Need advice on an application for creating a Newsletter

[Jeremy C. Reed]

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004, Srot BULL wrote:

> Now here is my problem, I have been incharge (on/off) for the
> publication of our Newsletter (we call it Bulletin Board), I have had
> experiences on Adobe's expensive applications...Photoshop and
> PageMaker...What would be the best way (application in the ports) for me
> to start with...? I have tried Scribus from the ports but, it is like
> using PageMaker with a Distiller inside, please do not get me wrong I
> have nothing against Scribus...I just want to learn new ideas...
> Besides, the publication only have 4 pages with 2-4 images per
> page...and I will have to print some copies and email some (text) and
> maybe upload in our website.
> I have search the internet...DocBook, XML...(did not have the courage to
> read all because, there were just too many and I still do not know if I
> am in the right track...
> I was thinking of using Vim as my editor (close to vi, would really help
> me learn both)...but after that, I do not know what to do next...
> Anybody using FreeBSD for small DTP here?  Mine is just 4 pages...If you
> could reply with some links where to start?  Would be a big help for
> me...I hope I have not wasted your time with this long posting...

Depends on how you want your newsletter to look.

kword is a lot easier and faster for generating a simple newsletter than
scribus. Like scribus, it supports the concept of having text frames which
can be resized and moved and linking the text together.

Tools like inkscape, sodipodi, xfig, sketch, kontour, and tgif are not
useful for desktop publishing for newsletters because you can't easily
enter text with frames that can be resized while having text flow
automatically between text frames. (A common problem is resizing the text
frame also squishes/stretches the text.) It is possible that some of these
vector editors now have improved text frame support; please let me know.

Another alternative is lyx. But doing newsletter-style layout can be very
difficult. (Formatting a brochure in lyx using latex took me days but only
minutes in scribus.) I do use lyx to generate reports, courseware,
and book-type material.

Another alternative to look at is passepartout.

At one time, I was looking for a mailing list that focused on open source
desktop layout publishing. Does anyone know of a good one?

 Jeremy C. Reed

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