Contents Optimizing Linux for DTP
Using "Hidden" Features with Acrobat Reader and Scribus
Acrobat Reader® is in my experience, one of the essential tools to have when using Scribus. Although mostly a simple viewer, it has some advanced features which no other PDF viewer has in the Linux,*nix world: full support for javascript with a PDF (You did not know a PDF was scriptable? Scribus is unique in the Linux world for the ability to create scriptable interactive PDF forms.), detailed info which is embedded in the PDF, but viewable only in Acro Reader. Moreover, while PDF is a published standard, Adobe invented postscript on which PDF is based and has a commericial incentive to promote PDF on all platforms.
First, make sure you have the latest version 5.0.6 for Linux. This version is *vastly* better than 4.0.5 - more stable, faster loading, better printing, and more accurate color. If you are running RedHat 8.0, the easiest way to install Acro Reader is to get the rpms from Gurulabs. The place to get Acrobat Reader, if your distro does not offer an rpm, deb or other package is here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html.
Next, once you get it installed and working, open Acrobat Reader, click through the usual license stuff and select: Edit > Preferences > General and you will have a dialog like the one below:
This dialog is very important to set up properly for optimized viewing Scribus created PDF's. Display Edge to Edge will give you a larger viewing area to view your PDF.Smooth Text, Smooth Line Art and Smooth Images applies a bit of anti-aliasing when viewing. If you send someone a Scribus created PDF and they complain the text or (soon to come gradients) look like barbed wire or are "banded", advise the user to enable these settings which are common on all later versions of Acrobat Reader - regardless of platform. Cool Type is a feature specific for making PDF readable on LCD laptop screens. It is a way of adjusting the anti-aliasing and subpixel rendedering. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.
The other options are mostly for the web browser plug-in. I find splash screens a bother, so I leave that unchecked.
Next, looking at the Reader window above, there are 3 features which can be useful: 1) Thumbnails (which Scribus can optionally embed in the PDF when exporting) are useful for navigating.2) The corner triangle is a short cut to view:Document Info, Document Fonts, Document Security. What we care about is document info. Within Scribus File > Document Info there is a panel to enter author and Title of the document. This shows up in a panel below:
3) Annotations are non-printing notes, which Scribus can optionally embed within a PDF. This is really simple. Create a text frame. Then add your notes and right click and check "is PDF annotation".
The other really useful PDF viewer to use with Scribus is GSView which is a graphical viewer/front end to Ghostscript. The latest version (4.3) with Ghostscript 7.05+ works very nicely together allow you to convert PS to PDF, as well as view and convert EPS, PS and PDF files among other tools. Version 4.3 is the first version to really work well under Linux (it was originally developed on Windows). More details to follow in a similar mini howto for using this with Scribus.
For a taste of *some* of the cool PDF tricks Scribus can do, locate the survey.pdf file located
in the samples subdirectory of where the Scribus files are located. Maximize Acrobat Reader, open the file
and follow the instructions. Consider it the first "Easter Egg" in Scribus.;)
First Version - 5 Dec 2002