sheds, where they never got around to throwing them out. Sometimes farm or cannery workers would bring an extra bale home for their kids to draw on, and I’ve found them that way by placing ads.”

Today, of course, almost all product labels are computer generated. Collectors like Ford, Rogers and Pat Jacobsen (author of Pat Jacobsen’s First International Price Guide to Fruit Crate Labels crave those colorful images created individually by largely unknown artists.

“Some of it is just beautiful,” said Ford, “but the artists never got credit.”

Ford recalls selling a group of labels to an art dealer in New York’s Soho District “who then turned around and sold each one for $87, framed.”

He identifies lemon and orange crate labels as some of the most elaborate, “because that was the fruit of the rich.”

Jacobsen has traveled literally around the world to corral a huge stockpile of labels in a myriad of languages and types. His collection includes fruit crate labels, can labels from a variety of products (including salmon and sardines, which have their own cult following), beer labels and labels from wine bottles.

Beer labels are closely tied to history. Prohibition was to the brewing industry as the Great Flood was to Genesis – a watershed event. Thus, pre-Prohibition bottle labels have more cachet on the collector’s market than those that came later. Thor Kampfer of the Website usbeerlabel.com says he has a number of pre-1900 labels worth over $250.

Wine labels, meanwhile, present their own logistics problem.

“While (wine) labels were once easily steamed off,” Kampfer explains in an interview on the Sloshspot blog, “but (later) automatic bottling and labeling processes at wineries led to the use of stronger glues. If full label removal is desired, a common approach involves putting hot water inside the bottle, which makes the hold of the glue weaker.”

Ford suggests that it’s probably futile for any collector to anticipate finding some Holy Grail of labels out there in an attic or storehouse.

“Some have gotten over $1,000,” he said, “but just about all of them have been found.”

So Dwayne Rogers suggests a lower-key approach.

“Collect what you like,” he said. “My collection is focused on images I like, crate labels and can labels from areas where I’ve lived, and certain labels have a special meaning due to the people I have gotten them from.”

Darrell Laurant is a journalist and is coordinator for The Writer’s Bridge.

Scribus is the leading open source solution for desktop publishing (DTP); it supports professional features like press-ready color separations and PDF output, as well as every media file type under the sun. With Scribus you can design high-end documents with a separate workflow for authors, photographers, and graphic designers in an office environment, but it is easy enough for single-user work, too. The latest release, 1.3.5, just hit the Internet, and packs a suite of new features. If you have never taken Scribus for a test drive, now is the time.

You can download Scribus installers for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows from the project’s Web site. Version 1.3.5 boasts major improvements in OS X compatibility, for the first time integrating completely with the native windowing and menu systems, which should encourage many Mac owners who found earlier releases not quite “Mac-like” enough to blend in.

If you’re familiar with proprietary DTP applications like Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign, you should have no trouble navigating Scribus. If you’re used to building (or trying to build) documents in a word processor, however, you’ll save a lot of time by glancing at the Scribus project’s documentation. In a nutshell, DTP apps like Scribus focus on laying out the different parts of a document as separate pieces. Where you want text, you put in a text frame, when you can then move about and resize at will. Where you want an image, you drop in an image frame. It’s a little different, but it gives you a lot more control than the tab-based spacing and pagination that are the limitations of a word processor — if you want two columns in Scribus, you simply put in two text frames side-by-side, exactly where you want them.

Mailing labels are a good example of documents that take advantage of DTP’s highly structured approach. You can design a simple label layout with ease, then duplicate it for an entire page’s worth for easy printing; the result is much easier to work with and make changes to than the same layout in a word processor.

DTP basics

For example, open Scribus and create a new document. Even better, download a template and open it. Scribus can read PDF, EPS, OpenOffice, and several other formats. Microsoft Word support is spottier but possible; select an application-neutral format like PDF if you have a choice to get the best results. Scribus will import the PDF or EPS template page as an image; this is what you want because it allows you to lay out text elements against the template as a background.

Add vertical and horizontal guide lines around the labels by clicking the mouse in the rulers outside the page and dragging the guides into the window. These will help align text and image frames. Zoom in on the upper-left-most label. Now you can add text by clicking on the Insert Text Frame button, or by choosing Insert Text Frame from the Insert menu. The cursor will change shape to resemble the Insert Text Frame button; click it anywhere and a dialog pops up allowing you to specify a width and height — to accept the default values, just hit Return.

The result is a transparent frame with handles on all four sides and in each corner; you can drag it around and resize it at will. To actually edit the text that goes in the frame, click the Edit Text button in the toolbar. What pops up is akin to a word processor screen, with all of the font and formatting choices normally provided. The advantage to Scribus’s DTP approach is that you can edit the text and worry about the layout separately.

To add an image, use Insert Image Frame, either from the menu or toolbar. You will notice that image frames are filled with an “X” when empty to distinguish them from text frames. From the right-click context menu you can choose Get Image to load an image into the frame. Scribus does not actually embed the image file into the Scribus document; this is another DTP standby — by keeping the files separate, artists can make updates to the images without the page designer having to re-import everything.

Naturally, you can add as many images and text frames as you like, and re-order them with layers. You can also create graphical elements directly within the page, such as bezier and freehand lines, polygons and shapes. Almost every attribute of any shape or frame is editable from the right-click menu or from the floating Properties palette. By controlling each page element separately, you have total freedom over the layout.

When you are finished designing one label, select all of the elements and choose “Group” from the Item menu; this will tie the elements together so that they can be moved or copied as a single unit. You can then copy and paste as many as needed to fill up the page. And because Scribus intelligently tracks which items are used in the document, you can re-use the same image as many times as you want without the Scribus file growing any larger.

Going further

Of course, this is only the beginning of what Scribus can do. It really excels at multi-page documents, where you can link text between text frames so that it flows through columns and across pages, around graphics, and more. In this example, the two main text boxes are linked, so that the copy — here, “greek” text automatically generated by Scribus — runs continuously through them. That facilitates easy re-arrangement on the page. The puzzle-piece graphic is overlayed on the left-hand column, but as the Properties window shows, the text is set to flow around the outside edges. Elsewhere on the document you see examples of different image types, lines, and other graphical elements.

On top of these long-standing features, the new 1.3.5 release adds several interesting capabilities, including “render frames” — frames for which the contents are created by an external program, such as a 3-D scene, LaTeX formatted formulas, or even typeset music — transformation and path-editing tools like those found in dedicated vector graphics editors, and image effect filters that you can apply to pictures within Scribus without altering the original file.

Scribus also sets the bar among free software applications in its support for the PDF standard. No longer just for Web downloads, PDF is rapidly becoming the format of choice for professional print shops, thanks to its exacting specifications for images and fonts. Scribus supports PDF 1.3, PDF 1.4, and PDF 1.5 output options, and the “demanding” PDF/X-3 specification that tailors the format for press-ready documents.

Speaking of compatibility, Scribus 1.3.5 also adds important features to allow users to work with documents created in other applications. Scribus can now import vector illustrations created by Adobe Illustrator, and can import color palettes created in applications like InDesign — including the popular proprietary Pantone color-matching system.

by Nathan Willis

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