Which features should be listed?

[GarryPatchett]

We need to get a list of which features need to be listed in each section of the features page.

To get things started, I'll propose this:

Advanced Text Formatting

• Character and paragraph styles
• Manual tracking for accurate typesetting
• Baseline grid aligns text across frames
• Optical margins
• Font management and preview

Graphics Tools

• Rich set of vector editing tools
• Gradients and transparencies
• Bitmap image effects
• Mark-up rendering (e.g. LaTeX)
• Alignment and distribution tools
• Image manager

Page Management

• Master pages allow for standardisation
• Pages can be easily re-ordered
• Import other documents
• Unlimited layers

Output and Printing

• Pre-flight verifier to check output
• PDF 1.4 to PDF X/3 supported
• Bleeds and printer marks (optional)
• Automatic image compression (optional)
• PDF security (optional)
• Resource collection for transfer between machines

Colour Management

• CMYK and Colour Separation
• Spot Colours
• Colour blindness emulation

Extensible

• Built-in Python interpreter
• Scripting with Javascript
• PDF forms supported
• Can be run from the command line

More...

• Compatible with most bitmap image formats
• Supports SVG graphics
• Supports PDF import
• Automatic table of contents generation
• Native XML document format

[nitramr]

All of these are really good examples.

[GarryPatchett]

I'm sure more could be added but I think a maximum of six per section is reasonable. Once the list has been finalised it might be easier to create/choose an image for each section.

[GarryPatchett]

The "More" section should be replaced with an "Import" section. The new "Import" section should come above the existing "Extensible" section.

[GarryPatchett]

Some general comments: Font Management - Does this give people a false impression of what they are getting? Vector Editing Tools - Is this an important feature? Gradients and Transparencies - Are these really "features"? Mark-up Rendering - How many people would care about this? Master Pages - These might not be worth mentioning until they work better. Unlimited Layers - Is it worth mentioning? Printer Marks etc. - "Optional" should be removed. PDF Security - How many people actually use this? (see below) CMYK Colour Separation - CMYK is important but is Colour Separation? Scripting with Javascript - Keep or drop? PDF Forms - Do we want to push Scribus as a PDF form generator? Implementation isn't great. Command Line - Drop this as a feature. TOC - Not very well implemented. Use somthing else instead? XML Format - Does the average user care? There's an Apple logo on the Output image. Might need to be removed.

[nitramr]

I can think of a restructuring in following categories:

Advanced Text Formatting

• Character and paragraph styles
• Manual tracking for accurate typesetting
• Baseline grid aligns text across frames
• Optical margins
• Font management and preview

Vector and Object Editing Tools

• Bezier curves
• Primitive shapes
• Create advanced shapes by generators

Color Management

• Color spaces (RGB, CMYK, Lab, Spot Colors)
• Color separation
• Gradients
• Fill patterns
• Color palettes
• Color Blindness simulation

Layout Tool

• Template and Asset Library
• Unlimited Layers
• Master pages allow for standardisation
• Alignment and distribution tools
• Grids and Guides

Output and Printing

• Pre-flight verifier to check output
• PDF 1.4 to PDF X/3 supported
• Bleeds and printer marks (optional)
• Automatic image compression (optional)
• PDF security (optional)
• Resource collection for transfer between machines

Cross Platform working

• Runs on most common operation systems, like Windows, Mac OS, Linux and others
• Open file format for documents
• Integration of Third Party software, like Gimp or Photoshop

Impressive File support

• Importer: idml, cdr, ai, pub, pmd, svg, emf and more
• Exporter: pdf, svg, eps, image formats and more
• Image files: jpg, png, tiff, bmp, psd, kra and more

Non-Destructive Effects

• Image Effects (Blur, Grayscale, Color Tint, Contrast, etc.)
• Object Effects (Contour Styles, Dropshadow, Transparency)

Customizable

• Flexible Workspace
• Scripter for automations
• Plugin support

BTW: we can list features which are better than in InDesign, Quark Xpress or Coral Draw.

[GarryPatchett]

That's probably a better structure that how it is at the moment. It probably needs more thought on individual items - i.e. what is an actual "feature" and what will people care about, etc. - but I think that's a better way to go.

I'm not too sure about saying what is better than the other software. Difficult to define "better than". Might be best to ignore the other software altogether and concentrate on Scribus, unless there is a way of making Scribus look really good without the owners of the other software being able to create some kind of libel case. If you don't compare against something else then no-one can complain about whether the comparison is correct.

[GarryPatchett]

I've removed some "features" and changed others to have different meanings. Probably not perfect but better, I think.