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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0015399ScribusTypographypublic2020-03-22 00:00
Reporterkneekoo Assigned To 
PriorityhighSeveritymajorReproducibilityalways
Status newResolutionopen 
Product Version1.4.6 
Summary0015399: Unable to enter certain diacritics in a Text Frame
DescriptionI tried Scribus 1.4.6 from the default repositories in Linux Mint 18.3 (based on Ubuntu 16.04) and Linux Mint 19 (based on Ubuntu 18.04), and the Text Frame didn't react to typing certain diacritics, with all Romanian keyboard layouts available:
- Romanian
- Romanian (Win keys)
- Romanian (cedilla)
- Romanian (standard cedilla)
- Romanian (standard)

What worked: îâÎÂ
What didn't work: ășțĂȘȚ
Steps To Reproduce1. Install the keyboard layouts mentioned above;
2. Switch to each layout;
3. By using the attached images in this ticket press the keys having the ășț/ĂȘȚ diacritics inside a Text Frame.

The result should be the same for all the keyboard layouts.
Additional InformationLater, I tried Scribus 1.4.7 from this PPA: ppa:scribus/ppa
> https://launchpad.net/~scribus/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

The result was the same (failure) for the "Romanian (standard cedilla)" layout, so it didn't make much sense to try the others.

I didn't notice any information mentioning the PPA would be official or not. So what about it? Is it official or can it be trusted?
Tagsdiacritics, text frames
PatchNo

Activities

kneekoo

2018-08-14 01:40

reporter  

kb-layout-Romanian.png (55,292 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian.png (55,292 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-cedilla.png (56,041 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-cedilla.png (56,041 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-standard.png (56,200 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-standard.png (56,200 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-Win-keys.png (65,756 bytes)   
kb-layout-Romanian-Win-keys.png (65,756 bytes)   

ale

2018-08-14 14:45

manager   ~0045375

can you please also try with 1.5?

it it works there, and it's not trivial to fix it for 1.4, i fear that for the use case you will have to use the development version...

kneekoo

2018-08-14 20:18

reporter   ~0045376

Of course I can try it, but the problem is this is not a particular use case. Those diacritics belong to the Romanian language and they're supposed to be used everywhere. This makes Scribus practically useless for everyone who needs the Romanian diacritics.

danimunte

2020-02-04 07:25

reporter   ~0047354

Hi kneekoo,
Please, have you solved this problem?
Thank you.

kneekoo

2020-02-04 12:03

reporter   ~0047355

Well, it turns out it's more complicated than that, and 1.4.x can actually use the Romanian diacritics but you have to fight Scribus to get there. I'll describe the issue in more detail here.

> 1.4.8
// note: in my testing, the default font chosen by Scribus was Arial Regular
- I created a new document and inserted a Text Frame, then double-clicked it to edit its contents
- trying to input "ăîâșț" on one line and "ĂÎÂȘȚ" right under it resulted in displaying the text below, the other key presses being completely ignored, like I didn't press any key:
ăîâ
ĂÎÂ
- I right-clicked the text frame and chose Edit Text, to open the Story Mode
- trying to add the missing letters on each row ended up with the same result - like I didn't press any key
- I selected (Ctrl+A) everything inside the Story Mode editor and switched the font to FreeSans Regular
- I clicked the end of the first line and added "șț", which was displayed properly, then went on the bottom line to add "ȘȚ", which also looked right
- I clicked Update Text Frame (Ctrl+W) button to save my changes
- the Text Frame got updated as seen in 148-update-text-frame-1.png
- I opened the Story Mode again, selected the whole text (Ctrl+A) and re-applied the FreeSans Regular font, resulting in 148-update-text-frame-2.png

The Story Mode is clearly buggy, but before drawing a conclusion I did a new test, to see if there was an issue with small case characters or something else:
- I deleted the previous text frame
- I created a new text frame, with more rows, with the result provided by 148-update-text-frame-3.png

So was the last line of text trouble-free in the Story Mode or only the last line, whatever that was? A fresh test revealed that it's the latter. Apart from the last line, the ones above get the wrong (default) font, and it requires you to apply the correct font for a second time.

> 1.5.5
// note: the default font Arial Regular as well
- I created a Text Frame, double-clicked it and entered a few lines of text, resulting in what you can see in 155-normal-edit.png
- I right-clicked the text frame -> Content -> Edit Text with Story Editor, I selected the entire text (Ctrl+A), I changed the font to FreeSans Regular and clicked Update Text Frame, with the correct result on the first try (155-update-text-frame.png)

