Scribus

Scribus is a libre (open source) page layout program for almost every operating system. While I found it to be buggy (randomly switching to the default font or breaking a text field on Ctrl+Z) and sometimes unintuitive, it is free, open-source, available on Linux, has a GUI, and supports embedding PDF vector graphics natively, which makes it one of its kind.

• Download the latest AppImage (this link will start the download automatically).
• Place the downloaded file in a convenient location and rename it to a convenient name, like scribus.AppImage and add the execute permission in terminal:

  chmod +x scribus.AppImage

• Then, run it from terminal:

  ./scribus.AppImage

Once you run the program, I recommend keeping the useful panels on your screen. Go to Windows and check Properties, Content Properties, Align and Distribute, and Layers. These can be dragged and pinned on the sides of the screen.

I created a template inspired by the commonly used one from Zdeněk Kasner, which is a good starting point (see the rendered preview).

Once you are done with designing, you can export your project to PDF using File > Export > Save as PDF…. You may need to save it first as .sla working project.

IMPORTANT: in the “Save as PDF” dialog window, check the Embed PDf & EPS files (EXPERIMENTAL) option. Otherwise, your vector graphics will be rasterised.

Then, make further configuration in the dialog window:

• In the Color tab, select Output Intended For: Printer for printing and Screen / Web for digital viewing.
• In the Pre-Press tab, check the Crop Marks for print (or uncheck it for digital viewing). Also check the Use Document Bleeds option.

This article was created by Adnan Al Ali. I am not a designer, just wanted to share some of the knowledge I learned the hard way :) feel free to contact me with questions regarding Scribus.