Just as Gimp or LibreOffice jumped to the rest of operating systems, Scribus also made the leap to the multiplatform world without ceasing to be free or Open Source. A new version of this popular text editor has recently been published that we can already get for our team, but it will not be the expected version.
The team has released Scribus 1.5.3, an intermediate version between the latest version and the upcoming major release, Scribus 1.6. However, Scribus 1.5.3 already introduces some interesting changes and raises some interesting questions.
The minimum system requirements are one of the changes in this version. Starting with Scribus 1.5.3, the program requires Qt 5.5 libraries and will not work with earlier versions. The program's appearance has also changed, as some tabs and functions that were previously in the main window are now located in a secondary tab . This is the case with the Text function, which was formerly within the Properties tab.
Scribus 1.5.3 includes support for more than 500 languages ​​with their alphabets
The most striking change, however, is the inclusion of new fonts and the ability to use languages ​​in the texts we create with Scribus. This is achieved through rewriting functions, incorporating new fonts, and using scripts, making it possible to create texts in Arabic, Thai, or Hindi . In total, Scribus 1.5.3 supports more than 500 languages, making it the Scribus version with the most extensive language support.
Despite all this, the official Scribus website warns that it still has some bugs because it's not a thoroughly tested version. The most anticipated version is Scribus 1.6, so if you use Scribus professionally, it's recommended not to update . However, if you use the tool sporadically, updating is highly recommended, as Scribus 1.5.3 prepares the user for Scribus 1.6. If it's not yet available on your GNU/Linux distribution, you can get Scribus 1.5.3 at this link.