In the digital world, PDFs meet all of the industry standards for publishing. For example, have you ever emailed a document to someone and had them complain the formatting was all messed up when they opened it? Maybe they couldn’t even open the file because they didn’t have the right program.
Not every computer has the same programs, program versions or even the same fonts. And what looks fine on your computer might look terrible, or not even open at all, on someone else’s system. That’s why the Portable Document Format (PDF) exists.
But no matter how digital our world has become, printed documents are still alive and kicking. From magazines to flyers, posters and door hangers, there’s no evidence traditional print is going anywhere anytime soon.
So whether you’re designing or you’re sending files to other people, a PDF is the industry standard. All you have to find is the right PDF creator.
Here’s one I suggest you try: Scribus.
Scribus is a free, open-source layout editor similar to Microsoft Publisher and Adobe InDesign. It has plenty of modern features, such as color separations and support for CMYK and spot color so you can create the best posters, flyers, magazines, newsletters, print advertising, brochures, calendars and just about anything else you can imagine.
It’s user-friendly and meets all the industry standards for publishing. The Scribus website also has many tutorials and guides to help you on your way.
Download instructions
Head to the Scribus home page, click on the download tab, choose your version, and the download should start automatically. When the download is complete, open and run the installation files. Be sure to read the license agreement before continuing. Remember: You should always read the fine print on anything you download to your computer! After you accept the agreement, the installation will complete.
Once you’re ready to get started styling, take a minute or two to look around and get yourself acquainted with the features. Here’s a quick tutorial for Scribus that I found on YouTube that can help you get started:
