[Tfug] Desktop Publishing Software

[Claude Rubinson]

Hi all,

Yesterday, in a fit of religious fervor or insanity (it can be
difficult to distinguish between the two) I volunteered to edit a new
newsletter for my church.  For some reason, the fact that I've never
done anything like this before and have little-to-no aesthetic sense
didn't give me pause.

So, I come asking for recommendations on appropriate software for the
task.  This is completely new territory for me, so I'm not even sure
what questions to ask.  I think that I've opened Scribus once but
that's about it.

In descending order of desire, I'm looking for something that has the
following characteristics.  But, in general, any pointers, tips,
suggestions or recommendations would be great.

- A solid f/oss project that will be around for a while.  If I'm going
  to invest my time in learning a new software package, I want to know
  that it's not going belly up.  I tend to have more faith in packages
  that have been around a while.

- Something graphical.  I know that may seem odd coming from me but my
  limited aesthetic sensibility suggests that I'll do better if I can
  actually see the results immediately.

- Good documentation and/or responsive user-base.  I want to be able
  to get good answers when I go looking for them.

- Preferably, something that has a decent Windows and/or Mac port.  I don't
  expect that I'll be editing this newsletter for too long and it
  would be great if whoever takes over didn't have to reinvent the
  wheel.

- If it were scriptable, that would be great.  It may be the case that
  we might want to move some of this material onto our website at some
  point in the future.  I would be great if we could write a script
  that would automatically generate the newsletter for people who
  prefer to receive a hardcopy.

I appreciate any help or direction!

Claude