Please note that LibreOffice properly displays diacritics, even with Arial. I also tested this in an HTML page with the 5 diacritics, in Arial, and they were all displayed correctly.
148-update-text-frame-1.png (30,200 bytes)   
148-update-text-frame-1.png (30,200 bytes)   
148-update-text-frame-2.png (29,726 bytes)   
148-update-text-frame-2.png (29,726 bytes)   
148-update-text-frame-3.png (32,615 bytes)   
148-update-text-frame-3.png (32,615 bytes)   
155-normal-edit.png (21,923 bytes)   
155-normal-edit.png (21,923 bytes)   
155-update-text-frame.png (23,038 bytes)   
155-update-text-frame.png (23,038 bytes)   

kneekoo

2020-02-04 12:06

reporter   ~0047356

In the 1.5.5 screenshots also please note that the letters on the first line are partially cut on top.

cbradney

2020-03-15 22:49

administrator   ~0047435

Do I read your last entry correctly in that its ok on 1.5.5?

kneekoo

2020-03-16 06:58

reporter   ~0047436

Not entirely. There are two issues:
1. The default font is bad (155-normal-edit.png) because it doesn't support enough languages.
2. The text looks cut on the top side of the Text Frame (at 100% zoom) - compare it with v1.4.8 (148-update-text-frame-2.png).

cbradney

2020-03-20 23:14

administrator   ~0047444

Change your default font. Scribus doesn't control what fonts people have.

kneekoo

2020-03-21 08:55

reporter   ~0047445

It doesn't control fonts, but it can come with a list of fonts that properly support Unicode and pick one of those if found on the system.

The thing is Scribus sets Arial as default on my PC although it's not even the first font in Alphabetical order, so please consider this.

kneekoo

2020-03-21 08:57

reporter   ~0047446

By the way, changing the default font doesn't fix the text being slightly off and getting its top cut in the Text Frame.

ale

2020-03-21 09:12

manager   ~0047447

newer versions of scribus do come with a list of good fonts:

https://gitlab.com/scribus/scribus/-/blob/master/scribus/prefsmanager.cpp#L126

you're very welcome to make suggestions, if you have hints how the list can be tweaked to provide even better defaults!

concerning arial being the first choice:

- most scribus users are on windows
- all windows computer have arial installed
- arial is probably the most appropriate font among those that are installed by default on most computers.

i would say that if there is a font that

- is free
- is often installed on "non-latin" / "non-ascii" computers
- if of very high quality

it should be added to the list at the top (the rational being that if somebody has installed that font, she is unlikely to want arial instead)

in your case: your language is romanian... a rather common language... i would say that your complain should go to microsoft that does not fully support your language in their default font.
or simply refrain from installing arial on a linux computer : -)

p.s.: of course the more intelligent defaults are not in 1.4.x... only in recent 1.5.x

kneekoo

2020-03-22 00:00

reporter   ~0047448

Thanks for your great input, ale. First I want to remind you that the text being cut on top of the Text Frame happens with different fonts, so that should be looked at.

As for the operating systems of choice, it's not a big deal to have font lists based on the operating system when such a simple thing tackles an important issue for so many people. On Linux distros Arial usually gets installed from a package having the MS core fonts, as .exe files that might as well be out of date - but people install it because those fonts are used on websites, office documents, and raster/vector graphics files. It's certainly worth investigating if there are newer versions out there and ask the package maintainers to update them if they provide better Unicode compatibility, but I'd have to research this a bit and then talk to all the maintainers across several distros (the big ones at least).

In the meantime it would be great if you could make a second font list for Linux distros, as this could quickly provide a better experience with Scribus without people scratching their heads what's going on, thinking that Scribus is at fault. Do you need any help in determining which are the most common fonts on the popular Linux distros? If so, do you have a list of distros that you'd like to be sure to cover? Going after newer fonts, package maintainers and the top distros for fonts lists is quite a task, so let me know if it makes sense for you to tackle this as proposed and I'll do my best to help.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo New Issue
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo File Added: kb-layout-Romanian.png
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo File Added: kb-layout-Romanian-cedilla.png
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo File Added: kb-layout-Romanian-standard.png
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo File Added: kb-layout-Romanian-Win-keys.png
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo File Added: kb-layout-Romanina-standard-cedilla.png
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo Tag Attached: text frames
2018-08-14 01:40 kneekoo Tag Attached: diacritics
2018-08-14 14:45 ale Note Added: 0045375
2018-08-14 20:18 kneekoo Note Added: 0045376
2020-02-04 07:25 danimunte Note Added: 0047354
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo File Added: 148-update-text-frame-1.png
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo File Added: 148-update-text-frame-2.png
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo File Added: 148-update-text-frame-3.png
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo File Added: 155-normal-edit.png
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo File Added: 155-update-text-frame.png
2020-02-04 12:03 kneekoo Note Added: 0047355
2020-02-04 12:06 kneekoo Note Added: 0047356
2020-03-15 22:49 cbradney Note Added: 0047435
2020-03-16 06:58 kneekoo Note Added: 0047436
2020-03-20 23:14 cbradney Note Added: 0047444
2020-03-21 08:55 kneekoo Note Added: 0047445
2020-03-21 08:57 kneekoo Note Added: 0047446
2020-03-21 09:12 ale Note Added: 0047447
2020-03-22 00:00 kneekoo Note Added: 0047448