The Scribus Team is pleased to announce the release of Scribus 1.4.4, as well as new partnerships with respect to newspaper publishing.
Scribus 1.4.4 is mostly a bugfixing release, but it also adds a number of new features, some of which are relevant for newspaper production.
It will likely be the last release in the 1.4.x branch, and the Scribus Team will from now on solely focus on the development of the next major version 1.6. We expect to make available a first alpha release (version number 1.5.0) in the course of 2014.
Most Important Changes
- PDF/X-1a export.
- The Barcode plug-in has been updated to reflect the latest changes in the underlying Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript (BWIPP).
- The Autoquote script has been rewritten and enhanced. It now provides more options and adds thin spaces to French texts where appropriate.
- A script to align images in frames has been added.
- Full support of the OpenICC Directory Proposal
- The handling of transparencies in Photoshop-generated TIFF files has been improved.
- Page borders can now act as guides (and thus be used for snapping of items).
- The CMYK color palette created by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) for newspaper advertisements has been integrated into Scribus.
- A new color palette for professional geographers has been added.
- Export to various bitmap formats has been re-enabled on Mac OS X.
- Several issues related to the user interface and canvas display have been resolved.
- Adjustments for Windows 8.x.
- An issue with the spellchecker, resulting in a crash, has been resolved.
- Documentation and translation updates and improvements.
New Industry Partnerships with SCS and the NAA
The Scribus Team is honored and proud to proclaim a new partnership with a leading provider of newspaper systems, namely Software Consulting Services, LLC, the co-inventor of QuarkXTensions. SCS is already offering a plug-in called ScrImLay, which is written in Python and licensed under the GPL. ScrImLay enables import of Layout-8000 geometry files into Scribus and offers the same functionalities as the respective plug-ins for InDesign and QuarkXPress. A comparison between the results in InDesign, QuarkXPress and Scribus can be found here: http://bit.ly/1cBVcdC.
Scribus is also being supported for ad building from within SCS's CAS/CDS (Community Advertising Services/Community Display Services) application.
SCS will not only promote Scribus and support customers willing to migrate, but also contribute to the development of Scribus itself.
With almost 40 years of experience in building trusted newspaper systems, a credible history of open source contributions since 1991, and a proven track record with respect to new technologies, SCS is looking forward to create the next generation of newspaper software in cooperation with the Scribus Team.
Thanks to the efforts of SCS, Scribus 1.4.4 is being shipped with the latest version of the CMYK color set created and recommended by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) for newspaper printing. This is another "first" for Scribus, comparable to being the first program to support PDF/X-3, as Scribus is, at this juncture, the only DTP software that provides the latest version of the official NAA color set.
