The recent improvements in open-source software where there is no recurring cost for subscriptions or new versions, make them a no-brainer choice for many newspaper publishers. Newspapers with multiple licenses of Adobe InDesign and Quark Xpress want to do away with the recurring costs of these applications that have moved to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Additionally, they want to use the open-source Scribus layout and pagemaking software not just for making pages but also for their other workflow and repurposing content requirements.
While several South Indian dailies have pioneered the use of open-source software for over two decades, the Malayalam dailies have led to the use of Scribus for page-making in Indian-language news publishing over the past four years. As we have been reporting, they have received the support of the Indian news and media publishing software companies for executing special applications, add-ons, and shortcuts.
The most recent developments in the use of open-source pagemaking software Scribus come from two North Indian Hindi dailies – Dainik Jagran and Prabhat Kabhar. They have taken help from software developer and integrator 4CPlus for integrating their existing front-end or editorial and advertising systems for page making in Scribus and the output for transmission to other editions or their local computer-to-plate (CtP) devices and pressrooms. This has allowed them to substantially shift the number of pages made to the open-source solution, significantly reducing the number of Adobe and Quark Xpress licenses.
Open-source software is free of charge but requires some seriousness and hard work from the user, especially for the mission-critical production of a daily newspaper. This is one reason that Dainik Jagran and Prabhat Khabar have worked with 4CPlus in shifting their pagemaking operations to Scribus.
At one point, Prabhat Khabar had 200 Adobe licenses and over the years, the human resources got used to the software they were using. One of the key requirements in the smooth integration of Scribus has been to create plug-ins for shortcuts that resemble the earlier practices of the pagemaking and editing personnel. Prabhat Khabar’s general manager says, “As with many of the leading Hindi dailies, we have seen a gradual recovery of our revenues to the pre-COVID-19 levels. However, to cope with rising costs one of the steps we have taken is to move to open-source software for pagemaking and decrease our cloud licenses. Although we are continuing to use Adobe InDesign software on specific design pages, with the help of 4C Plus, we have been able to integrate Scribus for pagmaking and some of our other routine workflow operation.”
The 4C plugins for Jagran and Prabhat Khabar include story utilities that permit page previews, fit box to text, paste plain text, and select text and multiple objects. Plugins have been created for checking duplication of stories across pages, and for story jumps to a continuation page.
Other add-ons automate routine newspaper page production tasks such as checking photo and image resolutions and reformatting stories from one template to another. 4CPlus has also enabled XML output for integration with various existing content management systems that these dailies were using.
For instance, Dainik Jagran has its own combination of editorial systems while Prabhat Khabhar uses MediaVerse from 4C. Both the integration implementations have taken six months, and in the case of Jagran the ad pagination from ppi Media has been integrated with Scribus, while in the case of Prabhat Khabar, the ad pages integration is with 4C’s Layout-X. In the case of Jagran, the automated generation of the ePaper has also been implemented.
The software developer and integrator has also enabled or added several custom features for easily changing the design and typography of the stories on the page. Typographic tweaking including multiple paragraphs, headings, font styles, font sizes, leading (line spacing), and image sizing can be performed using keyboard shortcuts and style sheets. Rules, lines, and borders can be created with a single click.
Editorial and layout users can use the story pallet plugin to open pages by date or edition as per their rights. They can search stories, and transfer stories to other editions. Several additional backend features that are routinely needed by daily newspapers have been added for automated saving and backup of files and generating previews. As a follow-up to these two integration projects, 4C Plus says it is working on AI and ML-based automated pagination, and collaborative pagemaking on the cloud.
